2014 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 6

Revision as of 20:47, 31 January 2016 by Sourprune (talk | contribs) (Solution 3)
The following problem is from both the 2014 AMC 12A #4 and 2014 AMC 10A #6, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Suppose that $a$ cows give $b$ gallons of milk in $c$ days. At this rate, how many gallons of milk will $d$ cows give in $e$ days?

$\textbf{(A)}\ \frac{bde}{ac}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{ac}{bde}\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \frac{abde}{c}\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{bcde}{a}\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{abc}{de}$

Solution 1

We need to multiply $b$ by $\frac{d}{a}$ for the new cows and $\frac{e}{c}$ for the new time, so the answer is $b\cdot \frac{d}{a}\cdot \frac{e}{c}=\frac{bde}{ac}$, or $\boxed{\textbf{(A)}}$.

Solution 2

We plug in $a=2$, $b=3$, $c=4$, $d=5$, and $e=6$. Hence the question becomes "2 cows give 3 gallons of milk in 4 days. How many gallons of milk do 5 cows give in 6 days?"

If 2 cows give 3 gallons of milk in 4 days, then 2 cows give $\frac{3}{4}$ gallons of milk in 1 day, so 1 cow gives $\frac{3}{4\cdot2}$ gallons in 1 day. This means that 5 cows give $\frac{5\cdot3}{4\cdot2}$ gallons of milk in 1 day. Finally, we see that 5 cows give $\frac{5\cdot3\cdot6}{4\cdot2}$ gallons of milk in 6 days. Substituting our values for the variables, this becomes $\frac{dbe}{ac}$, which is $\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ \frac{bde}{ac}}$.

Solution 3

We see that the the number of cows is inversely proportional to the amount of days and directly proportional to the gallons of milk. So our constant is $\dfrac{ac}{b}$.

Let $g$ be the answer to the question. We have $\dfrac{de}{g}=\dfrac{ac}{b}\implies gac=bde\implies g=\dfrac{bde}{ac}\implies\boxed{ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac{bde}{ac}}$

See Also

2014 AMC 10A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 5
Followed by
Problem 7
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
2014 AMC 12A (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 3
Followed by
Problem 5
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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