2020 AMC 10B Problem 19

Below is the video solution and professionally curated solution for Problem 19 of the 2020 AMC 10B, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2020 AMC 10B solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:combinationsdigitsmodular arithmetic

Difficulty rating: 1620

19.

In a certain card game, a player is dealt a hand of 1010 cards from a deck of 5252 distinct cards. The number of distinct (unordered) hands that can be dealt to the player can be written as 158A00A4AA0.158A00A4AA0. What is the digit A?A?

22

33

44

66

77

Video solution:
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Written solution:

The number of distinct hands that can be dealt to the player is equal to: (5210)=52!42!10!=101713747461143=158A00A4AA0\begin{align*} &\binom{52}{10} \\ &= \dfrac{52!}{42!\cdot 10!}\\ &=10\cdot 17\cdot 13\cdot 7\cdot 47\cdot 46\cdot 11\cdot 43\\ &= 158A00A4AA0 \end{align*}

Therefore: 1713747461143=158A00A4AA\begin{align*} &17\cdot 13\cdot 7\cdot 47\cdot 46\cdot 11\cdot 43\\ &= 158A00A4AA \end{align*}

To find the units digit, we can find the value of this expression mod 1010: A1713747461143mod107377613mod101963mod1098mod102mod10\begin{align*} A &\equiv 17\cdot 13\cdot 7\cdot 47\cdot \\&46\cdot 11\cdot 43 \bmod{10}\\ &\equiv 7\cdot 3\cdot 7\cdot 7\cdot 6\cdot 1\cdot 3 \bmod{10}\\ &\equiv 1\cdot 9\cdot 6\cdot 3 \bmod{10}\\ &\equiv 9\cdot 8 \bmod{10}\\ &\equiv 2 \bmod{10}\\ \end{align*}

Therefore, as 0A9,0\le A \le 9, and A2mod10,A\equiv 2\bmod{10}, it follows that A=2.A=2.

Thus, A is the correct answer.

Problem 19 in Other Years