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2010 AMC 12B Problem 4

Problem 4 of 25EasierAlgebra

A month with 3131 days has the same number of Mondays and Wednesdays. How many of the seven days of the week could be the first day of this month?

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Solution

Since 31=47+3,31=4\cdot7+3, the first three days of the month each occur five times, and the other four days occur four times. Mondays and Wednesdays are equal in number exactly when both fall in the five-time group or both fall in the four-time group. If the first day is Monday, the five-time days are Mon, Tue, Wed (both appear five times). If the first day is Thursday or Friday, the five-time days miss both Monday and Wednesday (both appear four times). Every other starting day includes exactly one of Monday or Wednesday. So the first day can be Monday, Thursday, or Friday, giving 33 possibilities. Thus, the correct answer is B.

More practice

Concepts: date and time · casework

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