1986 AMC 12 Problem 12

Attempt Problem 12 of the 1986 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 1986 AMC 12 solutions, or check the answer key.

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

12.

John scores 9393 on this year’s AHSME. Had the old scoring system still been in effect, he would score only 8484 for the same answers. How many questions does he leave unanswered? (In the new scoring system that year, one received 55 points for each correct answer, 00 points for each wrong answer, and 22 points for each problem left unanswered. In the previous scoring system, one started with 3030 points, received 44 more for each correct answer, lost 11 point for each wrong answer, and neither gained nor lost points for unanswered questions. There are 3030 questions in the 19861986 AHSME.)
66
99
1111
1414
not uniquely determined
Answer: B
Concepts:system of equationsscoringelimination
Small hint:
Let c,w,uc,w,u be the numbers correct, wrong and unanswered
Big hint:
Use c+w+u=30c+w+u=30 to rewrite the old score before comparing it with the new score
Solution:
Let c,w,uc,w,u be the numbers correct, wrong and unanswered. The old score and total number of questions give 30+4c−w=84,c+w+u=30. \begin{aligned} 30+4c-w&=84,\\ c+w+u&=30. \end{aligned} Eliminating ww yields 5c+u=84.5c+u=84. The new score is 5c+2u=93.5c+2u=93. Subtracting these equations gives u=9.u=9.
Thus the correct answer is B.
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