2004 AMC 8 Problem 20

Attempt Problem 20 of the 2004 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 2004 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.

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

20.

Two-thirds of the people in a room are seated in three-fourths of the chairs. The rest of the people are standing. If there are 66 empty chairs, how many people are in the room?
1212
1818
2424
2727
3636
Answer: D
Concepts:fractionratio and proportion
Small hint:
The empty chairs are the remaining one-fourth of the chairs.
Big hint:
The seated people are two-thirds of all the people.
Solution:
Since 34\frac{3}{4} of the chairs are occupied, the 66 empty chairs are 14\frac{1}{4} of all the chairs. Thus there are 2424 chairs.
The number of seated people is 34\frac{3}{4} of 24,24, which is 18.18.
Those 1818 seated people are 23\frac{2}{3} of all the people, so the total number of people is 18÷23=27.18\div\frac23=27.
Thus, D is the correct answer.
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