1973 AMC 12 Problem 12

Attempt Problem 12 of the 1973 AMC 12 below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1973 AMC 12 solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

12.

The average (arithmetic mean) age of a group consisting of doctors and lawyers is 40.40. If the doctors average 3535 and the lawyers 5050 years old, then the ratio of the number of doctors to the number of lawyers is
3:23:2
3:13:1
2:32:3
2:12:1
1:21:2
Answer: D
Concepts:weighted meanratio and proportionlinear equation
Small hint:
Let dd and ℓ\ell be the numbers of doctors and lawyers
Big hint:
Equate the total age 35d+50ℓ35d+50\ell to 40(d+ℓ)40(d+\ell)
Solution:
If there are dd doctors and ℓ\ell lawyers, then 35d+50ℓ=40(d+ℓ). 35d+50\ell=40(d+\ell). Thus 5d=10ℓ,5d=10\ell, so d:ℓ=2:1. d:\ell=2:1.
Therefore, the correct answer is D.
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