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2000 AMC 10 Problems/Problem 25

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Problem

In year N, the 300^\text{th} day of the year is a Tuesday. In year N+1, the 200^\text{th} day is also a Tuesday. On what day of the week did the 100^\text{th} day of year N-1 occur?

\mathrm{(A)}\ \text{Thursday} \qquad\mathrm{(B)}\ \text{Friday} \qquad\mathrm{(C)}\ \text{Saturday} \qquad\mathrm{(D)}\ \text...

Solution

Clearly, identifying what of these years may/must/may not be a leap year will be key in solving the problem.

Let A be the 300^\text{th} day of year N, B the 200^\text{th} day of year N+1 and C the 100^\text{th} day of year N-1.

If year N is not a leap year, the day B will be (365-300) + 200 = 265 days after A. As 265 \bmod 7 = 6, that would be a Monday.

Therefore year N must be a leap year. (Then B is 266 days after A.)

As there can not be two leap years after each other, N-1 is not a leap year. Therefore day A is 265 + 300 = 565 days after C. We have 565\bmod 7 = 5. Therefore C is 5 weekdays before A, i.e., C is a \boxed{\text{Thursday}}.

(Note that the situation described by the problem statement indeed occurs in our calendar. For example, for N=2004 we have A=Tuesday, October 26th 2004, B=Tuesday, July 19th, 2005 and C=Thursday, April 10th 2003.)

See Also

2000 AMC 10 (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 24
Followed by
Last Question
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Want to learn how to tackle those tough AMC/AIME/Olympiad counting and probability problems? Check out Art of Problem Solving's Intermediate Counting & Probability by David Patrick.
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