2020 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 13

Revision as of 19:38, 18 May 2021 by MRENTHUSIASM (talk | contribs) (Solution 2 (Detailed))

Problem

Andy the Ant lives on a coordinate plane and is currently at $(-20, 20)$ facing east (that is, in the positive $x$-direction). Andy moves $1$ unit and then turns $90^{\circ}$ degrees left. From there, Andy moves $2$ units (north) and then turns $90^{\circ}$ degrees left. He then moves $3$ units (west) and again turns $90^{\circ}$ degrees left. Andy continues his progress, increasing his distance each time by $1$ unit and always turning left. What is the location of the point at which Andy makes the $2020$th left turn?

$\textbf{(A)}\ (-1030, -994)\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ (-1030, -990)\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ (-1026, -994)\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ (-1026, -990)\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ (-1022, -994)$

Solution 1

You can find that every four moves both coordinates decrease by 2. Therefore, both coordinates need to decrease by two 505 times. You subtract, giving you the answer of $\boxed{\textbf{(B)}\ (-1030, -990)}.$ ~happykeeper

Solution 2 (Detailed)

Andy makes a total of $2020$ moves: $1010$ horizontal (left or right) and $1010$ vertical (up or down).

The $x$-coordinate of Andy's final position is \[-20+\overbrace{\underbrace{1-3}_{-2}+\underbrace{5-7}_{-2}+\underbrace{9-11}_{-2}+\cdots+\underbrace{2017-2019}_{-2}}^{\text{1010 terms, 505 pairs}}=-20-2\cdot505=-1030.\] The $y$-coordinate of Andy's final position is \[20+\overbrace{\underbrace{2-4}_{-2}+\underbrace{6-8}_{-2}+\underbrace{10-12}_{-2}+\cdots+\underbrace{2018-2020}_{-2}}^{\text{1010 terms, 505 pairs}}=20-2\cdot505=-990.\] Together, we have $(x,y)=\boxed{\textbf{(B)}\ (-1030, -990)}.$

~MRENTHUSIASM

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/t6yjfKXpwDs

~IceMatrix

Similar Problem

2015 AMC 10B Problem 24 https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/2015_AMC_10B_Problems/Problem_24

See Also

2020 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 12
Followed by
Problem 14
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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