2013 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 7

The following problem is from both the 2013 AMC 12B #7 and 2013 AMC 10B #13, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Jo and Blair take turns counting from $1$ to one more than the last number said by the other person. Jo starts by saying $``1"$ , so Blair follows by saying $``1, 2"$ . Jo then says $``1, 2, 3"$ , and so on. What is the $53^{\text{rd}}$ number said?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 2 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 3 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 5 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 6 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 8$

Solution

We notice that the number of numbers said is incremented by one each time; that is, Jo says one number, then Blair says two numbers, then Jo says three numbers, etc. Thus, after nine "turns," $1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9=45$ numbers have been said. In the tenth turn, the eighth number will be the 53rd number said, as $53-45=8$ . Since we're starting from 1 each time, the 53rd number said will be $\boxed{\textbf{(E) }8}$ .

2013 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 6	Followed by Problem 8
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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2013 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 7

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