Congratulations Math Counts students!
The sample problem in the March 23 article appears to be flawed. Given five odd integers – A, B, C, D and E (smallest to largest) The answer for A cannot be 6 – which is an even integer.
If the editor meant to write a 9 for A, then E would be 23 as a consequence of the range (= 14) for these five integers. And this answer too is wrong, since the mean cannot then be 35.
I believe something got lost in the translation for the problem in the local paper.
Chuck Flickinger
Grand Marais
Editors note: Our astute reader (and very good mathematician) Chuck Flickinger noticed that the answer to the sample problem in last week’s paper in the story about Math Counts was wrong. In checking with Math Counts advisor Jeff Kern, Kern said there was an error in transcribing the answer. Kern said that Flickinger was right and the correct answer was 19, and not 6. Good catch, Chuck!
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