2014 AMC 12A Problem 3
Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 3 of the 2014 AMC 12A, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2014 AMC 12A solutions, or check the answer key.
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Difficulty rating: 1200
3.
Walking down Jane Street, Ralph passed four houses in a row, each painted a different color. He passed the orange house before the red house, and he passed the blue house before the yellow house. The blue house was not next to the yellow house. How many orderings of the colored houses are possible?
Solution:
If orange comes first, then blue and yellow cannot be adjacent, forcing the order orange, blue, red, yellow.
If blue comes first, yellow can be in the third or fourth position (never second, to avoid adjacency), giving blue, orange, yellow, red and blue, orange, red, yellow.
These are the only valid orderings.
Thus, the correct answer is B.
Problem 3 in Other Years
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