Question

Nicolas is planning to send a package to his friend Anton, who is a stamp collector. To pay for the postage, Nicolas would like to cover the package with a large number of stamps. Suppose he has a collection of $5$ -cent, $10$ -cent, and $25$ -cent stamps, with exactly $20$ of each type. What is the greatest number of stamps Nicolas can use to make exactly $\$7.10$ in postage?

(Note: The amount $\$7.10$ corresponds to $7$ dollars and $10$ cents. One dollar is worth $100$ cents.)

$45$

$46$

$51$

$54$

$55$

Answer: E

Concepts:optimization modular arithmetic

Difficulty rating: 1480

Video solution:

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Written solution:

Let $a,b,c$ be the numbers of $5$ -, $10$ -, and $25$ -cent stamps, and let $n=a+b+c.$ Dividing the value equation by $5$ gives $a+2b+5c=142,$ so $n+b+4c=142.$

Suppose $n\ge56.$ Then $b+4c\le86.$ Also $a=142-2b-5c\le20,$ so $2b+5c\ge122.$ Combining these inequalities gives $c\le16,$ but then $2b+5c\le2(20)+5(16)=120,$ a contradiction. Thus at most $55$ stamps can be used.

The bound is attainable with $a=19, b=19, c=17:$ $19(5)+19(10)+17(25)=710.$ Hence the greatest possible number of stamps is $19+19+17=55.$

Thus, E is the correct answer.

2023 AMC 8 Problem 14

Answer: E

Difficulty rating: 1480

Video solution:

Written solution:

Problem 14 in Other Years