2016 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 12

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Problem

All the numbers $1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9$ are written in a $3\times3$ array of squares, one number in each square, in such a way that if two numbers of consecutive then they occupy squares that share an edge. The numbers in the four corners add up to $18$. What is the number in the center?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 5\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 6\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 7\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 8\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 9$

Solution

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Solution by Mlux: Draw a $3\times3$ matrix. Notice that no adjacent numbers could be in the corners since two consecutive numbers must share an edge. Now find 4 nonconsecutive numbers that add up to $18$. Trying $1+3+5+9 = 18$ works. Place each odd number in the corner in a clockwise order. Then fill in the spaces. There has to be a $2$ in between the $1$ and $3$. There is a $4$ between $3$ and $5$. The final grid should similar to this. $\newline 1, 2,  3\newline 8,  7, 4\newline 9,  6,  5$ Solution by Mlux

See Also

2016 AMC 12B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 11
Followed by
Problem 13
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 12 Problems and Solutions

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