1986 AJHSME Problems/Problem 3

Problem

The smallest sum one could get by adding three different numbers from the set $\{ 7,25,-1,12,-3 \}$ is

$\text{(A)}\ -3 \qquad \text{(B)}\ -1 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 3 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 5 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 21$

To find the smallest sum, we just have to find the smallest 3 numbers and add them together.

Obviously, the numbers are $-3, -1, 7$ , and adding them gets us $3$ .

$\boxed{\text{C}}$

1986 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 2	Followed by Problem 4
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