2012 AMC 10A Problem 23
Attempt Problem 23 of the 2012 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 2012 AMC 10A solutions, or check the answer key.
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23.
Adam, Benin, Chiang, Deshawn, Esther, and Fiona have internet accounts. Some, but not all, of them are internet friends with each other, and none of them has an internet friend outside this group. Each of them has the same number of internet friends. In how many different ways can this happen?
Answer: B
Solution:
We case on the value of friends that each person has. This value ranges from to , since the graph is neither empty nor complete.
Note that the cases for and friends correspond with the case for and friends, since choosing who are friends determines who are not friends.
Case 1: everyone has friend
This means that the people must split up into pairs where the people in each pair are friends.
There are choices for the friend for the first person. This leaves people remaining.
There are then choices for the friend of the next unpaired person. The remaining people are then forced to be friends.
Therefore, there are possibilities for this case.
Case 2: everyone has friends
There are two possibilities for this case. There could be two triples where everyone in a triple is friends with each other.
For this possibility, there are ways to choose the people in the first triple. We have to divide by since we can swap the pairs. This gives us configurations.
The second possibility is that the friends form one -cycle.
Every ordering of the six people around a cycle gives such a graph. Each graph is counted times by the choice of starting person and times by the direction of traversal, so there are distinct -cycles. Together with the pairs of triangles, this case has configurations.
The total number of arrangements is then
Thus, B is the correct answer.
Problem 23 in Other Years
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