AMC 8 Daily Practice - Calculation Tricks by Grouping
Complete problem set with solutions and individual problem pages
What is the value of ?
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Through observation, we notice that the expression appears repeatedly in the original formula.
The expression can be rewritten as:
Thus, the final result is .
What is the value of ?
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We group the addends in pairs: We find that when calculating each of the expressions within the parentheses, the result always is one, and there are fifty parentheses.
So the result of the original expression is .
What is the value of ?
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- E.
By observing the arithmetic expression, we notice that the sum of the first four numbers is 0:
Examining the next set of four numbers, we find their sum is also 0:
Thus, the original expression can be rewritten as:
The problem now reduces to determining how many such groups exist. From 169 to 9, there are a total of 161 numbers.
When divided into groups of four, we get: groups with a remainder of 1.
Therefore, the original expression can be represented as:
The final result is .
What is the value of ?
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- D.
- E.
By observing the arithmetic sequence, we notice that the sum of every two consecutive numbers from left to right is .
Therefore, we can group the numbers in pairs. Since there are numbers in total, dividing them into groups of two yields: groups with a remainder of .
Thus, the original expression can be rewritten as:
The final result is .
What is the value of ?
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- B.
- C.
- D.
- E.
Through observation, we find that the sum of every two consecutive numbers is .
Grouping the sequence into pairs, we calculate the total number of terms as: numbers, which forms complete groups with 1 remaining term.
The original expression can thus be rewritten as: .
The final result is .
What is the value of ?
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This problem is somewhat unique and requires careful observation. We notice that the operation signs repeat every three numbers in the pattern .
Therefore, we can group every three numbers together. The sum of the first group is , the sum of the second group is , and the sum of the third group is , indicating that these sums form an arithmetic sequence with a common difference of .
Calculating the number of groups: terms, then groups with a remainder of term. Thus, there are complete groups.
We can rewrite the original expression as:
This forms an arithmetic sequence with: - First term - Common difference - Last term -
Applying the arithmetic series sum formula (Gauss's formula):
The final result is .
What is the value of ?
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Method 1:
By observation, we notice that the expression contains common factors 211 and 789.
Applying the associative property of multiplication, the original expression can be rewritten as:
Thus, the result is .
Method 2:
By observation, we notice that the expression contains common factors 555 and 445.
Applying the associative property of multiplication, the original expression can be rewritten as:
Thus, the result is .
What is the value of ?
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- B.
- C.
- D.
- E.
By observing the first four terms, we notice the common factor .
Applying the associative property of multiplication, the first four terms can be rewritten as:
Similarly, analyzing terms five to eight, we identify the common factor and rewrite them as:
The original expression can thus be transformed into a series of such grouped terms:
This forms an arithmetic sequence with: - First term - Last term - Common difference - Number of terms
Applying Gauss's formula for the sum of an arithmetic series:
Final calculation:
The final result is .
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