2010 AMC 12B Problem 11

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 11 of the 2010 AMC 12B, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2010 AMC 12B solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:palindromedivisibilitybasic probability

Difficulty rating: 1500

11.

A palindrome between 10001000 and 10,00010{,}000 is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is divisible by 7?7?

110\dfrac{1}{10}

19\dfrac{1}{9}

17\dfrac{1}{7}

16\dfrac{1}{6}

15\dfrac{1}{5}

Solution:

A four-digit palindrome has the form abba=1001a+110b\overline{abba}=1001a+110b with 1a91\le a\le9 and 0b9.0\le b\le9.

Since 1001=711131001=7\cdot11\cdot13 is divisible by 77 and 110110 is not, the number is divisible by 77 exactly when 7b,7\mid b, that is b=0b=0 or b=7.b=7.

For each a,a, that is 22 of the 1010 choices of b,b, a probability of 210=15.\dfrac{2}{10}=\dfrac15.

Thus, the correct answer is E.

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