2012 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 22

Problem

Let $R$ be a set of nine distinct integers. Six of the elements are $2$ , $3$ , $4$ , $6$ , $9$ , and $14$ . What is the number of possible values of the median of $R$ ?

$\textbf{(A)}\hspace{.05in}4\qquad\textbf{(B)}\hspace{.05in}5\qquad\textbf{(C)}\hspace{.05in}6\qquad\textbf{(D)}\hspace{.05in}7\qquad\textbf{(E)}\hspace{.05in}8$

Solution 2

Let the values of the missing integers be $x, y, z$ . We will find the bound of the possible medians.

The smallest possible median will happen when we order the set as $\{x, y, z, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14\}$ . The median is $3$ .

The largest possible median will happen when we order the set as $\{2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, x, y, z\}$ . The median is $9$ .

Therefore, the median must be between $3$ and $9$ inclusive, yielding $\boxed{\textbf{(D)}\ 7}$ possible medians.

~superagh

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/yBSrLxv0LbY ~savannahsolver

2012 AMC 8 (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
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2012 AMC 8 Problems/Problem 22

Contents

Problem

Solution 2

Video Solution

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