2007 AIME II Problems/Problem 4

Problems

The workers in a factory produce widgets and whoosits. For each product, production time is constant and identical for all workers, but not necessarily equal for the two products. In one hour, $100$ workers can produce $300$ widgets and $200$ whoosits. In two hours, $60$ workers can produce $240$ widgets and $300$ whoosits. In three hours, $50$ workers can produce $150$ widgets and $m$ whoosits. Find $m$ .

Solutions

Suppose that it takes $x$ hours for one worker to create one widget, and $y$ hours for one worker to create one whoosit.

Therefore, we can write that (note that two hours is similar to having twice the number of workers, and so on):

$100 = 300x + 200y$

$2(60) = 240x + 300y$

$3(50) = 150x + my$

Solve the system of equations with the first two equations to find that $(x,y) = \left(\frac{1}{7}, \frac{2}{7}\right)$ . Substitute this into the third equation to find that $1050 = 150 + 2m$ , so $m = 450$ .

2007 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 3	Followed by Problem 5
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2007 AIME II Problems/Problem 4

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