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2004 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 14

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Problem

A bag initially contains red marbles and blue marbles only, with more blue than red. Red marbles are added to the bag until only \frac{1}{3} of the marbles in the bag are blue. Then yellow marbles are added to the bag until only \frac{1}{5} of the marbles in the bag are blue. Finally, the number of blue marbles in the bag is doubled. What fraction of the marbles now in the bag are blue?

\mathrm{(A) \ } \frac{1}{5} \qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } \frac{1}{4} \qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } \frac{1}{3} \qquad \mathrm{(D) \ } \fra...

Solution

We can ignore most of the problem statement. The only important information is that immediately before the last step blue marbles formed \frac{1}{5} of the marbles in the bag. This means that there were x blue and 4x other marbles, for some x. When we double the number of blue marbles, there will be 2x blue and 4x other marbles, hence blue marbles now form \boxed{ \frac{1}{3} } of all marbles in the bag.

See also

2004 AMC 10B (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 13
Followed by
Problem 15
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Looking for a challenging geometry text? Preparing for MATHCOUNTS or the AMC exams? Check out Art of Problem Solving's Introduction to Geometry by Richard Rusczyk.
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