1986 AJHSME Problems/Problem 9

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Problem

Using only the paths and the directions shown, how many different routes are there from $\text{M}$ to $\text{N}$ ?

$\text{(A)}\ 2 \qquad \text{(B)}\ 3 \qquad \text{(C)}\ 4 \qquad \text{(D)}\ 5 \qquad \text{(E)}\ 6$

Solution

There is 1 way to get from C to N. There is only one way to get from D to N, which is DCN.

Since A can only go to C or D, which each only have 1 way to get to N each, there are $1+1=2$ ways to get from A to N.

Since B can only go to A, C or N, and A only has 2 ways to get to N, C only has 1 way and to get from B to N is only 1 way, there are $2+1+1=4$ ways to get from B to N.

M can only go to either B or A, A has 2 ways and B has 4 ways, so M has $4+2=6$ ways to get to N.

6 is $\boxed{\text{E}}$ .

A diagram labeled with the number of ways to get to $\text{N}$ from each point might look like

1986 AJHSME (Problems • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 8	Followed by Problem 10
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

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1986 AJHSME Problems/Problem 9

From AoPSWiki

Problem

Solution

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