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2002 AMC 10A Problem 21

Problem 21 of 25HarderAlgebra

The mean, median, unique mode, and range of a collection of eight integers are all equal to 8.8. The largest integer that can be an element of this collection is

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Solution

The sum is 88=64.8\cdot 8=64. The collection 6,6, 6,6, 6,6, 8,8, 8,8, 8,8, 8,8, 1414 has mean, median, unique mode, and range all equal to 8,8, so 1414 is attainable. If the largest were at least 16,16, the range condition would make the smallest at least 8.8. A mean of 88 would then force all eight integers to equal 8,8, contradicting the range. If the largest were 15,15, the range 88 forces the smallest to be 7,7, so all eight integers are at least 7.7. The other seven then sum to 6415=49=77,64-15=49=7\cdot 7, forcing every one of them to equal 7.7. But then the median and mode would be 7,7, not 8,8, a contradiction. Thus, the correct answer is D.

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Concepts: mean · median (data) · mode · extremal argument

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.