2023 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 18

Problem

Greta Grasshopper sits on a long line of lily pads in a pond. From any lily pad, Greta can jump $5$ pads to the right or $3$ pads to the left. What is the fewest number of jumps Greta must make to reach the lily pad located $2023$ pads to the right of her starting position?

$\textbf{(A) } 405 \qquad \textbf{(B) } 407 \qquad \textbf{(C) } 409 \qquad \textbf{(D) } 411 \qquad \textbf{(E) } 413$

Solution 1

We have $2$ directions going $5$ right or $3$ left. We can assign a variable to each of these directions. We can call going right $1$ direction $\text{X}$ and we can call going $1$ left $\text{Y}$. We can build a equation of $5\text{X}-3\text{Y}=2023$, where we have to limit the number of moves we do. We can do this by making more of our moves the $5$ move turn then the $3$ move turn. The first obvious step is to go some amount of moves in the right direction then subtract off in the left direction to land on $2023$. The least amount of $3$’s added to $2023$ to make a multiple of $5$ is $4$ as $2023 + 4(3) = 2035$. So now, we have solved the problem as we just go $\frac{2035}{5} = 407$ hops right, and just do 4 more hops left. Yielding $407 + 4 = \boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 411}$ as our answer.

~apex304, SohumUttamchandani, wuwang2002, TaeKim, Cxrupptedpat

Solution 2

Notice that $2023 \equiv 3\pmod{5}$, and jumping to the left increases the value of Greta's position $\pmod{5}$ by $2$. Therefore, the number of jumps to the left must be $4 \pmod{5}$. As the number of jumps to the left increases, so does the number of jumps to the right, we must minimize both, which occurs when we jump $4$ to the left and $407$ to the right. The answer is $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 411}$.

~TRALALA


Solution 3 (Quick with intuition)

$5y - 2023$ must be divisible by 3. The smallest value of $y$ that will achieve this is $407$, which lands it at $2035$. After that, it takes $4$ jumps back, making a total of $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 411}$.

~e___

Solution 3.1

Here is Solution 3 but worded differently: We can to go back $3x$ steps from $5y$ steps we took past $2023$. The other way to say this is we go $3x$ steps from $2023$ to get to $5y$. What is the least value of $3x$? We need $2023+3x$ to end in a $5$ or $0$. The least value for $3x$, which makes $2023+3x=2035$, is $4$. $\frac{2035}{5}=407$. Therefore, $207+4=$ $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 411}$.

Video Solution (Solve under 60 seconds!!!)

https://youtu.be/6O5UXi-Jwv4?si=KvvABit-3-ZtX7Qa&t=826

~hsnacademy

Video Solution by Math-X (Smart and Simple)

https://youtu.be/Ku_c1YHnLt0?si=E5Vs_ZXCVQzSH7Pl&t=3827 ~Math-X

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/d640itCB9_Y

~Education, the Study of Everything

Animated Video Solution

https://youtu.be/zmRiG52jxpg

~Star League (https://starleague.us)

Video Solution by OmegaLearn (Restrictive Counting)

https://youtu.be/gIjhiw1CUgY

Video Solution by Magic Square

https://youtu.be/-N46BeEKaCQ?t=3673

Video Solution by Interstigation

https://youtu.be/DBqko2xATxs&t=2295

Video Solution by harungurcan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki4tPSGAapU&t=0s

~harungurcan

Video Solution by Dr. David

https://youtu.be/Qo5H3RVDSbY

See Also

2023 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 17
Followed by
Problem 19
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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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