Difference between revisions of "2020 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 19"

(Video Solution)
m (Video Solution)
Line 11: Line 11:
  
 
==Video Solution==
 
==Video Solution==
https://youtu.be/m4a5kIRdnOM
+
https://youtu.be/VnOecUiP-SA
  
 
==See also==  
 
==See also==  
 
{{AMC8 box|year=2020|num-b=18|num-a=20}}
 
{{AMC8 box|year=2020|num-b=18|num-a=20}}
 
{{MAA Notice}}
 
{{MAA Notice}}

Revision as of 00:24, 10 January 2021

Problem 19

A number is called flippy if its digits alternate between two distinct digits. For example, $2020$ and $37373$ are flippy, but $3883$ and $123123$ are not. How many five-digit flippy numbers are divisible by $15?$

$\textbf{(A) }3 \qquad \textbf{(B) }4 \qquad \textbf{(C) }5 \qquad \textbf{(D) }6 \qquad \textbf{(E) }8$

Solution 1

A number is divisible by $15$ precisely if it is divisible by $3$ and $5$. The latter means the last digit must be either $5$ or $0$, and the former means the sum of the digits must be divisible by $3$. If the last digit is $0$, the first digit would be $0$ (because the digits alternate), which is not possible. Hence the last digit must be $5$, and the number is of the form $5\square 5\square 5$. If the unknown digit is $x$, we deduce $5+x+5+x+5 \equiv 0 \pmod{3} \Rightarrow 2x \equiv 0 \pmod{3}$. We know $2^{-1}$ exists modulo $3$ because 2 is relatively prime to 3, so we conclude that $x$ (i.e. the second and fourth digit of the number) must be a multiple of $3$. It can be $0$, $3$, $6$, or $9$, so there are $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }4}$ options: $50505$, $53535$, $56565$, and $59595$.

Solution 2 (variant of Solution 1)

As in Solution 1, we find that such numbers must start with $5$ and alternate with $5$ (i.e. must be of the form $5\square 5\square 5$), where the two digits between the $5$s need to be the same. Call that digit $x$. For the number to be divisible by $3$, the sum of the digits must be divisible by $3$; since the sum of the three $5$s is $15$, which is already a multiple of $3$, it must also be the case that $x+x=2x$ is a multiple of $3$. Thus, the problem reduces to finding the number of digits from $0$ to $9$ for which $2x$ is a multiple of $3$. This leads to $x=0$, $3$, $6$, or $9$, so there are $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }4}$ possible numbers (namely $50505$, $53535$, $56565$, and $59595$).

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/VnOecUiP-SA

See also

2020 AMC 8 (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 18
Followed by
Problem 20
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