2015 AIME I Exam Problems
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1.
The expressions and are obtained by writing multiplication and addition operators in an alternating pattern between successive integers. Find the positive difference between integers and
Answer: 722
Difficulty rating: 1890
Solution:
Subtract term by term: Each parenthesized difference has the form for
Therefore
2.
The nine delegates to the Economic Cooperation Conference include officials from Mexico, officials from Canada, and officials from the United States. During the opening session, three of the delegates fall asleep. Assuming that the three sleepers were determined randomly, the probability that exactly two of the sleepers are from the same country is where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Answer: 139
Difficulty rating: 2110
Solution:
There are equally likely sets of three sleepers. Exactly two sleepers come from the same country when one country supplies exactly two of them and the third sleeper comes from a different country: ways with the pair from the United States, with the pair from Canada, and with the pair from Mexico.
The probability is already in lowest terms, so
3.
There is a prime number such that is the cube of a positive integer. Find
Answer: 307
Difficulty rating: 2010
Solution:
Write so Since is odd, is odd, and is odd as well. Therefore all four factors of must divide write which gives For to be prime we need so
Then which is indeed prime, and
4.
Point lies on line segment with and Points and lie on the same side of line forming equilateral triangles and Let be the midpoint of and be the midpoint of The area of is Find
Answer: 507
Difficulty rating: 2390
Solution:
Place and Each equilateral triangle has its apex above the midpoint of its base at height times the side, so and The midpoints are and
Now and so is equilateral with side Its area is so
5.
In a drawer Sandy has pairs of socks, each pair a different color. On Monday Sandy selects two individual socks at random from the socks in the drawer. On Tuesday Sandy selects of the remaining socks at random and on Wednesday two of the remaining socks at random. The probability that Wednesday is the first day Sandy selects matching socks is where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Answer: 341
Difficulty rating: 2510
Solution:
Imagine dealing all ten socks out two per day for five days; every assignment of unordered pairs to days is equally likely, and permuting the days does not change this distribution. Swapping Monday and Wednesday therefore shows that the desired probability (mismatch, mismatch, match) equals the probability of a match on Monday followed by mismatches on Tuesday and Wednesday.
That pattern is easy to compute in order. Monday matches with probability (the second sock must be the first sock's mate). The remaining socks then form complete pairs, so Tuesday mismatches with probability Tuesday's mismatch breaks two pairs, leaving complete pairs among the remaining socks, so Wednesday mismatches with probability
The probability is so
6.
Points and are equally spaced on a minor arc of a circle. Points and are equally spaced on a minor arc of a second circle with center as shown in the figure below. The angle exceeds by Find the degree measure of
Answer: 58
Difficulty rating: 2720
Solution:
Let the common central angle of the second circle, so Since also lies on the first circle, is an inscribed angle there, so the arc not containing measures and each of the four equal arcs measures
Angle subtends the arc not containing which is so Angle subtends the second circle's arc not containing which is so The given condition reads so
Finally, subtends the first circle's arc giving and subtends the second circle's arc giving Hence
7.
In the diagram below, is a square. Point is the midpoint of Points and lie on and and lie on and respectively, so that is a square. Points and lie on and and lie on and respectively, so that is a square. The area of is Find the area of
Answer: 539
Difficulty rating: 2710
Solution:
Let so the big square has side and The right triangles and are all similar, with legs in ratio Let be the side of In the hypotenuse is so and in the longer leg is so the hypotenuse is Then so
Next, The identical decomposition along for the square of side gives Dividing the two equations,
The areas are therefore in ratio so the area of is
8.
For positive integer let denote the sum of the digits of Find the smallest positive integer satisfying
Answer: 695
Difficulty rating: 2760
Solution:
Each carry in an addition replaces in one place by in the next, lowering the digit sum by Hence where is the number of carries, and forces For a three-digit candidate with digits summing to since we have so the hundreds place always carries (), and exactly one of the units and tens places carries.
If the units carry and the tens do not, the tens computation must stay below so then forcing If the tens carry and the units do not, then gives so and works:
Indeed and with so the smallest such is
9.
Let be the set of all ordered triples of integers with Each ordered triple in generates a sequence according to the rule for Find the number of such sequences for which for some
Answer: 494
Difficulty rating: 2990
Solution:
If then and if then so Hence every triple of one of the forms produces a These forms contain triples, but triples fitting two forms are counted twice: the of the form the in each of the six families (matching signs), and the in each of and That leaves triples.
A few other triples also work: if then and so These triples include and which were already counted, so they add new ones, for
No other triple reaches if both consecutive differences are at least and then and so inductively the terms grow forever and no factor ever vanishes. If instead with then and and the same growth takes over. The count is
10.
Let be a third-degree polynomial with real coefficients satisfying Find
Answer: 72
Difficulty rating: 2930
Solution:
Each of and is a cubic, so each vanishes at exactly three of Writing them as and the two cubics differ by the constant so their and coefficients agree: the root triples have equal sums and equal sums of pairwise products. The only partition of into two triples of equal sum is and (each summing to ), and indeed both have pairwise-product sum
Replacing by if necessary (which does not change ), we have Setting gives so and Thus
11.
Triangle has positive integer side lengths with Let be the intersection of the bisectors of and Suppose Find the smallest possible perimeter of
Answer: 108
Difficulty rating: 3160
Solution:
Let be the midpoint of by symmetry and are collinear with With and right triangles and give and Since bisects the double-angle formula yields
Writing this becomes We need so while forces Testing only makes an integer, namely
The triangle with sides satisfies all the conditions, and its perimeter is
12.
Consider all -element subsets of the set From each such subset choose the least element. The arithmetic mean of all of these least elements is where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Answer: 431
Difficulty rating: 3270
Solution:
A -element subset has least element exactly when it contains together with larger elements, so of the subsets have least element The mean is therefore
The numerator counts something concrete: to build a -element subset of whose second-smallest element is choose its smallest element from ( ways) and its top elements from Summing over produces every -element subset exactly once, so
Hence the mean is which is in lowest terms, and
13.
With all angles measured in degrees, the product where and are integers greater than Find
Answer: 91
Difficulty rating: 3370
Solution:
Let and so the desired product is Then and multiplying this by itself in reverse order, using gives
Multiply by and use since and turns the second half into as well.
Because it follows that so Since is prime, the only representation with is and
14.
For each integer let be the area of the region in the coordinate plane defined by the inequalities and where is the greatest integer not exceeding Find the number of values of with for which is an integer.
Answer: 483
Difficulty rating: 3500
Solution:
On the strip we have so the region above it is a trapezoid under with area an integer when is even, a half-integer when is odd. Hence as grows by the integrality of is unchanged while is even and flips at every step while is odd.
Consider the block of values Starting from the statuses of cycle with period integer for and non-integer for (an odd block flips the status an odd number of times, an even block preserves it). Counting integer values of inside each block: for the block alternates, beginning and ending with non-integers, giving for every value is a non-integer, giving for it alternates, beginning and ending with integers, giving for all values are integers.
For covering the four blocks contribute integers, totaling Then the block contributes integers for the block contributes none, and for the alternation over begins with an integer at and gives more. The total is
15.
A block of wood has the shape of a right circular cylinder with radius and height and its entire surface has been painted blue. Points and are chosen on the edge of one of the circular faces of the cylinder so that arc on that face measures The block is then sliced in half along the plane that passes through point point and the center of the cylinder, revealing a flat, unpainted face on each half. The area of one of these unpainted faces is where and are integers and is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find
Answer: 53
Difficulty rating: 3700
Solution:
Stand the block on the face containing and and let be the center of that face, the midpoint of and the center of the cylinder. The cutting plane meets the bottom face in chord and, by symmetry through meets the top face in the reflected chord, so the cut face projects vertically onto the region between chord and its mirror image through (shaded below). Each circular segment cut off has area so has area
Since triangle gives and so The cut face is planar and tilted from the horizontal only in the direction of at the angle with Undoing the projection therefore multiplies areas by so the unpainted face has area Thus