2015 AMC 12A Problem 13

Attempt Problem 13 of the 2015 AMC 12A 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 2015 AMC 12A solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

13.

A league with 1212 teams holds a round-robin tournament, with each team playing every other team exactly once. Games either end with one team victorious or else end in a draw. A team scores 22 points for every game it wins and 11 point for every game it draws. Which of the following is not a true statement about the list of 1212 scores?

There must be an even number of odd scores.

There must be an even number of even scores.

There cannot be two scores of 0.0.

The sum of the scores must be at least 100.100.

The highest score must be at least 12.12.

Answer: E
Concepts:parityinvariantcounterexample
Difficulty rating: 1660
Small Hint:

Every game contributes exactly 22 points in total, so the sum of all scores is fixed

Big Hint:

Consider what happens if every single game ends in a draw

Solution:

Each of the 1212 teams plays 1111 games, so 12112=66\dfrac{12\cdot 11}{2} = 66 games are played, and each game adds 22 points to the list. The total of all scores is 662=132.66\cdot 2 = 132.

If every game is a draw, each team scores 11,11, so the highest score need not reach 12;12; thus statement (E)\text{(E)} can fail. The other statements always hold: the sum 132100,132 \ge 100, the sum being even forces an even number of odd scores and hence an even number of even scores, and two teams cannot both score 00 because their mutual game gives at least one of them a point.

Thus, the correct answer is E.

Problem 12#12
Full Exam

Problem 13 in Other Years

1950 AMC 12 · 1951 AMC 12 · 1952 AMC 12 · 1953 AMC 12 · 1954 AMC 12 · 1955 AMC 12 · 1956 AMC 12 · 1957 AMC 12 · 1958 AMC 12 · 1959 AMC 12 · 1960 AMC 12 · 1961 AMC 12 · 1962 AMC 12 · 1963 AMC 12 · 1964 AMC 12 · 1965 AMC 12 · 1966 AMC 12 · 1967 AMC 12 · 1968 AMC 12 · 1969 AMC 12 · 1970 AMC 12 · 1971 AMC 12 · 1972 AMC 12 · 1973 AMC 12 · 1974 AMC 12 · 1975 AMC 12 · 1976 AMC 12 · 1977 AMC 12 · 1978 AMC 12 · 1979 AMC 12 · 1980 AMC 12 · 1981 AMC 12 · 1982 AMC 12 · 1983 AMC 12 · 1984 AMC 12 · 1985 AMC 12 · 1986 AMC 12 · 1987 AMC 12 · 1988 AMC 12 · 1989 AMC 12 · 1990 AMC 12 · 1991 AMC 12 · 1992 AMC 12 · 1993 AMC 12 · 1994 AMC 12 · 1995 AMC 12 · 1996 AMC 12 · 1997 AMC 12 · 1998 AMC 12 · 1999 AMC 12 · 2000 AMC 12 · 2001 AMC 12 · 2002 AMC 12A · 2002 AMC 12B · 2003 AMC 12A · 2003 AMC 12B · 2004 AMC 12A · 2004 AMC 12B · 2005 AMC 12A · 2005 AMC 12B · 2006 AMC 12A · 2006 AMC 12B · 2007 AMC 12A · 2007 AMC 12B · 2008 AMC 12A · 2008 AMC 12B · 2009 AMC 12A · 2009 AMC 12B · 2010 AMC 12A · 2010 AMC 12B · 2011 AMC 12A · 2011 AMC 12B · 2012 AMC 12A · 2012 AMC 12B · 2013 AMC 12A · 2013 AMC 12B · 2014 AMC 12A · 2014 AMC 12B · 2015 AMC 12B · 2016 AMC 12A · 2016 AMC 12B · 2017 AMC 12A · 2017 AMC 12B · 2018 AMC 12A · 2018 AMC 12B · 2019 AMC 12A · 2019 AMC 12B · 2020 AMC 12A · 2020 AMC 12B · 2021 AMC 12A Spring · 2021 AMC 12B Spring · 2021 AMC 12A Fall · 2021 AMC 12B Fall · 2022 AMC 12A · 2022 AMC 12B · 2023 AMC 12A · 2023 AMC 12B · 2024 AMC 12A · 2024 AMC 12B · 2025 AMC 12A · 2025 AMC 12B