2003 AMC 10A Problem 20

Attempt Problem 20 of the 2003 AMC 10A below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2003 AMC 10A solutions, or check the answer key.

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20.

A base-1010 three-digit number nn is selected at random. Which of the following is closest to the probability that the base-99 representation and the base-1111 representation of nn are both three-digit numerals?

0.30.3

0.40.4

0.50.5

0.60.6

0.70.7

Answer: E
Concepts:number basebasic probabilitycounting integers in a range
Difficulty rating: 1660
Solution:

The largest three-digit base-99 number is 931=728,9^3 - 1 = 728, and the smallest three-digit base-1111 number is 112=121.11^2 = 121.

So both conditions hold exactly when 121n728,121 \le n \le 728, giving 608608 integers.

Out of 900900 three-digit numbers, the probability is 6089000.7.\dfrac{608}{900} \approx 0.7.

Thus, the correct answer is E.

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