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2001 AMC 10 Problems/Problem 11

Revision as of 16:15, 16 March 2011 by Pidigits125 (talk | contribs) (→‎Solution 1)

Problem

Consider the dark square in an array of unit squares, part of which is shown. The first ring of squares around this center square contains $8$ unit squares. The second ring contains $16$ unit squares. If we continue this process, the number of unit squares in the $100^\text{th}$ ring is

$\textbf{(A)}\ 396 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 404 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 800 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 10,\!000 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 10,\!404$

Solutions

Solution 1

We can partition the $n^\text{th}$ ring into $4$ rectangles: two containing $2n+1$ unit squares and two containing $2n-1$ unit squares.

There are $2(2n+1)+2(2n-1)=4n+2+4n-2=8n$ unit squares in the $n^\text{th}$ ring.

Thus, the $100^\text{th}$ ring has $8 \times 100 = \boxed{\textbf{(C)} 800}$.

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