2003 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 8: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:54, 31 July 2011

The following problem is from both the 2003 AMC 12A #8 and 2003 AMC 10A #8, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

What is the probability that a randomly drawn positive factor of $60$ is less than $7$ ?

$\mathrm{(A) \ } \frac{1}{10}\qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } \frac{1}{6}\qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } \frac{1}{4}\qquad \mathrm{(D) \ } \frac{1}{3}\qquad \mathrm{(E) \ } \frac{1}{2}$

Solution

Solution 1

For a positive number $n$ which is not a perfect square, exactly half of the positive factors will be less than $\sqrt{n}$ .

Since $60$ is not a perfect square, half of the positive factors of $60$ will be less than $\sqrt{60}\approx 7.746$ .

Clearly, there are no positive factors of $60$ between $7$ and $\sqrt{60}$ .

Therefore half of the positive factors will be less than $7$ .

So the answer is $\boxed{\mathrm{(E)}\ \frac{1}{2}}$ .

Solution 2

Testing all numbers less than $7$ , numbers $1, 2, 3, 4, 5$ , and $6$ divide $60$ . The prime factorization of $60$ is $2^2\cdot 3 \cdot 5$ . Using the formula for the number of divisors, the total number of divisors of $60$ is $(3)(2)(2) = 12$ . Therefore, our desired probability is $\frac{6}{12} = \boxed{\mathrm{(E)}\ \frac{1}{2}}$

2003 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 7	Followed by Problem 9
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2003 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 7	Followed by Problem 9
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{duplicate|[[2003 AMC 12A Problems|2003 AMC 12A #8]] and [[2003 AMC 10A Problems|2003 AMC 10A #8]]}}
 == Problem ==
 What is the probability that a randomly drawn positive factor of <math>60</math> is less than <math>7</math>?
@@ Line 4: / Line 5: @@
 <math> \mathrm{(A) \ } \frac{1}{10}\qquad \mathrm{(B) \ } \frac{1}{6}\qquad \mathrm{(C) \ } \frac{1}{4}\qquad \mathrm{(D) \ } \frac{1}{3}\qquad \mathrm{(E) \ } \frac{1}{2} </math>
-== Solution 1==
+==Solution==
+=== Solution 1===
 For a positive number <math>n</math> which is not a perfect square, exactly half of the positive factors will be less than <math>\sqrt{n}</math>.
@@ Line 13: / Line 16: @@
 Therefore half of the positive factors will be less than <math>7</math>.
-So the answer is <math>\frac{1}{2} \Rightarrow E</math>.
+So the answer is <math>\boxed{\mathrm{(E)}\ \frac{1}{2}}</math>.
-== Solution 2==
+=== Solution 2===
-Testing all numbers less than <math>7</math>, numbers <math>1, 2, 3, 4, 5</math>, and <math>6</math> divide <math>60</math>. The prime factorization of <math>60</math> is <math>2^2\cdot 3 \cdot 5</math>. Using the formula for the number of divisors, the total number of divisors of <math>60</math> is <math>(3)(2)(2) = 12</math>. Therefore, our desired probability is <math>\frac{6}{12} = \frac{1}{2} \Rightarrow E</math>
+Testing all numbers less than <math>7</math>, numbers <math>1, 2, 3, 4, 5</math>, and <math>6</math> divide <math>60</math>. The prime factorization of <math>60</math> is <math>2^2\cdot 3 \cdot 5</math>. Using the formula for the number of divisors, the total number of divisors of <math>60</math> is <math>(3)(2)(2) = 12</math>. Therefore, our desired probability is <math>\frac{6}{12} = \boxed{\mathrm{(E)}\ \frac{1}{2}}</math>
 == See Also ==
+{{AMC10 box|year=2003|ab=A|num-b=7|num-a=9}}
 {{AMC12 box|year=2003|ab=A|num-b=7|num-a=9}}
 [[Category:Introductory Number Theory Problems]]

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