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1993 AIME Problems/Problem 3

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Problem

The table below displays some of the results of last summer's Frostbite Falls Fishing Festival, showing how many contestants caught fish for various values of .

\begin{array}{|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|c|} \hline n & 0 & 1 & 2 & 3 & \dots & 13 & 14 & 15 \\\hline \text{number of contestants who caught} \ n \ \text{fish} & 9 & 5 & 7 & 23 & \dots & 5 & 2 & 1 \\\hline \end{array}

In the newspaper story covering the event, it was reported that

(a) the winner caught fish;
(b) those who caught or more fish averaged fish each;
(c) those who caught or fewer fish averaged fish each.

What was the total number of fish caught during the festival?

Solution

Suppose that the number of fish is and the number of contestants is . The fishers that caught 3 or more fish caught a total of x - \left(0(9) + 1(5) + 2(7)\right) = x - 19 fish. Since they averaged 6 fish,
6 = \frac{x - 19}{y - 21} \Longrightarrow x - 19 = 6y - 126.
Similarily, those whom caught 12 or fewer fish averaged 5 fish per person, so
5 = \frac{x - (13(5) + 14(2) + 15(1))}{y - 8} = \frac{x - 108}{y - 8} \Longrightarrow x - 108 = 5y - 40.
Solving the two equation system, we find that and , the answer.

See also

1993 AIME (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 2
Followed by
Problem 4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Want to learn how to tackle those tough MATHCOUNTS and AMC counting and probability problems? Check out Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Counting & Probability by David Patrick.
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