1985 AMC 12 Problem 14

Attempt Problem 14 of the 1985 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 1985 AMC 12 solutions, or check the answer key.

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

14.

Exactly three of the interior angles of a convex polygon are obtuse. What is the maximum number of sides of such a polygon?
44
55
66
77
88
Answer: C
Concepts:angle sumextremal argumentinequality
Small hint:
Bound the three obtuse angles by 180∘180^\circ and every other angle by 90∘90^\circ
Big hint:
Compare that upper bound with the interior-angle sum (n−2)180∘(n-2)180^\circ
Solution:
For an nn-gon, the three obtuse angles have total less than 3⋅180∘,3\cdot180^\circ, while the other n−3n-3 angles have total at most (n−3)90∘.(n-3)90^\circ. Hence (n−2)180∘<3(180∘)+(n−3)90∘, \begin{aligned} (n-2)180^\circ &\lt3(180^\circ)\\ &\quad{}+(n-3)90^\circ, \end{aligned} which simplifies to n<7.n\lt7. Six sides are attainable, for example with interior angles 150∘,150^\circ, 150∘,150^\circ, 150∘,150^\circ, 90∘,90^\circ, 90∘,90^\circ, and 90∘.90^\circ. Thus the maximum is 6.6.
Therefore the correct answer is C.
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