2011 AMC 10A Exam Problems
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1.
A cell phone plan costs $20 each month, plus per text message sent, plus cents for each minute used over hours. In January Michelle sent text messages and talked for hours. How much did she have to pay?
$24.00
$24.50
$25.50
$28.00
$30.00
Answer: D
Solution:
Michelle has to pay $20 for the monthly fee. She also has to pay 100 \cdot 5¢ = 500¢ = $5 for the text messages. Finally she talked for hours, minutes, over hours.
This means she has to pay an extra 30 \cdot 10¢ = 300¢ = $3.
Her total cost is $20 + $5 + $3 = $28.
Thus, D is the correct answer.
2.
A small bottle of shampoo can hold milliliters of shampoo, whereas a large bottle can hold milliliters of shampoo. Jasmine wants to buy the minimum number of small bottles necessary to completely fill a large bottle. How many bottles must she buy?
Answer: E
Solution:
The desired amount is
This means that smallest number of small bottles she must be is
Thus, E is the correct answer.
3.
Suppose denotes the average of and and { } denotes the average of and What is
Answer: D
Solution:
We have that
We also get that
Finally,
Thus, D is the correct answer.
4.
Let X and Y be the following sums of arithmetic sequences: What is the value of
Answer: A
Solution:
Note that the terms through are common to both sums. When we subtract, all these terms cancel out.
This means that
Thus, A is the correct answer.
5.
At an elementary school, the students in third grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade run an average of and minutes per day, respectively. There are twice as many third graders as fourth graders, and twice as many fourth graders as fifth graders. What is the average number of minutes run per day by these students?
Answer: C
Solution:
WLOG, let there be one fifth grader. This then tells us that there are two fourth graders and four third graders.
We can do this, since we are only interested in the average, which is not impacted by the exact number of students.
The total number of minutes the students spend running is minutes. The total number of students is The average is then
Thus, C is the correct answer.
6.
Set has elements, and set has elements. What is the smallest possible number of elements in the union of and
Answer: C
Solution:
To minimize the number of elements in the union, we want to maximize the overlap between the two sets.
We can then assume that is contained completely within which means that the union is the same as which has elements.
Thus, C is the correct answer.
7.
Which of the following equations does not have a solution?
Answer: B
Solution:
A simplifies to so it has a solution.
B simplifies to which has no solution since absolute value makes everything positive.
Let us make sure that all the other choices have solutions.
C simplifies to which is fine.
D simplifies to which works.
Finally, E simplifies to which has a solution as well.
Thus, B is the correct answer.
8.
Last summer of the birds living on Town Lake were geese, were swans, were herons, and were ducks. What percent of the birds that were not swans were geese?
Answer: C
Solution:
WLOG, let there be a birds. Then birds are not swans. The desired percentage is then
Thus, C is the correct answer.
9.
A rectangular region is bounded by the graphs of the equations and where and are all positive numbers. Which of the following represents the area of this region?
Answer: A
Solution:
Note that the region is a rectangle with side lengths and The area is then
Thus, A is the correct answer.
10.
A majority of the students in Ms. Demeanor's class bought pencils at the school bookstore. Each of these students bought the same number of pencils, and this number was greater than The cost of a pencil in cents was greater than the number of pencils each student bought, and the total cost of all the pencils was $17.71. What was the cost of a pencil in cents?
Answer: B
Solution:
Let be the number of pencils that each student bought, be the number of students that bought pencils, and be the cost of a pencil.
We have that
We also have the following restrictions:
From the above prime factorization, we have that is the only value that satisfies the conditions.
Finally, we get that and are the only remaining values that satisfy the other conditions.
Thus, B is the correct answer.
11.
Square has one vertex on each side of square Point is on with What is the ratio of the area of to the area of
Answer: B
Solution:
Let Then Applying the Pythagorean Theorem to a side of we get
The desired ratio is then
Thus, B is the correct answer.
12.
The players on a basketball team made some three-point shots, some two-point shots, and some one-point free throws. They scored as many points with two-point shots as with three-point shots. Their number of successful free throws was one more than their number of successful two-point shots. The team's total score was points. How many free throws did they make?
Answer: A
Solution:
Let be the number of successful two-point shots. Then we have that which simplifies to
The number of successful free throws is then
Thus, A is the correct answer.
13.
How many even integers are there between and whose digits are all different and come from the set
Answer: A
Solution:
Since the hundreds digit can only be a or we can case on this value.
Case 1: hundreds digit is
The only option for the units digit is since the number must be even. This leaves options for the tens digit.
This gives us numbers for this case.
Case 2: hundreds digit is
Similarly to above, and are the only options for the units digit, leaving options for the tens digit.
This gives us numbers for this case.
The total number of integers is then
Thus, A is the correct answer.
14.
A pair of standard -sided dice is rolled once. The sum of the numbers rolled determines the diameter of a circle. What is the probability that the numerical value of the area of the circle is less than the numerical value of the circle's circumference?
Answer: B
Solution:
For the area to be less than the circumference, we must have
This means the diameter must be less than There are three possible rolls that satisfy this:
The probability is then
Thus, B is the correct answer.
15.
Roy bought a new battery-gasoline hybrid car. On a trip the car ran exclusively on its battery for the first miles, then ran exclusively on gasoline for the rest of the trip, using gasoline at a rate of gallons per mile. On the whole trip he averaged miles per gallon. How long was the trip in miles?
Answer: C
Solution:
Let be the distance the car drove solely on gasoline. We have that Cross-multiplying and simplifying gives The total length of the trip is then
Thus, C is the correct answer.
16.
Which of the following is equal to
Answer: B
Solution:
Since we have square roots, we can try to change the inside of each radical to be a perfect square.
Note that we can rewrite the expression as
Factoring and simplifying gives us
Thus, B is the correct answer.
17.
In the eight term sequence the value of is and the sum of any three consecutive terms is What is (A+H?\)
Answer: C
Solution:
From the condition about the sequence, we get that Similarly, we get
Propagating these values through the sequence and repeating the condition for every consecutive triple, we get that and finally,
The desired sum is then
Thus, C is the correct answer.
18.
Circles and each have radius 1. Circles and share one point of tangency. Circle has a point of tangency with the midpoint of What is the area inside circle but outside circle and circle
Answer: C
Solution:
The area of this region is the area of circle minus the area of the overlapping region in and
From the diagram, we can find the area of half of one of the overlapping regions by finding the area of the sector and subtracting the area of the triangle.
This area is then
There are four of these that we must subtract, which leaves us with a final answer of
Thus, C is the correct answer.
19.
In the population of a town was a perfect square. Ten years later, after an increase of people, the population was more than a perfect square. Now, in with an increase of another people, the population is once again a perfect square. Which of the following is closest to the percent growth of the town's population during this twenty-year period?
Answer: E
Solution:
Let the population in be Then let the population in be
Using these values, we have
Factoring, we get
As and are integers, we have that the only possible values for and are and
Trying the first pair, we have which adding together and dividing gives us and
We have that is not a square number, which means that this pair is the wrong one.
Trying the other pair and using the same strategy gives us and
Now, which is a perfect square. The percent increase in population is then
Thus, E is the correct answer.
20.
Two points on the circumference of a circle of radius are selected independently and at random. From each point a chord of length is drawn in a clockwise direction. What is the probability that the two chords intersect?
Answer: D
Solution:
Fix one of the points on the circumference and its chord. Then consider the regular hexagon inscribed in the circle with this point at a vertex.
From this, we can see that the only way for the other point's chord to intersect the current one is if it is within an adjacent arc to the point.
Otherwise, the chord will not reach far enough to intersect the fixed chord, which is why the point must lie on an adjacent arc.
The desired probability is then
Thus, D is the correct answer.
21.
Two counterfeit coins of equal weight are mixed with identical genuine coins. The weight of each of the counterfeit coins is different from the weight of each of the genuine coins. A pair of coins is selected at random without replacement from the coins. A second pair is selected at random without replacement from the remaining coins. The combined weight of the first pair is equal to the combined weight of the second pair. What is the probability that all selected coins are genuine?
Answer: D
Solution:
There are two cases: either all the coins are not counterfeit or each pair has a counterfeit.
For the first case, there are ways to choose the coins for the first pair and choices for the second pair.
We also have to divide by since we can swap the pairs. This gives us configurations for this case.
For the second case, there are ways to choose the non-counterfeit coins. There is only one choice for the counterfeit coins.
There are two ways to create the two pairs, two choices for which counterfeit coin goes with a genuine coin.
This means that there are configurations for this case.
The desired probability is then
Thus, D is the correct answer.
22.
Each vertex of convex pentagon is to be assigned a color. There are colors to choose from, and the ends of each diagonal must have different colors. How many different colorings are possible?
Answer: C
Solution:
Note that there are only cases: all the vertices are different, there is one pair of adjacent vertices with the same colors, or there are pairs (each pair has a different color).
Case all vertices have different colors
This case just gives us different coloring's.
Case one pair of adjacent vertices has the same color
There are ways to choose the colors for this case. There are then options for the pair of vertices.
This gives us a total of colorings for this case.
Case two pairs of adjacent vertices have the same color
There are choices for the vertex that is not in a pair. There are then choices for the colors. There are then a total of colorings for this case.
There are a total of colorings for all the cases.
Thus, C is the correct answer.
23.
Seven students count from to as follows:
• Alice says all the numbers, except she skips the middle number in each consecutive group of three numbers. That is, Alice says
• Barbara says all of the numbers that Alice doesn't say, except she also skips the middle number in each consecutive group of three numbers.
• Candice says all of the numbers that neither Alice nor Barbara says, except she also skips the middle number in each consecutive group of three numbers.
• Debbie, Eliza, and Fatima say all of the numbers that none of the students with the first names beginning before theirs in the alphabet say, except each also skips the middle number in each of her consecutive groups of three numbers.
• Finally, George says the only number that no one else says.
What number does George say?
Answer: C
Solution:
We can walk through all the iterations to find what is left.
Alice does not say the numbers
After Barbara says her numbers, the remaining ones are
Note that both of these are arithmetic sequences where the common difference is increased by a multiple of
This pattern continues as the numbers remaining after Candace says hers are
Then after Debbie, they are and after Eliza, they are
Finally, the only number left after Fatima goes is which is the number that George will have to say.
Thus, C is the correct answer.
24.
Two distinct regular tetrahedra have all their vertices among the vertices of the same unit cube. What is the volume of the region formed by the intersection of the tetrahedra?
Answer: D
Solution:
Note that the sides of the tetrahedron intersect each other at the midpoints.
If we split up each tetrahedron into five congruent smaller tetrahedra, we can see that only the middle tetrahedron overlaps between the two larger ones.
This means we just need to find the volume of the larger tetrahedron, and divide it by to get the volume of a smaller one.
We divide by since the ratio of the side lengths of the larger tetrahedron to the smaller one is which we then cube to find the ratio of volumes.
Since the side length of the large tetrahedron is the diagonal of a face, we know that it is equal to
Recall that the formula for the volume of a tetrahedron is
Using the formula for the area of an equilateral triangle, we have that
We then have to apply the Pythagorean Theorem to find the height. Drop the altitude from the top vertex of the tetrahedron to the center of the base.
Note that the center of an equilateral triangle is its centroid, which means that the distance from a vertex to a centroid is the altitude of the equilateral triangle.
The altitude is just Then this side length of the right triangle is
The hypotenuse of the right triangle is just the side length of the tetrahedron, which is
The height is then
Finally, the volume of the large tetrahedron is
The area of the smaller tetrahedron is then
Thus, D is the correct answer.
25.
Let be a unit square region and an integer. A point in the interior of is called n-ray partitional if there are rays emanating from that divide into triangles of equal area. How many points are -ray partitional but not -ray partitional?
Answer: C
Solution:
Let us first find all the points that are -ray and -ray partitional.
First, consider an extreme -ray partitional point. Let this be the point in the top-left corner.
Note that we must draw rays through the vertices of the square, since otherwise we will end up with non-triangular regions.
Since this is the topmost and leftmost point, we have that the areas of the top triangular region and the left triangle region must be minimized.
This means that they do not have any rays going through them, which also means that their areas must be the same.
Then we have that the distance from the point to the top and left side must be the same. We know have rays to split among the other regions.
Since the other two regions also have the same area, we will have to have rays in each region. This means that those two regions are split into equal regions.
Let be the distance between the point and the top of the square. We then have that
Simplifying gives Now, if we move the point right to the next -partitional point, we have that a ray from the right region gets moved to the left region.
Doing the same analysis again would tell us that the point is away from the left side and from the top side.
Repeating this process, moving the point right and down, gets us that all the -partitional points form a grid, with each point away from adjacent points.
Similarly, we can find the -partitional points form a grid where the points are apart.
We now have to find the overlap between these two grids. Note that the gcd of and is This means that all the points that are on both grids themselves form another grid that is and apart.
This means that there are points that are on both grids. Then there are points that are -partitional and not -partional.
Thus, C is the correct answer.