Question

Penniless Pete's piggy bank has no pennies in it, but it has $100$ coins, all nickels, dimes, and quarters, whose total value is $\$8.35.$ It does not necessarily contain coins of all three types. What is the difference between the largest and smallest number of dimes that could be in the bank?

$0$

$13$

$37$

$64$

$83$

Answer: D

Concepts:system of equations Diophantine Equation bounding to limit cases

Difficulty rating: 1430

Solution:

Let $n,$ $d,$ $q$ be the numbers of nickels, dimes, quarters. Then $n + d + q = 100$ and $n + 2d + 5q = 167$ (dividing the value equation by $5$ ).

Subtracting gives $d + 4q = 67,$ so $d = 67 - 4q.$

The largest $d$ is at $q = 0,$ giving $d = 67$ (with $n = 33$ ). The smallest occurs at $q = 16,$ giving $d = 3$ (with $n = 81$ ). The difference is $67 - 3 = 64.$

Thus, the correct answer is D.

2003 AMC 12B Problem 7

Answer: D

Difficulty rating: 1430

Solution:

Problem 7 in Other Years