2021 Fall AMC 10A Problems/Problem 10

Problem

A school has $100$ students and $5$ teachers. In the first period, each student is taking one class, and each teacher is teaching one class. The enrollments in the classes are $50, 20, 20, 5,$ and $5$ . Let $t$ be the average value obtained if a teacher is picked at random and the number of students in their class is noted. Let $s$ be the average value obtained if a student was picked at random and the number of students in their class, including the student, is noted. What is $t-s$ ?

$\textbf{(A)}\ {-}18.5 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ {-}13.5 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 0 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 13.5 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 18.5$

Solution

The formula for expected values is $\text{Expected Value}=\sum(\text{Outcome}\cdot\text{Probability}).$ We have $\begin{align*} t &= \frac15\cdot50 + \frac15\cdot20 + \frac15\cdot20 + \frac15\cdot5 + \frac15\cdot5 \\ &= \frac15\cdot(50+20+20+5+5) \\ &= \frac15\cdot100 \\ &= 20, \\ s &= \frac{50}{100}\cdot50 + \frac{20}{100}\cdot20 + \frac{20}{100}\cdot20 + \frac{5}{100}\cdot5 + \frac{5}{100}\cdot5 \\ &= 25 + 4 + 4 + 0.25 + 0.25 \\ &= 33.5. \end{align*}$ Therefore, the answer is $t-s=\boxed{\textbf{(B)}\ {-}13.5}.$

~MRENTHUSIASM

2021 Fall AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 9	Followed by Problem 11
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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2021 Fall AMC 10A Problems/Problem 10

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