Brilli picnic

Brilli the Ant and her friends are enjoying a custard pie at a picnic. She counts that there are strictly more than 90 ant legs and strictly less than 100 ant legs at the picnic. How many ants are in attendance?

Details and assumptions

Each ant has 6 ant legs


The answer is 16.

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2 solutions

Arron Kau Staff
May 13, 2014

Since 15 × 6 = 90 15 \times 6 = 90 , there are more than 15 ants. Since 17 × 6 = 102 17 \times 6 = 102 , there are less than 17 ants.

If there are 16 ants, then there are 16 × 6 = 96 16 \times 6=96 ant legs, which fulfills the requirements. Hence, there are 16 ants.

Dan Wilhelm
Jul 7, 2015

Solution 1 (modulus)

Suppose there are n n total ant legs. We are given 91 n 99 91 \le n \le 99 and n 0 ( m o d 6 ) n \equiv 0 \pmod{6} .

Let a a be the ones digit of n n . Then, n = 90 + a 0 ( m o d 6 ) n = 90 + a \equiv 0 \pmod{6} . Because 6 90 6 | 90 , then a 0 ( m o d 6 ) a \equiv 0 \pmod{6} .

a a is a single digit greater than 1, so a = 6 a = 6 . Hence, n = 96 n = 96 , and there are 96 / 6 = 16 96 / 6 = 16 ants.


Solution 2 (divisibility properties)

Suppose there are n n total ant legs. Each ant has 6 legs, so n n must be divisible by 6. A number is divisible by 6 only if it is even and the sum of its digits is a multiple of 3.

We are given that 91 n 99 91 \le n \le 99 . So, the first digit of n n is 9 9 . Because 9 9 is a multiple of 3, the second digit also must be a multiple of 3.

So, the second digit must be positive, even, and a multiple of 3. Of the positive even digits 2, 4, 6, and 8, only 6 6 is a multiple of 3. Hence, n = 96 n = 96 , and there are 96 / 6 = 16 96 / 6 = 16 ants.

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