Difference between revisions of "1985 AIME Problems/Problem 8"
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== Problem == | == Problem == | ||
The sum of the following seven numbers is exactly 19: <math>a_1 = 2.56</math>, <math>a_2 = 2.61</math>, <math>a_3 = 2.65</math>, <math>a_4 = 2.71</math>, <math>a_5 = 2.79</math>, <math>a_6 = 2.82</math>, <math>a_7 = 2.86</math>. It is desired to replace each <math>a_i</math> by an [[integer]] approximation <math>A_i</math>, <math>1\le i \le 7</math>, so that the sum of the <math>A_i</math>'s is also 19 and so that <math>M</math>, the [[maximum]] of the "errors" <math>\| A_i-a_i\|</math>, the maximum [[absolute value]] of the difference, is as small as possible. For this minimum <math>M</math>, what is <math>100M</math>? | The sum of the following seven numbers is exactly 19: <math>a_1 = 2.56</math>, <math>a_2 = 2.61</math>, <math>a_3 = 2.65</math>, <math>a_4 = 2.71</math>, <math>a_5 = 2.79</math>, <math>a_6 = 2.82</math>, <math>a_7 = 2.86</math>. It is desired to replace each <math>a_i</math> by an [[integer]] approximation <math>A_i</math>, <math>1\le i \le 7</math>, so that the sum of the <math>A_i</math>'s is also 19 and so that <math>M</math>, the [[maximum]] of the "errors" <math>\| A_i-a_i\|</math>, the maximum [[absolute value]] of the difference, is as small as possible. For this minimum <math>M</math>, what is <math>100M</math>? | ||
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+ | === Explanation of the Question === | ||
== Solution == | == Solution == |
Revision as of 23:21, 23 August 2019
Problem
The sum of the following seven numbers is exactly 19: ,
,
,
,
,
,
. It is desired to replace each
by an integer approximation
,
, so that the sum of the
's is also 19 and so that
, the maximum of the "errors"
, the maximum absolute value of the difference, is as small as possible. For this minimum
, what is
?
Explanation of the Question
Solution
If any of the approximations is less than 2 or more than 3, the error associated with that term will be larger than 1, so the largest error will be larger than 1. However, if all of the
are 2 or 3, the largest error will be less than 1. So in the best case, we write 19 as a sum of 7 numbers, each of which is 2 or 3. Then there must be five 3s and two 2s. It is clear that in the best appoximation, the two 2s will be used to approximate the two smallest of the
, so our approximations are
and
and the largest error is
, so the answer is
.
See also
1985 AIME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 7 |
Followed by Problem 9 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
All AIME Problems and Solutions |