Re: TIB: American High School Math Exam thingy...


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Re: TIB: American High School Math Exam thingy...




In a message dated 2/15/00 11:35:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
ak@creativegeometry.com writes:

> here it is.
>  Let I, M, and O ve distinct positive integers such that the product
>  IMO=2001. What is the largest possible value of the sum I+M+O?
>  I dunno, I just figured that it's best to have a very large number
>  multiplied by a very small number so that the sum is maximum. Therefore I
>  divided 2001 by 3, got 667, and my answer is 667+3+1=671 (e).
>  The ones in the end are much more hardcore though. I'll copy one:
>  23. Professor Gamble buys a lottery ticket, which requires that he pick six
>  different integers from 1 thru 46, inclusive. He chooses his #s s.t. the 
sum
>  of the base-10 logarithms of his 6 #s is an integer. It so happens that the
>  integers on the winning ticket have the same property - the sum of the
>  base-10 logarithms is an integer. What is the probability that Professor
>  Gamble holds the winning ticket?
>  1/5; 1/4; 1/3; 1/2; 1
>  anyone in for this? I didn't even know where to begin :)
>  -ak

The answer to the second one is 1/2.  As much as I enjoyed that one, I 
preferred the coffee-milk problem.  Everyone in a family has an 8 ounce cup 
of coffee and milk (both in quantities > 0).  One person fills his cup with 
1/6 of the total amount of coffee used and 1/4 of the total milk used.  How 
many people are in the family?  It's elegant mathematics.  I could tell you 
the answer, but it's more fun to watch you sweat : )