Difference between revisions of "2010 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 21"

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==Solution==  
 
==Solution==  
  
It is known that the palindromes can be expressed as: <math>1000x+100y+10y+x </math> (as it is a four digit palindrome it must be of the form <math>xyyx</math> , where x and y are integers from [1,9] and [0,9], respectively.  
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It is known that the palindromes can be expressed as: <math>1000x+100y+10y+x </math> (since it is a four digit palindrome, it must be of the form <math>xyyx</math> , where x and y are integers from [1,9] and [0,9], respectively.)
 
Using the divisibility rules of 7, <math>100x+10y+y-2x</math> = <math>98x+11y \equiv 0 \pmod 7</math>
 
Using the divisibility rules of 7, <math>100x+10y+y-2x</math> = <math>98x+11y \equiv 0 \pmod 7</math>
  

Revision as of 17:03, 22 February 2015

Problem 21

A palindrome between $1000$ and $10,000$ is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is divisible by $7$?

$\textbf{(A)}\ \dfrac{1}{10} \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ \dfrac{1}{9} \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ \dfrac{1}{7} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \dfrac{1}{6} \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \dfrac{1}{5}$

Solution

It is known that the palindromes can be expressed as: $1000x+100y+10y+x$ (since it is a four digit palindrome, it must be of the form $xyyx$ , where x and y are integers from [1,9] and [0,9], respectively.) Using the divisibility rules of 7, $100x+10y+y-2x$ = $98x+11y \equiv 0 \pmod 7$

Since $98 \equiv 0 \pmod 7$, The $98x$ is now irrelelvant.

Thus we solve:

$11y \equiv 0 \pmod 7$

Which has two solutions: $0$ and $7$

There are thus two options for $y$ out of the 10, so $2/10 = \boxed{\textbf{(E)}\ \frac15}$

See also

2010 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 20
Followed by
Problem 22
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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