1989 AJHSME Problems/Problem 14

Problem

When placing each of the digits $2,4,5,6,9$ in exactly one of the boxes of this subtraction problem, what is the smallest difference that is possible?

$\text{(A)}\ 58 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 123 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 149 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 171 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 176$

$\begin{tabular}[t]{cccc} & \boxed{} & \boxed{} & \boxed{} \\ - & & \boxed{} & \boxed{} \\ \hline \end{tabular}$

Solution

When trying to minimize $a-b$ , we minimize $a$ and maximize $b$ . Since in this problem, $a$ is three digit and $b$ is two digit, we set $a=245$ and $b=96$ . Their difference is $149\rightarrow \boxed{\text{C}}$ .

1989 AJHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 13	Followed by Problem 15
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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

Page

Toolbox

Search

1989 AJHSME Problems/Problem 14

Problem

Solution

See Also