2022 AIME I Exam Solutions
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All of the real AMC 8, AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME problems in our complete solution collection are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
1.
Quadratic polynomials and have leading coefficients of and respectively. The graphs of both polynomials pass through the two points and Find
Difficulty rating: 1890
Solution:
Let The leading coefficients and cancel, so is a linear function. Since both graphs pass through and we get and
The slope of is so
2.
Find the three-digit positive integer whose representation in base nine is where and are (not necessarily distinct) digits.
Difficulty rating: 1950
Solution:
The condition says which simplifies to Since the digits also appear in a base-nine numeral, each is at most Reducing modulo gives so
For makes exceed for gives so For each the required forces outside the range so there is no other solution.
The number is and indeed
3.
In isosceles trapezoid parallel bases and have lengths and respectively, and The angle bisectors of and meet at and the angle bisectors of and meet at Find
Difficulty rating: 2390
Solution:
Let the bisector of meet at Since we have so triangle is isosceles with The bisector of is then the median from in this triangle, so which lies on both bisectors, is the midpoint of Symmetrically, is the midpoint of where is on with
Place and so and for the appropriate height Then and so
Therefore
4.
Let and where Find the number of ordered pairs of positive integers not exceeding that satisfy the equation
Difficulty rating: 2300
Solution:
Both and have modulus in polar form and while The equation is therefore a statement about arguments:
For each this determines the residue is or modulo according as or Among there are values with and values each with or Among there are values with and values in each of the other two classes.
The count is
5.
A straight river that is meters wide flows from west to east at a rate of meters per minute. Melanie and Sherry sit on the south bank of the river with Melanie a distance of meters downstream from Sherry. Relative to the water, Melanie swims at meters per minute, and Sherry swims at meters per minute. At the same time, Melanie and Sherry begin swimming in straight lines to a point on the north bank of the river that is equidistant from their starting positions. The two women arrive at this point simultaneously. Find
Difficulty rating: 2390
Solution:
Put Sherry at the origin and Melanie at on the south bank. A point on the north bank equidistant from both is If both arrive at time then each swimmer's velocity relative to the water is her ground velocity minus the current so
Subtracting, with so Substituting back, gives so
Therefore
6.
Find the number of ordered pairs of integers such that the sequence is strictly increasing and no set of four (not necessarily consecutive) terms forms an arithmetic progression.
Difficulty rating: 2560
Solution:
The sequence is increasing exactly when giving pairs. The six fixed terms contain no four-term arithmetic progression, so every progression must involve or If only one of them is involved, three fixed terms must already be in progression: extends only by and extends only by So the single-variable violations are ( pairs) and ( pairs), which overlap in the pair
If both and are involved, two fixed terms complete the progression. Checking the possible positions: gives gives gives gives gives out of range; and gives Of these, and are already counted, so and are the only new bad pairs.
The number of valid pairs is
7.
Let be distinct integers from to The minimum possible positive value of can be written as where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Difficulty rating: 2560
Solution:
Try to make the numerator equal to while keeping large digits in the denominator. The products and differ by and leave for the denominator, giving the value
To beat this, a fraction would need numerator with denominator greater than The denominators exceeding are and Splitting the remaining six digits into two triples in each case, the closest product pairs are and and and and and and and respectively — differences of at least and even exceeds
So the minimum positive value is and
8.
Equilateral triangle is inscribed in circle with radius Circle is tangent to sides and and is internally tangent to Circles and are defined analogously. Circles and meet in six points — two points for each pair of circles. The three intersection points closest to the vertices of are the vertices of a large equilateral triangle in the interior of and the other three intersection points are the vertices of a smaller equilateral triangle in the interior of The side length of the smaller equilateral triangle can be written as where and are positive integers. Find
Difficulty rating: 2710
Solution:
Let be the center of The center of lies on line (the bisector of ) at some distance from since makes a angle with the radius is Internal tangency to requires the center to be from which forces the center past so and the center is beyond
Place at the origin with Then the three centers are and all with radius The intersections of and lie on the -axis: gives The point is closer to and belongs to the larger triangle, so the smaller triangle has vertex at distance from
By symmetry the smaller triangle is equilateral with circumradius so its side is Thus
9.
Ellina has twelve blocks, two each of red (), blue (), yellow (), green (), orange (), and purple (). Call an arrangement of blocks even if there is an even number of blocks between each pair of blocks of the same color. For example, the arrangement is even. Ellina arranges her blocks in a row in random order. The probability that her arrangement is even is where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Difficulty rating: 2450
Solution:
If a color occupies positions the number of blocks between them is which is even exactly when and have opposite parity. So an arrangement is even precisely when every color occupies one odd position and one even position — that is, the six odd slots contain each color exactly once, and so do the six even slots.
Counting arrangements of the twelve blocks (blocks of the same color identical), there are in total, and even ones (a permutation of the six colors in the odd slots and another in the even slots). The probability is
Since the answer is
10.
Three spheres with radii and are mutually externally tangent. A plane intersects the spheres in three congruent circles centered at and respectively, and the centers of the spheres all lie on the same side of this plane. Suppose that Find
Difficulty rating: 2560
Solution:
Let the sphere centers be at heights above the plane. Each circle's center is the foot of the perpendicular from the sphere's center, and the common circle radius satisfies
The first two spheres are tangent, so their centers are apart, and projecting onto the plane, Thus Congruence gives so and (the other sign gives a negative sum), yielding and Then so
The first and third centers are apart, so
11.
Let be a parallelogram with A circle tangent to sides and intersects diagonal at points and with as shown. Suppose that and Then the area of can be expressed in the form where and are positive integers, and is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find
Difficulty rating: 3060
Solution:
By power of a point, and so the tangent lengths from and are and The tangent point on is from hence from equal tangents from put the tangent point on at that same distance from so its distance from is giving
Let The center lies on the bisector of with the tangent length from equal to so the radius is The circle is tangent to both parallel lines and whose distance apart is so which simplifies to In triangle and so the law of cosines gives Substituting and the terms cancel and, using the equation collapses to so and
Then and the area is so
12.
For any finite set let denote the number of elements in Define where the sum is taken over all ordered pairs such that and are subsets of with For example, because the sum is taken over the pairs of subsets giving Let where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find the remainder when is divided by
Difficulty rating: 2990
Solution:
Count element by element: equals the number of triples with and For a fixed and size there are choices for each of and containing so by the Vandermonde identity
Therefore Since divides neither nor this fraction is in lowest terms: and
Then whose remainder modulo is
13.
Let be the set of all rational numbers that can be expressed as a repeating decimal in the form where at least one of the digits or is nonzero. Let be the number of distinct numerators obtained when numbers in are written as fractions in lowest terms. For example, both and are counted among the distinct numerators for numbers in because and Find the remainder when is divided by
Difficulty rating: 3160
Solution:
Every element of equals for some where In lowest terms this is where and conversely any such arises from So counts the integers that are at most, and coprime to, some divisor of
Classify by which of the primes divide it, always using the largest divisor coprime to If take there are such If only, take multiples of up to avoiding and number If only, take that gives If only, then admits none. If but take the values give more, and any divisible by or would need which is impossible.
Therefore and the remainder modulo is
14.
Given and a point on one of its sides, call line the splitting line of through if passes through and divides into two polygons of equal perimeter. Let be a triangle where and and are positive integers. Let and be the midpoints of and respectively, and suppose that the splitting lines of through and intersect at Find the perimeter of
Difficulty rating: 3500
Solution:
Write and for the semiperimeter. The splitting line through meets at the point with (then each piece has perimeter ). In triangle the law of sines shows this needs which reduces via and to true because those angles are complementary. Hence the splitting line through is parallel to the angle bisector from and likewise the one through is parallel to the bisector from
The internal bisectors from and meet at so the acute angle between the two splitting lines is forcing The law of cosines gives Set so and are roots of requiring to be a perfect square Then and writing and turns the condition into The triangle inequality and restrict and checking these, only works, with
So and giving — a valid triangle. The perimeter is
15.
Let and be positive real numbers satisfying the system of equations Then can be written as where and are relatively prime positive integers. Find
Difficulty rating: 3270
Solution:
Each radicand factors: and so on, so Substitute with Then and each equation collapses by the sine addition formula:
Taking and solving, (The supplementary branch choices consistent with the angle ranges lead to the same value of the final square.) By the double-angle identity, and
Therefore whose square is Thus