Matches played between boys and girls

CAT 2018 Slot 2 · QA · Hard · Permutations & Combinations

In a tournament, there are 43 junior level and 51 senior level participants. Each pair of juniors play one match. Each pair of seniors play one match. There is no junior versus senior match. The number of girl versus girl matches in junior level is 153, while the number of boy versus boy matches in senior level is 276. The number of matches a boy plays against a girl is

Answer

1098

Explanation

Let gjg_j and bjb_j be the number of girls and boys in the junior level, where gj+bj=43g_j + b_j = 43. Girl vs girl matches in junior level: (gj2)=153    gj(gj1)=306=18×17\binom{g_j}{2} = 153 \implies g_j(g_j - 1) = 306 = 18 \times 17. So gj=18    bj=4318=25g_j = 18 \implies b_j = 43 - 18 = 25.

Let gsg_s and bsb_s be the number of girls and boys in the senior level, where gs+bs=51g_s + b_s = 51. Boy vs boy matches in senior level: (bs2)=276    bs(bs1)=552=24×23\binom{b_s}{2} = 276 \implies b_s(b_s - 1) = 552 = 24 \times 23. So bs=24    gs=5124=27b_s = 24 \implies g_s = 51 - 24 = 27.

Matches played between a boy and a girl occur within juniors and within seniors: In juniors: bj×gj=25×18=450b_j \times g_j = 25 \times 18 = 450. In seniors: bs×gs=24×27=648b_s \times g_s = 24 \times 27 = 648.

Total boy vs girl matches =450+648=1098= 450 + 648 = 1098.

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