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2013 AMC 12A Problem 2

Problem 2 of 25EasierNumber Theory

A softball team played ten games, scoring 1,1, 2,2, 3,3, 4,4, 5,5, 6,6, 7,7, 8,8, 9,9, and 1010 runs. They lost by one run in exactly five games. In each of their other games, they scored twice as many runs as their opponent. How many total runs did their opponents score?

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Solution

The team can only score twice as many runs as its opponent when its own score is even. Those games have scores 2,4,6,8,10,2, 4, 6, 8, 10, so their opponents scored 1+2+3+4+5=15.1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15. The other five games had scores 1,3,5,7,91, 3, 5, 7, 9 and were one-run losses, so their opponents scored 2+4+6+8+10=30.2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 = 30. The total is 15+30=45.15 + 30 = 45. Thus, the correct answer is C.

More practice

Concepts: parity · casework

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