Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2017

Combinatorics Difficulty 3.7 AMC 10/12 Find the answer United States

Problem:
Find the number of ordered triples of positive integers (a,b,c)(a, b, c) such that
6a+10b+15c=3000 6 a + 10 b + 15 c = 3000

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Solution:
Note that 6a6a must be a multiple of 55, so aa must be a multiple of 55. Similarly, bb must be a multiple of 33, and cc must be a multiple of 22.

Set a=5Aa = 5A, b=3Bb = 3B, c=2Cc = 2C. Then the equation reduces to
6a+10b+15c=6(5A)+10(3B)+15(2C)=30A+30B+30C=30(A+B+C)=3000 6a + 10b + 15c = 6(5A) + 10(3B) + 15(2C) = 30A + 30B + 30C = 30(A + B + C) = 3000
So A+B+C=100A + B + C = 100.

The number of ordered triples of positive integers (A,B,C)(A, B, C) such that A+B+C=100A + B + C = 100 is
(992)=4851. \binom{99}{2} = 4851.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.