AMC 10 Step by Step

2005 AMC 10B Problem 20

P16-20~3 minPrint

What is the average (mean) of all 5-digit numbers that can be formed by using each of the digits 1, 3, 5, 7, and 8 exactly once?

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Key insight

Each of the five digits sits in each place equally often, so every place averages (1+3+5+7+8)/5 = 4.8. The average number is 4.8 times 11111.

Solution

There are 5⋅4⋅3⋅2⋅1=1205 \cdot 4 \cdot 3 \cdot 2 \cdot 1 = 120 such numbers, far too many to list. Instead, think about one place value at a time.

1. Each digit is equally common in each place. Look at the ones place. If 88 is in the ones place, the other four digits can be arranged in 4⋅3⋅2⋅1=244 \cdot 3 \cdot 2 \cdot 1 = 24 ways. The same is true for 11, 33, 55, or 77 in the ones place. So each digit appears in the ones place 2424 times. The same count works for every other place.
2. Average digit in each place. Since each digit is equally common, the average digit in any place is
1+3+5+7+85=245=4.8.\frac{1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 8}{5} = \frac{24}{5} = 4.8.
3. Build the average number. A 5-digit number is (ten-thousands digit)⋅10000\cdot 10000 + (thousands digit)⋅1000\cdot 1000 + ... + (ones digit). Averaging each place separately, the average number is
4.8⋅10000+4.8⋅1000+4.8⋅100+4.8⋅10+4.8=4.8⋅11111=53332.8.4.8 \cdot 10000 + 4.8 \cdot 1000 + 4.8 \cdot 100 + 4.8 \cdot 10 + 4.8 = 4.8 \cdot 11111 = 53332.8.

The answer is (C) 53332.8\boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 53332.8}.

Why this works

A number is just its digits times place values, added up, and you can average each place on its own. When every arrangement of the digits is used, each digit gets each place equally often, so every place has the same average. So the answer is always "average digit times 11…111\ldots1". The digit 88 (instead of 99) is what pulls the answer below 5555555555.

Alternative approach

Add them all up. Each digit appears 2424 times in each place, so the total of all 120120 numbers is 24⋅(1+3+5+7+8)⋅11111=24⋅24⋅11111=639993624 \cdot (1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 8) \cdot 11111 = 24 \cdot 24 \cdot 11111 = 6399936. Dividing by 120120 gives 53332.853332.8.

Concise solution

A shorter write-up, the way contest solutions are usually written. It may take a different route from the solution above.

Fix any one place, say the thousands place. Among all 5!=1205! = 120 arrangements, each of the five digits sits in that place equally often (namely 4!=244! = 24 times), because swapping labels of the digits does not change the set of arrangements. So the average digit in that place is
1+3+5+7+85=245=4.8.\frac{1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 8}{5} = \frac{24}{5} = 4.8.

The same holds for every place. The mean of a sum is the sum of the means, so the mean of all the numbers is
4.8⋅104+4.8⋅103+4.8⋅102+4.8⋅10+4.8=4.8⋅11111=53332.8.4.8 \cdot 10^4 + 4.8 \cdot 10^3 + 4.8 \cdot 10^2 + 4.8 \cdot 10 + 4.8 = 4.8 \cdot 11111 = 53332.8.

The answer is (C) 53332.8\boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 53332.8}.

Review in the AoPS books

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Problem © Mathematical Association of America (MAA), American Mathematics Competitions. Reproduced for non-commercial educational use. Solution and commentary are original to this site.