2020 AMC 8 Problem 8
Below is the video solution and professionally curated solution for Problem 8 of the 2020 AMC 8, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2020 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.
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Difficulty rating: 1020
8.
Ricardo has coins, some of which are pennies (-cent coins) and the rest of which are nickels (-cent coins). He has at least one penny and at least one nickel. What is the difference in cents between the greatest possible and least possible amounts of money that Ricardo can have?
Video solution:
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Written solution:
Let be the number of pennies Ricardo has and let be the number of nickels he has.
We know that and by the problem statement.
This means Therefore, It follows, then, that Ricardo has cents.
Therefore, to maximize the money he has, we maximize the number of nickels he has, and minimizing the money he has involves minimizing the number of nickels he has. The maximum number of nickels he can have is so he can have at most cents. The minimum number of nickels he can have is so he has at least cents. The difference between the maximum and minimum amount of money he can have is:
Thus, the correct answer is C.
Problem 8 in Other Years
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