2018 AIME I Problem 10
Attempt Problem 10 of the 2018 AIME I below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2018 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.
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10.
The wheel shown below consists of two circles and five spokes, with a label at each point where a spoke meets a circle. A bug walks along the wheel, starting at point At every step of the process, the bug walks from one labeled point to an adjacent labeled point. Along the inner circle the bug only walks in a counterclockwise direction, and along the outer circle the bug only walks in a clockwise direction. For example, the bug could travel along the path which has steps. Let be the number of paths with steps that begin and end at point Find the remainder when is divided by
Answer: 4
Small Hint:
Every point offers exactly two moves; call a move if it goes counterclockwise or inward and if clockwise or outward, so paths correspond to -strings
Big Hint:
The bug is back at exactly when the last move is an and the number of s exceeds the number of s by a multiple of
Solution:
From any inner point the bug has exactly two moves, counterclockwise along the inner circle or outward along a spoke; from any outer point it has exactly two, clockwise along the outer circle or inward along a spoke. Call a move if it is counterclockwise or inward and if it is clockwise or outward. Then every string in describes exactly one -step path from
A step arrives on the inner circle exactly when it is an so the path ends on the inner circle exactly when its last move is an in that case the numbers of inward and outward moves are equal. Measuring angular position in fifths of a turn (counterclockwise clockwise spokes ), the path returns to exactly when it ends on the inner circle and the net rotation is a multiple of that is, when the last move is and With moves this means the number of s is or
Fixing the last move as the first moves contain or s, so and the remainder is
Problem 10 in Other Years
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