2011 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 6

Problem

The players on a basketball team made some three-point shots, some two-point shots, and some one-point free throws. They scored as many points with two-point shots as with three-point shots. Their number of successful free throws was one more than their number of successful two-point shots. The team's total score was $61$ points. How many free throws did they make?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 13 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 14 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 15 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 16 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 17$

Solution 1

For the points made from two-point shots and from three-point shots to be equal, the numbers of made shots are in a $3:2$ ratio. Therefore, assume they made $3x$ and $2x$ two- and three- point shots, respectively, and thus $3x+1$ free throws. The total number of points is \[2 \times (3x) + 3 \times (2x) + 1 \times (3x+1) = 15x+1\]

Set that equal to $61$, we get $x = 4$, and therefore the number of free throws they made $3 \times 4 + 1 = 13 \Rightarrow \boxed{A}$

Solution 2

Let $x$ be the number of free throws. Then the number of points scored by two-pointers is $2(x-1)$ and the same goes for three-pointers because they scored the same number of points with twos and threes. Thus, our equation is $x+4(x-1) = 61 \Rightarrow x=13$, giving us $\boxed{(A)}$ for an answer.

Solution 3

We let $a$ be the number of $2$-point shots, $b$ be the number of $3$-point shots, and $x$ be the number of free throws. We are looking for $x.$ We know that $2a=3b$, and that $x=a+1$. Also, $2a+3b+1x=61$. We can see

\begin{align*} a&=x-1 \\ 2a &= 2x-2 \\ 3a &= 2x-2. \\ \end{align*}

Plugging this into $2a+3b+1x=61$, we see

\begin{align*} 2x-2+2x-2+x &= 61 \\ 5x-4 &= 61 \\ 5x &= 65 \\ x &= \boxed{\textbf{(A) }13}. \end{align*}

~Technodoggo

~MrThinker

Video Solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tlqpAcmbz4 ~Shreyas S

See also

2011 AMC 12A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 5
Followed by
Problem 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions
2011 AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 11
Followed by
Problem 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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