2014 AMC 12B Problem 12

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 12 of the 2014 AMC 12B, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2014 AMC 12B solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:triangle inequalitysimilaritysystematic listing

Difficulty rating: 1770

12.

A set SS consists of triangles whose sides have integer lengths less than 5,5, and no two elements of SS are congruent or similar. What is the largest number of elements that SS can have?

88

99

1010

1111

1212

Solution:

Write each triangle by its side lengths in nonincreasing order. Only one equilateral triangle is allowed (all are similar), and of the similar pair 2,2,12,2,1 and 4,4,24,4,2 only one may appear.

The remaining valid, pairwise non-similar triangles are 443, 441, 433, 432, 332, 331, 322, 4\,4\,3,\ 4\,4\,1,\ 4\,3\,3,\ 4\,3\,2,\ 3\,3\,2,\ 3\,3\,1,\ 3\,2\,2, seven in all. Together with one equilateral and one of the similar pair, SS has at most 99 elements.

Thus, the correct answer is B.

Problem 12 in Other Years