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2016/17 AHSMC Part 1 Problem 7

Problem 7 of 16

The angles of a triangle when measured in degrees are all prime numbers. The smallest possible size of the largest angle is:

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Solution

Let A≤B≤CA \le B \le C be the measures in degrees of the angles of △ABC\triangle ABC. Since A+B+C=180∘A+B+C = 180^\circ one of the angles should be even and hence A=2∘A = 2^\circ. On the other hand, 178∘=B+C≤2C178^\circ = B+C \le 2C, hence C≥89∘C \ge 89^\circ. Since 8989 is prime, we can take B=C=89∘B = C = 89^\circ, A=2∘A = 2^\circ. The answer is (D).