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2006 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 19

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Problem

How many non-similar triangles have angles whose degree measures are distinct positive integers in arithmetic progression?

\mathrm{(A) \ } 0\qquad\mathrm{(B) \ } 1\qquad\mathrm{(C) \ } 59\qquad\mathrm{(D) \ } 89\qquad\mathrm{(E) \ } 178\qquad

Solution

The sum of the angles of a triangle is 180 degrees. For an arithmetic progression with an odd number of terms, the middle term is equal to the average of the sum of all of the terms, making it \frac{180}{2} = 60 degrees. The minimum possibly value for the smallest angle is 1 and the highest possible is 59 (since the numbers are distinct), so there are 59 possibilities \Longrightarrow \mathrm{C}.

See also

2006 AMC 10A (ProblemsResources)
Preceded by
Problem 18
Followed by
Problem 20
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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