2014 AMC 10B Problem 24

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Concepts:circular arrangementscasework

Difficulty rating: 2390

24.

The numbers 1,2,3,4,51, 2, 3, 4, 5 are to be arranged in a circle. An arrangement is bad\textit{bad} if it is not true that for every nn from 11 to 1515 one can find a subset of the numbers that appear consecutively on the circle that sum to n.n. Arrangements that differ only by a rotation or a reflection are considered the same. How many different bad arrangements are there?

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

5. 5 .

Solution:

Single numbers give sums 11 through 55, complements give sums 1010 through 1414, and all five numbers give 1515. So an arrangement is good exactly when consecutive blocks can make sums 66 and 77.

If sum 66 is impossible, then 11 is not adjacent to 55. By rotating and reflecting, write the arrangement as 1bc5e1bc5e. The adjacent pair bcbc cannot be {2,3}\{2,3\} or {2,4}\{2,4\}, since 1+2+3=61+2+3=6 and 2+4=62+4=6. Thus e=2e=2, and avoiding the consecutive block 2,1,32,1,3 forces the bad arrangement 1435214352.

If sum 77 is impossible, then 22 is not adjacent to 55. Similarly write the arrangement as 2bc5e2bc5e. Now bcbc cannot be {3,4}\{3,4\} or {1,4}\{1,4\}, so e=4e=4. To avoid the consecutive block 4,2,14,2,1, the remaining order must be b=3, c=1b=3,\ c=1, giving 2315423154.

These two arrangements are indeed bad, one missing sum 66 and the other missing sum 77. Hence there are 22 bad arrangements.

Thus, the correct answer is B .

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