Difference between revisions of "2010 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 22"
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Revision as of 19:39, 5 October 2011
Problem
Seven distinct pieces of candy are to be distributed among three bags. The red bag and the blue bag must each receive at least one piece of candy; the white bag may remain empty. How many arrangements are possible?
Solution
We can count the total number of ways to distribute the candies (ignoring the restrictions), and then subtract the overcount to get the answer.
Each candy has three choices; it can go in any of the three bags.
Since there are seven candies, that makes the total distributions 
To find the overcount, we calculate the number of invalid distributions: the red or blue bag is empty.
The number of distributions such that the red bag is empty is equal to 
, since it's equivalent to distributing the 7 candies into 2 bags.
We know that the number of distributions with the blue bag is empty will be the same number because of the symmetry, so it's also .
The case where both the red and the blue bags are empty (all 7 candies are in the white bag) are included in both of the above calculations, and this case has only 
distribution.
The total overcount is 
The final answer will be 
That makes the letter choice C
See also
| 2010 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 21 |
Followed by Problem 23 | |
| 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 | ||
