2004 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 17

Problem

Three friends have a total of $6$ identical pencils, and each one has at least one pencil. In how many ways can this happen?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 1\qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 3\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 6\qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 10 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 12$

Solution 1

For each person to have at least one pencil, assign one pencil to each of the three friends so that you have $3$ left. In partitioning the remaining $3$ pencils into $3$ distinct groups, use Ball-and-urn to find the number of possibilities is $\binom{3+3-1}{3-1} = \binom{5}{2} = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$.

Solution by phoenixfire

Minor Edits by Yuvag : "... is $\binom{3+3-1}{3} = \binom{5}{3} = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$." to "... is $\binom{3+3-1}{3-1} = \binom{5}{2} = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$."

All credit still goes to phoenixfire.

Solution 2

Like in solution 1, for each person to have at least one pencil, assign one of the pencils to each of the three friends so that you have $3$ left. In partitioning the remaining $3$ pencils into $3$ distinct groups, use number of non-negative integral solutions. Let the three friends be $a, b, c$ respectively.

$a + b + c = 3$ The total being 3 and 2 plus signs, which implies $\binom{3+2}{2} = \binom{5}{2} = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$.

Solution by phoenixfire

Minor Edits by Yuvag : "$\binom{3+2}{3} = \binom{5}{3} = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$." to "$\binom{3+2}{2} = \binom{5}{2} = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$.

All credit still goes to phoenixfire.

Solution 3

For each of the 3 People to have at least one pencil when distributing 6 pencil amongst them, we can use another formula from the Ball-and-urn counting technique, shown below:


for n = number of items, and s = slots:


$\binom{n-1}{s-1}$


Now we can plug in our values,

number of items = 6, and slots = 3:


$\binom{6-1}{3-1}     =     \binom{5}{2}     =    \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$.



Solution by Yuvag

Solution 4

Like in solution 1 and solution 2, assign one pencil to each of the three friends so that you have $3$ left. In partitioning the remaining $3$ pencils into $3$ distinct groups use casework. Let the three friends be $a$, $b$, $c$ repectively.

$a + b + c = 3$,


Case $1:a=0$,

$b + c = 3$,

$b = 0,1,2,3$ ,

$c = 3,2,1,0$,

$\boxed{\textbf\ 4}$ solutions.


Case $2:a=1$,

$1 + b + c = 3$,

$b + c = 2$,

$b = 0,1,2$ ,

$c = 2,1,0$ ,

$\boxed{\textbf\ 3}$ solutions.


Case $3:a= 2$,

$2 + b + c = 3$,

$b + c = 1$,

$b = 0,1$,

$c = 1,0$,

$\boxed{\textbf\ 2}$ solutions.


Case $4:a = 3$,

$3 + b + c = 3$,

$b + c = 0$,

$b = 0$,

$c = 0$,

$\boxed{\textbf\ 1}$ solution.

Therefore there will be a total of $4+3+2+1=10$ solutions. $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 10}$. Solution by phoenixfire

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/FUnwTLP7gr0 Soo, DRMS, NM


See Also

2004 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 16
Followed by
Problem 18
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All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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