2021 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 15
Contents
Problem
A choir direction must select a group of singers from among his tenors and basses. The only requirements are that the difference between the number of tenors and basses must be a multiple of , and the group must have at least one singer. Let be the number of different groups that could be selected. What is the remainder when is divided by ?
Solution 1
We know the choose function and we know the pair multiplication so we do the multiplications and additions.
~Lopkiloinm
Solution 2 (Generating Functions)
The problem can be done using a roots of unity filter. Let . By expanding the binomials and distributing, is the generating function for different groups of basses and tenors. That is, where is the number of groups of basses and tenors. What we want to do is sum up all values of for which except for . To do this, define a new function Now we just need to sum all coefficients of for which . Consider a monomial . If , otherwise, is a sum of these monomials so this gives us a method to determine the sum we're looking for: (since and it can be checked that ). Hence, the answer is with the for which gives . ~lawliet163
Solution 3 (Casework and Vandermonde's Identity)
We will use the Vandermonde's Identity to find the requested sum:
~MRENTHUSIASM
Solution 3 (Combinatoric Argument)
We claim that if the empty group is allowed, then there are ways to choose the singers satisfying the requirements.
First, we set one tenor and one bass aside. We argue that each selection (of any size) from the remaining singers corresponds to exactly one desired selection.
~MRENTHUSIASM
Video Solution by Punxsutawney Phil
https://youtube.com/watch?v=FD9BE7hpRvg&t=533s
Video Solution by Hawk Math
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjQARBvdZ20
Video Solution by OmegaLearn (using Vandermonde's Identity)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mki7xtZLk1I
~pi_is_3.14
See also
2021 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | |
Preceded by Problem 14 |
Followed by Problem 16 |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 | |
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions |
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