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2004 AMC 12A Problem 9

Problem 9 of 25EasierAlgebraGeometry

A company sells peanut butter in cylindrical jars. Marketing research suggests that using wider jars will increase sales. If the diameter of the jars is increased by 25%25\% without altering the volume, by what percent must the height be decreased?

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Solution

Multiplying the diameter by 54\tfrac54 multiplies the base area by (54)2=2516.\left(\tfrac54\right)^2 = \tfrac{25}{16}. To keep the volume fixed, the height must be multiplied by 1625=0.64.\tfrac{16}{25} = 0.64. That is a decrease of 10.64=0.36,1 - 0.64 = 0.36, or 36%.36\%. Thus, the correct answer is C.

More practice

Concepts: cylinder · power scaling of length, area, and volume · percentage

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