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2000 AMC 12 Problems/Problem 13

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Problem

One morning each member of Angela’s family drank an 8-ounce mixture of coffee with milk. The amounts of coffee and milk varied from cup to cup, but were never zero. Angela drank a quarter of the total amount of milk and a sixth of the total amount of coffee. How many people are in the family?

\text {(A)}\ 3 \qquad \text {(B)}\ 4 \qquad \text {(C)}\ 5 \qquad \text {(D)}\ 6 \qquad \text {(E)}\ 7

Solution

Let a be the total amount of coffee, b of milk, and n the number of people in the family. Then each person drinks the same total amount of coffee and milk (8 ounces), so \left(\frac{a}{6} + \frac{b}{4}\right)n = a + b Regrouping, we get 2a(6-n)=3b(n-4). Since both a,b are positive, it follows that 6-n,n-4 are also positive, which is only possible when n = 5\ \mathrm{(C)}.

See also

2000 AMC 12 (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 12
Followed by
Problem 14
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
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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