2001 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 20

Problem

Kaleana shows her test score to Quay, Marty and Shana, but the others keep theirs hidden. Quay thinks, "At least two of us have the same score." Marty thinks, "I didn't get the lowest score." Shana thinks, "I didn't get the highest score." List the scores from lowest to highest for Marty (M), Quay (Q) and Shana (S).

$\text{(A)}\ \text{S,Q,M} \qquad \text{(B)}\ \text{Q,M,S} \qquad \text{(C)}\ \text{Q,S,M} \qquad \text{(D)}\ \text{M,S,Q} \qquad \text{(E)}\ \text{S,M,Q}$

Solution

Since the only other score Quay knows is Kaleana's, and he knows that two of them have the same score, Quay and Kaleana must have the same score, and $K=Q$ . Marty knows that he didn't get the lowest score, and the only other score he knows is Kaleana's, so Marty must know that Kaleana must have a lower score than him, and $M>K$ . Finally, Shana knows that she didn't get the highest score, and the only other score she knows is Kaleana's, so Shana must know that Kaleana must have a higher score than her, and $S<K$ . Putting these together and substituting $Q$ for $K$ , we have $S<Q<M$ , and from least to greatest this is $\text{S, Q, M}, \boxed{\text{A}}$ .

2001 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 19	Followed by Problem 21
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All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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2001 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 20

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