1993 AIME Problems
Scroll down and press Start to try the exam! Or, go to the printable PDF, answer key, or professional solutions curated by LIVE by Po-Shen Loh.
All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
Or jump straight to a single problem with its solution: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15
Want to learn professionally through interactive video classes?
Timed
3:00:00
1.
How many even integers between and have four different digits?
Answer: 728
Small Hint:
Separate the cases according to whether the thousands digit is even or odd
Big Hint:
After choosing the thousands and units digits, count the choices for the two middle digits in order
Solution:
The thousands digit is or If it is or the units digit has choices among and after which the hundreds and tens digits have and choices. These two cases contribute If the thousands digit is all even units digits are available, contributing Thus the total is
2.
During a recent campaign for office, a candidate made a tour of a country which we assume lies in a plane. On the first day of the tour he went east, on the second day he went north, on the third day west, on the fourth day south, on the fifth day east, etc. If the candidate went miles on the th day of this tour, how many miles was he from his starting point at the end of the th day?
Answer: 580
Small Hint:
Group the days into ten four-day cycles and sum horizontal and vertical displacements separately
Big Hint:
For cycle index compare with , and similarly compare the other pair
Solution:
Index the ten cycles by The horizontal displacement is Similarly, the vertical displacement is Therefore the distance from the start is
3.
The table below displays some of the results of last summer’s Frostbite Falls Fishing Festival, showing how many contestants caught fish for various values of
number of contestants
who caught fish
number of contestants
who caught fish
In the newspaper story covering the event, it was reported that
(a) the winner caught fish;
(b) those who caught or more fish averaged fish each;
(c) those who caught or fewer fish averaged fish each.
What was the total number of fish caught during the festival?
Answer: 943
Small Hint:
Let be the total number of contestants and the total number of fish
Big Hint:
Use the two averages by first subtracting the known groups with fewer than fish and with more than fish
Solution:
The contestants below fish caught fish. Thus condition (b) gives or The contestants above fish caught fish, so condition (c) gives or Hence and
4.
How many ordered four-tuples of integers with satisfy and
Answer: 870
Small Hint:
The first equation implies that
Big Hint:
Set and factor in terms of and
Solution:
Let and Then Since we need The positive factor pairs are and For the first, gives choices for For the second, gives choices. The total is
5.
Let For integers define What is the coefficient of in
Answer: 763
Small Hint:
Collapse the repeated shifts to write directly in terms of
Big Hint:
Only collect the linear terms after substituting
Solution:
The accumulated shift is so The coefficient of is therefore
6.
What is the smallest positive integer that can be expressed as the sum of nine consecutive integers, the sum of ten consecutive integers, and the sum of eleven consecutive integers?
Answer: 495
Small Hint:
A sum of an odd number of consecutive integers is divisible by the number of terms
Big Hint:
A sum of ten consecutive integers is congruent to
Solution:
The sums of and consecutive integers are divisible by and so the desired number is a multiple of A sum of consecutive integers has the form hence is congruent to The first multiple of ending in is and each of the three required representations then exists.
7.
Three numbers, are drawn randomly and without replacement from the set Three other numbers, are then drawn randomly and without replacement from the remaining set of numbers. Let be the probability that, after a suitable rotation, a brick of dimensions can be enclosed in a box of dimensions with the sides of the brick parallel to the sides of the box. If is written as a fraction in lowest terms, what is the sum of the numerator and denominator?
Answer: 5
Small Hint:
Condition on the six selected values and record only whether each belongs to the brick or the box in increasing order
Big Hint:
The brick fits exactly when every prefix of this six-letter word contains at least as many ’s as ’s
Solution:
After the six distinct values are fixed and sorted, each of the assignments of three values to the brick is equally likely. The sorted brick dimensions fit the sorted box dimensions exactly when, in every prefix of the resulting word of three ’s and three ’s, the number of ’s is at least the number of ’s. There are such words. Thus and the requested sum is
8.
Let be a set with six elements. In how many different ways can one select two not necessarily distinct subsets of so that the union of the two subsets is The order of selection does not matter; for example, the pair of subsets represents the same selection as the pair
Answer: 365
Small Hint:
For an ordered pair, each element can lie in the first subset only, the second only, or both
Big Hint:
When the two subsets are swapped, identify the one ordered pair that remains fixed
Solution:
For an ordered pair with each element has three possible memberships: only, only, or both. This gives ordered pairs. Swapping and fixes only the pair Therefore the number of unordered pairs is
9.
Two thousand points are given on a circle. Label one of the points From this point, count points in the clockwise direction and label this point From the point labeled count points in the clockwise direction and label this point (See figure.) Continue this process until the labels are all used. Some of the points on the circle will have more than one label and some points will not have a label. What is the smallest integer that labels the same point as
Answer: 118
Small Hint:
Measure every label’s clockwise displacement from the point labeled
Big Hint:
Reduce the resulting quadratic congruence separately modulo and modulo
Solution:
Label is displaced points clockwise from label Thus it shares the point of label exactly when modulo or equivalently when Modulo the solutions are and and modulo they are and Combining these by the Chinese Remainder Theorem gives The smallest positive possibility is
10.
Euler’s formula states that for a convex polyhedron with vertices, edges, and faces, A particular convex polyhedron has faces, each of which is either a triangle or a pentagon. At each of its vertices, triangular faces and pentagonal faces meet. What is the value of
Answer: 250
Small Hint:
Let be the number of triangular faces and count face-edge and face-vertex incidences
Big Hint:
Use Euler’s formula to express in terms of , then obtain two divisibility conditions on
Solution:
Let be the number of triangular faces, so there are pentagons and Euler’s formula gives Counting face-vertex incidences yields Hence and Also so the only common divisor of and in that range is Then and giving
11.
Alfred and Bonnie play a game in which they take turns tossing a fair coin. The winner of a game is the first person to obtain a head. Alfred and Bonnie play this game several times with the stipulation that the loser of a game goes first in the next game. Suppose that Alfred goes first in the first game, and that the probability that he wins the sixth game is where and are relatively prime positive integers. What are the last three digits of
Answer: 93
Small Hint:
Compute Alfred’s chance to win a single game when he goes first and when Bonnie goes first
Big Hint:
If is Alfred’s chance to win game , express in terms of
Solution:
Alfred wins a game with probability when he starts and when Bonnie starts. Since the loser starts the next game, Thus In particular, Therefore whose last three digits are
12.
The vertices of are and The six faces of a die are labeled with two ’s, two ’s, and two ’s. Point is chosen in the interior of and points are generated by rolling the die repeatedly and applying the rule: If the die shows label where and is the most recently obtained point, then is the midpoint of Given that what is
Answer: 344
Small Hint:
Reverse the six midpoint operations by multiplying the equation for by
Big Hint:
The six rolled vertices receive the distinct weights and ; use the -coordinate first
Solution:
Let and be the sums of the weights and assigned to rolls of and respectively. Iterating the midpoint rule gives Hence Because is interior, forcing and The triangle inequality for its coordinates then gives Since the only possible integer is giving Therefore
13.
Jenny and Kenny are walking in the same direction, Kenny at feet per second and Jenny at foot per second, on parallel paths that are feet apart. A tall circular building feet in diameter is centered midway between the paths. At the instant when the building first blocks the line of sight between Jenny and Kenny, they are feet apart. Let be the amount of time, in seconds, before Jenny and Kenny can see each other again. If is written as a fraction in lowest terms, what is the sum of the numerator and denominator?
Answer: 163
Small Hint:
Place the circular building at the origin and the two paths on and
Big Hint:
At the first blockage both walkers have ; set the later connecting line’s distance from the origin equal to
Solution:
At first blockage the walkers are vertically aligned on the tangent After seconds their positions may be written as and The distance from the origin to their connecting line is At the second tangency this equals Squaring and simplifying gives so The positive time is and the requested sum is
14.
A rectangle that is inscribed in a larger rectangle (with one vertex on each side) is called unstuck if it is possible to rotate (however slightly) the smaller rectangle about its center within the confines of the larger. Of all the rectangles that can be inscribed unstuck in a by rectangle, the smallest perimeter has the form for a positive integer Find
Answer: 448
Small Hint:
Center the -by- rectangle at the origin and parameterize consecutive inner vertices on the right and top sides
Big Hint:
Use equal half-diagonals to relate the two free coordinates, then express the square of the perimeter through the diagonal and area
Solution:
Opposite vertices lie on opposite sides of the outer rectangle, so the two rectangles have the same center. For a small rotation through angle a right-side contact at moves inward only if while a top-side contact at moves inward only if Thus an unstuck rectangle has opposite-signed offsets; after reflection, write its consecutive vertices as with Equal half-diagonals give so If its side lengths are then Therefore its perimeter satisfies Equality occurs at which gives a non-axis-aligned, hence unstuck, rectangle. Thus the minimum perimeter is and
15.
Let be an altitude of Let and be the points where the circles inscribed in the triangles and are tangent to If and then can be expressed as where and are relatively prime integers. Find
Answer: 997
Small Hint:
Express the distance from to each tangency point using the semiperimeter of its right triangle
Big Hint:
Find from the side lengths without first computing the altitude
Solution:
Let In right triangle the tangent length from to its incircle is in triangle it is Hence The projection formula gives Since Thus