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Algebra Difficulty 3.1 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

In the sum shown, each letter represents a different digit with T0T \neq 0 and W0W \neq 0. How many different values of UU are possible?

\begin{tabular}{rrrrr}
& WW & XX & YY & ZZ \\
+ & WW & XX & YY & ZZ \\
\hline & WW & UU & YY & VV
\end{tabular}

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

Solution

Since WXYZWXYZ is a four-digit positive integer, then WXYZ9999WXYZ \leq 9999. (In fact WXYZWXYZ cannot be this large since all of its digits must be different.) Since WXYZ9999WXYZ \leq 9999, then TWUYV2(9999)=19998TWUYV \leq 2(9999) = 19998. Since T0T \neq 0, then T=1T = 1. Next, we note that the 'carry' from any column to the next cannot be larger than 1. Thus, we make a chart of possible digits dd and the resulting units digit in the sum from d+dd + d with and without a carry of 1. We use this table to first determine the digits WW and YY. Since the digits in the thousands column are all the same, then the digit WW must be 9, since it must be at least 5 to produce a carry to the ten thousands column. We note further that this means that X5X \geq 5 to produce a carry into this column. Also, the digit YY must equal 0 (since the digits T,U,V,W,X,Y,ZT, U, V, W, X, Y, Z are different). This means that there is no carry from the ones column to the tens column. We summarize what we know so far:

\begin{tabular}{r}
9X109X10 \\
+9X0Z+\quad 9X0 \quad Z \\
\hline 19U0V19 \quad U \quad 0 \quad V
\end{tabular}

and X5X \geq 5 and Z4Z \leq 4. Since T=1T = 1 and W=9W = 9, then ZZ can be 2, 3, or 4, and XX can be 5,6,75, 6, 7, or 8. Note that if X=5X = 5, then we have U=0=YU = 0 = Y, which is not possible, so X5X \neq 5. If Z=2Z = 2, then V=4V = 4. In this case, we cannot have X=6X = 6 (which would give U=2=ZU = 2 = Z) or X=7X = 7 (which would give U=4=VU = 4 = V) and so X=8X = 8, which gives U=6U = 6. If Z=3Z = 3, then V=6V = 6. In this case, XX cannot equal 6 or 8 and so X=7X = 7 (which gives U=4U = 4). If Z=4Z = 4, then V=8V = 8. In this case, XX cannot equal 7 or 8 and so X=6X = 6 (which gives U=2U = 2). In summary, there are 3 possible values for UU, namely, 2, 4, and 6. We can check that the sums 9802+9802=196049802 + 9802 = 19604 and 9703+9703=194069703 + 9703 = 19406 and 9604+9604=192089604 + 9604 = 19208 all satisfy the original problem.

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