1987 AMC 8 Problem 18

Attempt Problem 18 of the 1987 AMC 8 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 1987 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.

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

18.

Half the people in a room left. One third of those remaining started to dance. There were then 1212 people who were not dancing. What was the original number of people in the room?
2424
3030
3636
4242
7272
Answer: C
Concepts:fractionwork backwards
Small hint:
After half leave, the number remaining is what the dancing fraction applies to
Big hint:
The 1212 non-dancers are 23\dfrac23 of those remaining
Solution:
Of those remaining, 13\dfrac13 danced, so 23\dfrac23 did not. Thus 23\dfrac23 of the remaining people equals 12,12, giving 1818 remaining.
Those 1818 are half the original group, so the room started with 2×18=362 \times 18 = 36 people.
Thus, the correct answer is C .
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