Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 2.2 Junior Find the answer Canada

In the diagram, the target shown has three scoring areas. An
arrow that hits the centre circle is worth 1010 points, an arrow that hits the shaded middle ring is worth 55 points, and an arrow that hits the outer ring is worth 11 point.

Figure 0

Three arrows are shot and each hits the target. Which of the
following cannot be the total score for the three arrows?

Pick one

Solution

The correct answer is 1313. Why? Since the scoring areas 1010 and 55 are each multiples of 55, then any combination of these two scores is also a multiple of 55. The closest multiple of 55 less than 1313 is 1010, and so to obtain a total score of 1313, a minimum of three arrows must each score 11 point (since 1310=313-10=3). However, at least one arrow is needed to score 1010 points, and so at least four arrows are needed to score 1313 points. We confirm that each of the remaining answers is possible since 16=10+5+116=10+5+1, 11=5+5+111=5+5+1, 7=5+1+17=5+1+1, and 20=10+5+520=10+5+5.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.