2023 AMC 8 Problem 21 - Math Gold Medalist

Lor

2023 AMC 8

Problem 21

Alina writes the numbers $1, 2, \dots , 9$ on separate cards, one number per card. She wishes to divide the cards into $3$ groups of $3$ cards so that the sum of the numbers in each group will be the same. In how many ways can this be done?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 0 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 1 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 2 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 3 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 4$

Related Ideas

Casework

Priority: the Most Limited Case

Hint

Consider Groups that contain 9 and 8