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2008 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 1

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Problem

A basketball player made 5 baskets during a game. Each basket was worth either 2 or 3 points. How many different numbers could represent the total points scored by the player?

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

Solution

If the basketball player makes x three-point shots and 5-x two-point shots, he scores 3x+2(5-x)=10+x points. Clearly every value of x yields a different number of total points. Since he can make any number of three-point shots between 0 and 5 inclusive, the number of different point totals is 6 \Rightarrow E.

See Also

2008 AMC 12B (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
First question
Followed by
Problem 2
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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