Art of Problem Solving

1950 AHSME Problems/Problem 45: Difference between revisions

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Created page with "==Problem== The number of diagonals that can be drawn in a polygon of 100 sides is: <math>\textbf{(A)}\ 4850 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 4950\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 9900 \qquad \textbf{(..."
 
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Added a solution to the problem. Lots of these problems don't even have solution sections.
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\textbf{(D)}\ 98 \qquad
\textbf{(D)}\ 98 \qquad
\textbf{(E)}\ 8800</math>
\textbf{(E)}\ 8800</math>
== Solution ==
Each diagonal has its two endpoints as vertices of the 100-gon. Each pair of vertices determines exactly one diagonal. Therefore the answer should be <math>\binom{100}{2}=4950</math>. However this also counts the 100 sides of the polygon, so the actual answer is <math>4950-100=\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ 4850 }</math>.
== See Also ==
{{AHSME 50p box|year=1950|num-b=44|num-a=46}}
[[Category:Introductory Combinatorics Problems]]

Revision as of 10:20, 23 April 2012

Problem

The number of diagonals that can be drawn in a polygon of 100 sides is:

$\textbf{(A)}\ 4850 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 4950\qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 9900 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 98 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 8800$

Solution

Each diagonal has its two endpoints as vertices of the 100-gon. Each pair of vertices determines exactly one diagonal. Therefore the answer should be $\binom{100}{2}=4950$. However this also counts the 100 sides of the polygon, so the actual answer is $4950-100=\boxed{\textbf{(A)}\ 4850 }$.

See Also

1950 AHSC (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 44
Followed by
Problem 46
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