2021 AIME II Problems/Problem 1
Problem
Find the arithmetic mean of all the three-digit palindromes. (Recall that a palindrome is a number that reads the same forward and backward, such as or
.)
Solution 1
Recall the the arithmetic mean of all the digit palindromes is just the average of the largest and smallest
digit palindromes, and in this case the
palindromes are
and
and
and
is the final answer.
~ math31415926535
Solution 2 (Symmetry)
For any palindrome note that
is 100A + 10B + A which is also 101A + 10B.
The average for A is 5 since A can be any of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. The average for B is 4.5 since B is either 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9. Therefore, the answer is 505 + 45 =
.
- ARCTICTURN
See also
2021 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by First Problem |
Followed by Problem 2 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
All AIME Problems and Solutions |
The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.