Difference between revisions of "2006 AIME I Problems/Problem 2"

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[[Category:Intermediate Combinatorics Problems]]
 
[[Category:Intermediate Combinatorics Problems]]
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Latest revision as of 20:05, 4 July 2013

Problem

Let set $\mathcal{A}$ be a 90-element subset of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,100\},$ and let $S$ be the sum of the elements of $\mathcal{A}.$ Find the number of possible values of $S.$

Solution

The smallest $S$ is $1+2+ \ldots +90 = 91 \cdot 45 = 4095$. The largest $S$ is $11+12+ \ldots +100=111\cdot 45=4995$. All numbers between $4095$ and $4995$ are possible values of S, so the number of possible values of S is $4995-4095+1=901$.

Alternatively, for ease of calculation, let set $\mathcal{B}$ be a 10-element subset of $\{1,2,3,\ldots,100\}$, and let $T$ be the sum of the elements of $\mathcal{B}$. Note that the number of possible $S$ is the number of possible $T=5050-S$. The smallest possible $T$ is $1+2+ \ldots +10 = 55$ and the largest is $91+92+ \ldots + 100 = 955$, so the number of possible values of T, and therefore S, is $955-55+1=\boxed{901}$.

See also

2006 AIME I (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 1
Followed by
Problem 3
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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