2020 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 2
Contents
[hide]Problem
The numbers and have an average (arithmetic mean) of . What is the average of and ?
Solution
The arithmetic mean of the numbers and is equal to . Solving for , we get . Dividing by to find the average of the two numbers and gives .
Solution (two solutions - balancing and summing)
We know the average is 15. 3, 5, and 7 are, respectively, 12, 10, and 8 below the average. So far then we are -12 - 10 - 8 or 30 below the average. We have to make this up with a and b so on average each is 30/2 = 15 above the average. The average is 15 so each is on average 15+15 = 30, or answer C.
Incidentally we can immediately rule out answers A and B as being too small - with these we'd never catch up to get our average of 15. An alternative solution is that to get an average of 15 we need a sum of 15*5 = 75. We have 3, 5, and 7 which adds up to 15, so a and b must make up the remaining 75-15 = 60. 60/2 = 30 so the average of a and b is 30.
~Dilip
Video Solution 1
Education, The Study of Everything
Video Solution 2
~IceMatrix
Video Solution 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-3sl1pSojc
~bobthefam
Video Solution 4
~savannahsolver
See Also
2020 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 1 |
Followed by Problem 3 | |
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions |
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