Question

For a certain race, 3 teams were allowed to enter 3 members each. A team earned 6 – n points whenever one of its members finished in nth place, where 1 n 5. There were no ties, disqualifications, orwithdrawals. If no team earned more than 6 points, what is the least possible score a team could have earned?

A.0
B.1
C.2
D.3
E.4

Answer 1

The least possible score a team could have earned is 3.

Step-by-step explanation:

As given 3 teams had 3 members each that means there are 3*3=9 racers in total.

Since 1<=n<=5 keeping in mind there is no ties, 'n' varies from 1 to 5, so a racer finishes the race in any of the position from 1 to 5, the team earned 6-n points. This means if racer finishes first he'll get 5 points, if second he'll get 4 points, if third he'll get 3 points and so on. In total 5+4+3+2+1 = 15 points were given.

Question specify no team got more than 6 points. Since the total is 15 and the maximum points that can be earned by two teams should be 12 points (6 points each). The minimum points earned by the last team or third team will be 15-12=3.

Thus, the least possible points will be 3.