Which number should I eliminate?

Question

I have nineteen numbers:

2,978.55
24,360.00
14,256.00
14,256.00
21,735.00
15,912.72
10,903.16
20,736.00
62,208.00
42,336.00
20,736.00
21,735.00
1,633.14
58,793.04
32,678.56
20,546.40
17,964.54
12,434.24
27,850.16


Which of these numbers should I eliminate to get a sum of 388,863.80?

Answer 1

Add them up

444,052.51

This is 55,188.71 too high

So you need to calculate which numbers add up to 55188.71

Firstly, 55188.71 is odd, and only one of the list of numbers (2,978.55) is odd, so you know that must be part of the list.

55188.71 - 2978.55 = 52210.16

You now have to find numbers which add up to a decimal of .16 (plus any full numbers)

I tried 27850.16 and this gave a remainder of 24360.00 which is also in the list, giving your answer

Ans:
2,978.55
24,360.00
27,850.16

Answer 2

Add up what you've got. You'll get a total larger than 388,863.80. Then look through your list to see what might be eliminated to bring the total down to your target. That might proved to be less work than trying 2^19 combinations of the numbers you have.

Answer 3

666 number

Answer 4

get rid of 2978.55 because you can't end in zero as the last digit with that odd number 5. Then the rest is easy.

Answer 5

add up all the numbers and get 444,052.51
Now subtract 388,863.80
444052.51-388863.80 = 55188.71

so i think you wrote the question wrong cause 55188.71 is not one of the numbers

Answer 6

Try adding them all up and taking the total and subtracting your desired number of 388,863.80

The outcome will be the number that you should subtract!

Answer 7

Add them all up and just subtract your desired target, it does'nt matter how exact you are in the total, the figure closest to the corresponding figure achieved by subtracting the desired total will be the one to ignore.....

Answer 8

Grant's answer is the quickest way... but is worthless if these are rounded numbers.

Answer 9

Sum up all numbers and substract 388,863.80.