2014 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 6

Problem

The difference between a two-digit number and the number obtained by reversing its digits is $5$ times the sum of the digits of either number. What is the sum of the two digit number and its reverse?

$\textbf{(A) }44\qquad \textbf{(B) }55\qquad \textbf{(C) }77\qquad \textbf{(D) }99\qquad \textbf{(E) }110$

Solution 1

Let the two digits be $a$ and $b$ . Then, $5a + 5b = 10a + b - 10b - a = 9a - 9b$ , or $2a = 7b$ . This yields $a = 7$ and $b = 2$ because $a, b < 10$ . Then, $72 + 27 = \boxed{\textbf{(D) }99}.$

Solution 2 (Meta)

We start like above. Let the two digits be $a$ and $b$ . Therefore, $5(a+b) = 10a+b-10b-a=9(a-b)$ . Since we are looking for $10a+b+10b+a=11(a+b)$ and we know that $a+b$ must be a multiple of $9$ , the only answer choice that works is $\boxed{\textbf{(D) }99}.$

2014 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 5	Followed by Problem 7
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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2014 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 6

Contents

Problem

Solution 1

Solution 2 (Meta)

See Also