2024 AMC 12A Problem 6

Attempt Problem 6 of the 2024 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 2024 AMC 12A solutions, or check the answer key.

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

6.

The product of three integers is 60.60. What is the least possible positive sum of the three integers?

22

33

55

66

1313

Answer: B
Concepts:factoroptimizationcasework
Difficulty rating: 1350
Solution:

To obtain a small positive sum, use two negative integers p,q-p,-q and one positive integer r,r, where pqr=60.pqr=60. Up to order, the positive factor triples of 6060 are (1,1,60),(1,2,30),(1,3,20),(1,4,15),(1,5,12),(1,6,10),(2,2,15),(2,3,10),(2,5,6),(3,4,5). \begin{gathered} (1,1,60),(1,2,30),\\ (1,3,20),(1,4,15),\\ (1,5,12),(1,6,10),\\ (2,2,15),(2,3,10),\\ (2,5,6),(3,4,5). \end{gathered} A positive value of rpqr-p-q is smallest when the largest factor is chosen as r.r. The positive values from the list are 58,27,16,10,6,3,11,5;58,27,16,10,6,3,11,5; the last two triples give negative values. Thus the least positive sum is 1016=3.10-1-6=3. (Three positive integers have sum at least 3,3, and three negative integers cannot have positive product.) Thus, the correct answer is B.

← Problem 5#5
Full Exam

Problem 6 in Other Years