2010 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 25
Problem
Everyday at school, Jo climbs a flight of stairs. Jo can take the stairs
,
, or
at a time. For example, Jo could climb
, then
, then
. In how many ways can Jo climb the stairs?
Solution 1
A dynamics programming approach is quick and easy. The number of ways to climb one stair is . There are
ways to climb two stairs:
,
or
. For 3 stairs, there are
ways:
(
,
,
)
(
,
)
(
,
)
(
)
For four stairs, consider what step they came from to land on the fourth stair. They could have hopped straight from the 1st, done a double from #2, or used a single step from #3. The ways to get to each of these steps are ways to get to step 4. The pattern can then be extended:
steps:
ways.
steps:
ways.
steps:
ways.
Thus, there are ways to get to step
Video Solution by OmegaLearn
https://youtu.be/5UojVH4Cqqs?t=4560
~ pi_is_3.14
Video by MathTalks
See Also
2010 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 24 |
Followed by Last Problem | |
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All AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions |
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