2025 AMC 8 Problem 9

Below is the video solution and professionally curated solution for Problem 9 of the 2025 AMC 8, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2025 AMC 8 solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:meanarithmetic sequence

Difficulty rating: 1070

9.

Ningli looks at the 66 pairs of numbers directly across from each other on a clock. She takes the average of each pair of numbers. What is the average of the resulting 66 numbers?

55

6.56.5

88

9.59.5

1212

Video solution:
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Written solution:

The answer is the same as the average of all 1212 numbers. To understand why this is the case, it is actually generally true that if a whole bunch of numbers is split up into pairs, and each pair is averaged, and then all those pair-averages are averaged, the answer is the average of all the numbers.

To see why this is true, consider a smaller example of 66 numbers a,a, b,b, c,c, d,d, e,e, and f.f. The average of the pair-averages is: 13(a+b2+c+d2+e+f2) \frac{1}{3} \left( \frac{a+b}{2} + \frac{c+d}{2} + \frac{e+f}{2} \right) and that is equal to a+b+c+d+e+f6. \frac{a+b+c+d+e+f}{6}. The same type of simplification happens with 1212 numbers.

Since the 1212 numbers are equally spaced (in an arithmetic progression), the answer is the same as the average of the first and last number, which is 1+122=132=6.5, \frac{1+12}{2} = \frac{13}{2} = 6.5, or choice B.

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