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Algebra Difficulty 2.3 Junior Find the answer

Dewa writes down a list of four integers. He calculates the average of each group of three of the four integers. These averages are 32,39,40,4432,39,40,44. What is the largest of the four integers?

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

Solution

Suppose that Dewa's four numbers are w,x,y,zw, x, y, z. The averages of the four possible groups of three of these are w+x+y3,w+x+z3,w+y+z3,x+y+z3\frac{w+x+y}{3}, \frac{w+x+z}{3}, \frac{w+y+z}{3}, \frac{x+y+z}{3}. These averages are equal to 32,39,40,4432,39,40,44, in some order. The sums of the groups of three are equal to 3 times the averages, so are 96,117,120,13296,117,120,132, in some order. In other words, w+x+y,w+x+z,w+y+z,x+y+zw+x+y, w+x+z, w+y+z, x+y+z are equal to 96,117,120,13296,117,120,132 in some order. Therefore, (w+x+y)+(w+x+z)+(w+y+z)+(x+y+z)=96+117+120+132(w+x+y)+(w+x+z)+(w+y+z)+(x+y+z)=96+117+120+132 and so 3w+3x+3y+3z=4653 w+3 x+3 y+3 z=465 which gives w+x+y+z=155w+x+y+z=155. Since the sum of the four numbers is 155 and the sums of groups of 3 are 96,117,120,13296,117,120,132, then the four numbers are 15596=59155117=38155120=35155132=23155-96=59 \quad 155-117=38 \quad 155-120=35 \quad 155-132=23 and so the largest number is 59.

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