Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Find the answer

Aliens from Lumix have one head and four legs, while those from Obscra have two heads and only one leg. If 60 aliens attend a joint Lumix and Obscra interworld conference, and there are 129 legs present, how many heads are there?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

1. Let l l represent the number of Lumix aliens and o o represent the number of Obscra aliens.
2. We are given two pieces of information:
- The total number of aliens is 60.
- The total number of legs is 129.

These can be written as the following system of equations:
l+o=60(1) l + o = 60 \quad \text{(1)}
4l+o=129(2) 4l + o = 129 \quad \text{(2)}

3. To eliminate o o , we subtract equation (1) from equation (2):
(4l+o)(l+o)=12960 (4l + o) - (l + o) = 129 - 60
Simplifying this, we get:
3l=69 3l = 69
Solving for l l :
l=693=23 l = \frac{69}{3} = 23

4. Substitute l=23 l = 23 back into equation (1) to find o o :
23+o=60 23 + o = 60
Solving for o o :
o=6023=37 o = 60 - 23 = 37

5. Now, we need to find the total number of heads. Lumix aliens have 1 head each and Obscra aliens have 2 heads each. Therefore, the total number of heads is:
l+2o=23+2×37=23+74=97 l + 2o = 23 + 2 \times 37 = 23 + 74 = 97

The final answer is 97\boxed{97}

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.