Difference between revisions of "2002 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 7"

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Revision as of 10:21, 4 July 2013

The following problem is from both the 2002 AMC 12B #7 and 2002 AMC 10B #11, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

The product of three consecutive positive integers is $8$ times their sum. What is the sum of their squares?

$\mathrm{(A)}\ 50 \qquad\mathrm{(B)}\ 77 \qquad\mathrm{(C)}\ 110 \qquad\mathrm{(D)}\ 149 \qquad\mathrm{(E)}\ 194$

Solution

Let the three consecutive positive integers be $a-1$, $a$, and $a+1$. So, $a(a-1)(a+1)=a^3-a=24a$. Rearranging and factoring, $a(a+5)(a-5)=0$, so $a=5$. Hence, the sum of the squares is $4^2+5^2+6^2=\boxed{\mathrm{ (B)}\ 77}$.

See also

2002 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 10
Followed by
Problem 12
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 10 Problems and Solutions
2002 AMC 12B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 6
Followed by
Problem 8
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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