Difference between revisions of "1950 AHSME Problems/Problem 45"

(Solution)
(Clarified point, removed label)
Line 13: Line 13:
  
 
== Solution 2 ==
 
== Solution 2 ==
For each vertex we can choose <math>100 - 3 = 97</math> vertices to draw the diagonal, as we cannot connect a vertex to itself or either adjacent vertices. Thus, the answer is <math>(100)(97)/2=4850</math>, as we are overcounting by a factor of 2. - ccx09
+
For each vertex we can choose <math>100 - 3 = 97</math> vertices to draw the diagonal, as we cannot connect a vertex to itself or either adjacent vertices. Thus, the answer is <math>(100)(97)/2=4850</math>, as we are overcounting by a factor of 2 (we are counting each diagonal twice - one for each endpoint).
  
 
== See Also ==
 
== See Also ==

Revision as of 01:08, 29 June 2018

Problem

The number of diagonals that can be drawn in a polygon of 100 sides is:

$\textbf{(A)}\ 4850 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 4950\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 9900 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 98 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 8800$

Solution

Each diagonal has its two endpoints as vertices of the 100-gon. Each pair of vertices determines exactly one diagonal. Therefore the answer should be $\binom{100}{2}=4950$. However this also counts the 100 sides of the polygon, so the actual answer is $4950-100=\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ 4850 }$.

Solution 2

For each vertex we can choose $100 - 3 = 97$ vertices to draw the diagonal, as we cannot connect a vertex to itself or either adjacent vertices. Thus, the answer is $(100)(97)/2=4850$, as we are overcounting by a factor of 2 (we are counting each diagonal twice - one for each endpoint).

See Also

1950 AHSC (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 44
Followed by
Problem 46
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 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
All AHSME Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png