2015 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 13

Revision as of 21:18, 6 November 2019 by Jollynomial (talk | contribs) (Solution)

How many subsets of two elements can be removed from the set $\{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11\}$ so that the mean (average) of the remaining numbers is 6?

$\textbf{(A)}\text{ 1}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\text{ 2}\qquad\textbf{(C)}\text{ 3}\qquad\textbf{(D)}\text{ 5}\qquad\textbf{(E)}\text{ 6}$

Solution

Since there will be $9$ elements after removal, and their mean is $6$, we know their sum is $54$. We also know that the sum of the set pre-removal is $66$. Thus, the sum of the $2$ elements removed is $66-54=12$. There are only $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}~5}$ subsets of $2$ elements that sum to $12$: $\{1,11\}, \{2,10\}, \{3, 9\}, \{4, 8\}, \{5, 7\}$.

See Also

2015 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 12
Followed by
Problem 14
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 AJHSME/AMC 8 Problems and Solutions

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