2007 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 8

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On the trip home from the meeting where this AMC10 was constructed, the Contest Chair noted that his airport parking receipt had digits of the form $bbcac,$ where $0 \le a < b < c \le 9,$ and $b$ was the average of $a$ and $c.$ How many different five-digit numbers satisfy all these properties?

$\textbf{(A) } 12 \qquad\textbf{(B) } 16 \qquad\textbf{(C) } 18 \qquad\textbf{(D) } 20 \qquad\textbf{(E) } 25$

Solution

Case $1$: The numbers are separated by $1$.

We this case with $a=0, b=1,$ and $c=2$. Following this logic, the last set we can get is $a=7, b=8,$ and $c=9$. We have $8$ sets of numbers in this case.


Case $2$: The numbers are separated by $2$.

This case starts with $a=0, b=2,$ and $c=2$. It ends with $a=5, b=7,$ and $c=9$. There are $6$ sets of numbers in this case.


Case $3$: The numbers start with $a=0, b=3,$ and $c=6$. It ends with $a=3, b=6,$ and $c=9$. This case has $4$ sets of numbers.

It's pretty clear that there's a pattern: $8$ sets, $6$ sets, $4$ sets. The amount of sets per case decreases by $2$, so it's obvious Case $4$ has $2$ sets. The total amount of possible five-digit numbers is $8+6+4+2=\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 20}$.

See Also

2007 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 7
Followed by
Problem 9
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 10 Problems and Solutions

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