2006 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 14
Contents
Problem
Two farmers agree that pigs are worth dollars and that goats are worth
dollars. When one farmer owes the other money, he pays the debt in pigs or goats, with "change" received in the form of goats or pigs as necessary. (For example, a
dollar debt could be paid with two pigs, with one goat received in change.) What is the amount of the smallest positive debt that can be resolved in this way?
$\mathrm{(A) \ } $5\qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } $10\qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } $30\qquad \mathrm{(D) \ } $90\qquad \mathrm{(E) \ } $210$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)
Solution
Solution
The problem can be restated as an equation of the form , where
is the number of pigs,
is the number of goats, and
is the positive debt. The problem asks us to find the lowest x possible. p and g must be integers, which makes the equation a Diophantine equation. The Euclidean algorithm tells us that there are integer solutions to the Diophantine equation
, where
is the greatest common divisor of
and
, and no solutions for any smaller
. Therefore, the answer is the greatest common divisor of 300 and 210, which is 30,
Alternatively, note that is divisible by 30 no matter what
and
are, so our answer must be divisible by 30. In addition, three goats minus two pigs give us
exactly. Since our theoretical best can be achived, it must really be the best, and the answer is
.
debt that can be resolved.
See also
2006 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
Preceded by Problem 13 |
Followed by Problem 15 |
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions |