2010 AMC 10A Exam Solutions
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All of the real AMC 8 and AMC 10 problems in our complete solution collection are used with official permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).
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1.
Mary's top book shelf holds five books with the following widths, in centimeters: and
What is the average book width, in centimeters?
Solution:
Converting them all to decimals and adding, we get the average to be
Thus, D is the correct answer.
2.
Four identical squares and one rectangle are placed together to form one large square as shown. The length of the rectangle is how many times as large as its width?
Solution:
WLOG, let the side lengths of the squares be
This means that the length of the rectangle is We also have that the width must be
The desired ratio is then
Thus, B is the correct answer.
3.
Tyrone had marbles and Eric had marbles. Tyrone then gave some of his marbles to Eric so that Tyrone ended with twice as many marbles as Eric. How many marbles did Tyrone give to Eric?
Solution:
Let the number of marbles that Eric ends up with. Then Tyrone ends up with
The total number of marbles is so
Then, Tyrone ends up with marbles. This means he has to give away marbles.
Thus, D is the correct answer.
4.
A book that is to be recorded onto compact discs takes minutes to read aloud. Each disc can hold up to minutes of reading. Assume that the smallest possible number of discs is used and that each disc contains the same length of reading. How many minutes of reading will each disc contain?
Solution:
Note that and which means that the minimum number of discs needed is
Then the minutes of reading that each disc contains is
Thus, B is the correct answer.
5.
The area of a circle whose circumference is is What is the value of
Solution:
Recall that the formula for the circumference of a circle is We then have that
The area of a circle is so we have that
Thus, E is the correct answer.
6.
For positive numbers and the operation is defined as What is
Solution:
Evaluating the inner expression, we get Then we have
Thus, C is the correct answer.
7.
Crystal has a running course marked out for her daily run. She starts this run by heading due north for one mile. She then runs northeast for one mile, then southeast for one mile. The last portion of her run takes her on a straight line back to where she started. How far, in miles is this last portion of her run?
Solution:
From the diagram, we see that the distance traveled is the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
One of the legs is just from running due north. The other leg is
The final distance is then
Thus, C is the correct answer.
8.
Tony works hours a day and is paid $0.50 per hour for each full year of his age. During a six month period Tony worked days and earned $630. How old was Tony at the end of the six month period?
Solution:
Since we have that Tony makes a dollar per day per full year of his age.
If he is at the end of the period, then Tony can make a maximum of dollars in the period. If he was at the end, then he could have made By this, we can see that Tony is the end of the period, since otherwise he would make too much or too little money.
Thus, D is the correct answer.
9.
A palindrome, such as is a number that remains the same when its digits are reversed. The numbers and are three-digit and four-digit palindromes, respectively. What is the sum of the digits of
Solution:
Note that is at most This means that has a maximum of
Similarly, we have that the minimum value of is
The only palindrome in this range is so this is what equals.
Then
The sum of the digits is then
Thus, E is the correct answer.
10.
Marvin had a birthday on Tuesday, May 27 in the leap year In what year will his birthday next fall on a Saturday?
Solution:
Note that on a normal year, we have that which means that for a specific day, it moves to the day after the next year.
On a leap year, the day of the week moves forward two since there is an extra day.
Then in this day falls on a Wednesday. In it falls on a Thursday.
Similarly, in it falls on a Friday. In however, since it is a leap year, it falls on a Sunday.
Now, for the next three years, the day moves forward one. Then in it moves forward two, landing on a Friday.
Finally, in the day of the week is a Saturday.
Thus, E is the correct answer.
11.
The length of the interval of solutions of the inequality is What is
Solution:
Splitting the inequality into two of them and solving gives us and
The range of the solutions is then which then simplifying gives us
Thus, D is the correct answer.
12.
Logan is constructing a scaled model of his town. The city's water tower stands meters high, and the top portion is a sphere that holds liters of water. Logan's miniature water tower holds liters. How tall, in meters, should Logan make his tower?
Solution:
The miniature tower holds times less water than the actual tower. Since this is the ratio for volumes, the ratio of heights is This means that the height of the miniature tower is
Thus, C is the correct answer.
13.
Angelina drove at an average rate of kmh and then stopped minutes for gas. After the stop, she drove at an average rate of kmh. Altogether she drove km in a total trip time of hours including the stop. Which equation could be used to solve for the time in hours that she drove before her stop?
Solution:
Before the stop, Angelina drove for km using the distance formula.
The stop takes of an hour, which means that Angelina travels for hours after the stop. Then after the stop, Angelina drives for km. Since the total distance driven is km, which makes the final equation
Thus, A is the correct answer.
14.
Triangle has Let and be on and respectively, such that Let be the intersection of segments and and suppose that is equilateral. What is
Solution:
Let Note that since is equilateral.
We then have that
Then:
We then get that
Since and we have that is a triangle.
Thus, C is the correct answer.
15.
In a magical swamp there are two species of talking amphibians: toads, whose statements are always true, and frogs, whose statements are always false. Four amphibians, Brian, Chris, LeRoy, and Mike live together in this swamp, and they make the following statements.
Brian: "Mike and I are different species."
Chris: "LeRoy is a frog."
LeRoy: "Chris is a frog."
Mike: "Of the four of us, at least two are toads."
How many of these amphibians are frogs?
Solution:
If Brian is a frog, then he must be lying, which means that Mike must be a frog.
If Brian is a toad, then he must be telling the truth, which also means that Mike is a frog.
Therefore, Mike is a frog, which means that Mike is lying. This means that there is at most one toad.
Then, at least one of LeRoy and Chris is a frog. This means the other is telling the truth, which makes them a toad.
This means there is one toad, which makes there be frogs.
Thus, D is the correct answer.
16.
Nondegenerate has integer side lengths, is an angle bisector, and What is the smallest possible value of the perimeter?
Solution:
Using the Angle Bisector Theorem, we have that
For and to be integers, we must have that is a multiple of
To minimize the perimeter, we can set and This, however, makes the triangle degenerate.
must then be and Since the perimeter is
Thus, B is the correct answer.
17.
A solid cube has side length inches. A -inch by -inch square hole is cut into the center of each face. The edges of each cut are parallel to the edges of the cube, and each hole goes all the way through the cube. What is the volume, in cubic inches, of the remaining solid?
Solution:
Note that all the cut out solids intersect in the middle of the cube.
This region of intersection is a cube with side length Then the area of the cutout region is
We have to subtract out the center region twice since it is included in all regions.
The remaining volume is then
Thus, A is the correct answer.
18.
Bernardo randomly picks distinct numbers from the set and arranges them in descending order to form a -digit number. Silvia randomly picks distinct numbers from the set and also arranges them in descending order to form a -digit number. What is the probability that Bernardo's number is larger than Silvia's number?
Solution:
There are two cases: Bernardo picks a or he doesn't.
Case 1: Bernardo picks a
Since a number is fixed, there are ways to choose the other two numbers.
There are a total of ways to pick all three numbers. The probability is then
Note that if Bernardo picks a he automatically has a greater number than Silvia.
This means that Bernardo always wins in this case.
Case 2: Bernardo doesn't pick a
There is a chance of this happening. Since both people are choosing from the same numbers, they have an equal chance of winning.
We still need to find the probability that the numbers are the same. There is a chance that Silvia chooses the same numbers as Bernardo. The probability that Bernardo gets a higher number is then
The total probability of Bernardo getting a higher number is then
Thus, B is the correct answer.
19.
Equiangular hexagon has side lengths and The area of is of the area of the hexagon. What is the sum of all possible values of
Solution:
Note that is equilateral. Using the law of cosines, we get that
The area of is then
Recall that the formula for the area of a triangle can be given by
Using this formula on we get its area to be
The area of all three triangles is then
The area of the entire hexagon is then
The problem conditions tells us that
Simplifying this gives us which we can then use Vieta's formulas on to get the sum of values is Intutively, this means that if our solutions to this equation are and we have that: Which implies that the sum of possible solutions is equal to
Thus, E is the correct answer.
20.
A fly trapped inside a cubical box with side length meter decides to relieve its boredom by visiting each corner of the box. It will begin and end in the same corner and visit each of the other corners exactly once. To get from a corner to any other corner, it will either fly or crawl in a straight line. What is the maximum possible length, in meters, of its path?
Solution:
Note that all the paths the fly can take have lengths of or
We want to maximize the number of longer length paths. We cannot travel any interior diagonal twice, since that would make the fly visit the same vertex twice.
It also possible to visit all the vertices by traveling along diagonals, so we will never have to travel a path of length
This means that we can mazimize the distance by traveling along interior diagonals and diagonals on the faces.
This path is possible by traveling along a face and then an interior diagonal, repeating this in a way that avoids visiting the same vertex twice.
The path has length
Thus, D is the correct answer.
21.
The polynomial has three positive integer roots. What is the smallest possible value of
Solution:
If are the roots of the polynomial, we know that: As such, we know that or in English, the product of the three roots is
As we have that one of the three roots must have two of these prime numbers as factors.
Again using the first fact, we have that is the sum of all the roots. To minimize this, we should have and multiplied together.
Then, we can let the roots be and which makes
Thus, A is the correct answer.
22.
Eight points are chosen on a circle, and chords are drawn connecting every pair of points. No three chords intersect in a single point inside the circle. How many triangles with all three vertices in the interior of the circle are created?
Solution:
We need chords to form the side lengths of the triangles. Each of these chords requires points on the circle.
This means that we need to choose points from the Also note that any points determine a triangle.
This is because we don't want to create chords that don't intersect in the circle, which leaves only one way to form the triangle.
The number of ways to choose the six points is then
Thus, A is the correct answer.
23.
Each of boxes in a line contains a single red marble, and for the box in the th position also contains white marbles. Isabella begins at the first box and successively draws a single marble at random from each box, in order. She stops when she first draws a red marble. Let be the probability that Isabella stops after drawing exactly marbles. What is the smallest value of for which
Solution:
Since there are marbles in the th box, there is a chance Isabella draws a white marble from it.
The probability of drawing a red marble is then To stop after drawing the th marble, the first marbles must have been white.
This happens with a probability of
Note that all the numerators cancel with the adjacent denominator, which means that this expression reduces to
We have to find the smallest such that
Guessing and checking gives us that the smallest that works is
Thus, A is the correct answer.
24.
The number obtained from the last two nonzero digits of is equal to What is
Solution:
We first find the number of zeros in The number of zeros is determined by the number of factors of
The number of factors of is given by the number of factors of and
There are clearly more factors of which means that has factors of
Now, we need to find the two rightmost digits of We can find the value mod by finding the values mod and mod
Since there are more factors of than in the value of mod is just
Now, we just need to consider mod is the product of all the non-multiples of less than
Consider
We can rewrite it is using the fact that mod and that there are even number of numbers in the square.
Then multiplying out some terms, we have that using the fact that
Then
This set of numbers appears times in with the final being a partial expression of using similar tricks to above.
Then We also have that
Then using Euler's theorem, we get that
Since is divisible by we have that mod
Thus, A is the correct answer.
25.
Jim starts with a positive integer and creates a sequence of numbers. Each successive number is obtained by subtracting the largest possible integer square less than or equal to the current number until zero is reached. For example, if Jim starts with then his sequence contains numbers: Let be the smallest number for which Jim’s sequence has numbers. What is the units digit of
Solution:
We can just work backwards starting with From this, we can add on to get
We can again add on to get Again, adding on gives us
If we add on now, we get but then is not the greatest square less than
Then adding on gives us We repeat this process for steps to get
Thus, B is the correct answer.