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2010 AMC 12B Problem 11

Problem 11 of 25IntermediateNumber TheoryCounting & Probability

A palindrome between 10001000 and 10,00010{,}000 is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is divisible by 7?7?

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Solution

A four-digit palindrome has the form abba=1001a+110b\overline{abba}=1001a+110b with 1a91\le a\le9 and 0b9.0\le b\le9. Since 1001=711131001=7\cdot11\cdot13 is divisible by 77 and 110110 is not, the number is divisible by 77 exactly when bb is divisible by 7,7, that is b=0b=0 or b=7.b=7. For each a,a, that is 22 of the 1010 choices of b,b, a probability of 210=15.\dfrac{2}{10}=\dfrac15. Thus, the correct answer is E.

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Concepts: palindrome · divisibility · basic probability

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