2015 AMC 10B 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.
What is the value of
Solution:
Thus, the correct answer is C.
2.
Marie does three equally time-consuming tasks in a row without taking breaks. She begins the first task at PM and finishes the second task at PM. When does she finish the third task?
3:10 PM
3:30 PM
4:00 PM
4:10 PM
4:30 PM
Solution:
The time it takes to do tasks is minutes. Thus, it takes more minutes after which is
Thus, the correct answer is B.
3.
Kaashish has written down one integer two times and another integer three times. The sum of the five numbers is and one of the numbers is What is the other number?
Solution:
Kaashish either wrote three times or two times.
If he wrote it twice, then the sum of the other three numbers is: which isn't a multiple of Therefore, this case wouldn't work.
If he wrote it three times, then the sum of the other two numbers is Therefore, the other number is
Thus, the correct answer is A.
4.
Four siblings ordered an extra large pizza. Alex ate Beth and Cyril of the pizza. Dan got the leftovers. What is the sequence of the siblings in decreasing order of the part of pizza they consumed?
Alex, Beth, Cyril, Dan
Beth, Cyril, Alex, Dan
Beth, Cyril, Dan, Alex
Beth, Dan, Cyril, Alex
Dan, Beth, Cyril, Alex
Solution:
Since we know Beth ate more than Cyril and Cyril ate more than Alex. Thus, those three are in order.
The amount Dan ate is This is greater than and less than so Dan is in between Cyril and Alex. This makes the order Beth, Cyril, Dan, Alex.
Thus, the correct answer is C.
5.
David, Hikmet, Jack, Marta, Rand, and Todd were in a -person race with other people. Rand finished places ahead of Hikmet. Marta finished place behind Jack. David finished places behind Hikmet. Jack finished places behind Todd. Todd finished place behind Rand. Marta finished in th place. Who finished in th place?
David
Hikmet
Jack
Rand
Todd
Solution:
Jack is one place in front of Marta who is in 6th place, so he is in 5th place.
Todd is two places in front of Marta who is in 5th place, so he is in 3rd place.
Rand is one place in front of Todd who is in 3rd place, so he is in 2nd place.
Himket is six places behind Rand who is in 2nd place, so he is in 8th place.
Thus, the correct answer is B.
6.
Mahdi practices exactly one sport each day of the week. He runs three days a week but never on two consecutive days. On Monday he plays basketball and two days later golf. He swims and plays tennis, but he never plays tennis the day after running or swimming. Which day of the week does Mahdi swim?
Sunday
Tuesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Solution:
There are days between Wednesday and Monday, so he can't fit all of his running days in that time without them being consecutive.
This means he runs on Tuesday. Then, all thats left is running, swimming, or tennis. He must play tennis on Thursday or else he plays tennis after swimming or running.
Therefore, he has Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to run twice and swim once. Since running isn't done on consecutive days, Madhi cannot run on Saturday, leaving that day free for swimming.
Thus, the correct answer is E.
7.
Consider the operation "minus the reciprocal of," defined by What is
Solution:
Thus, the correct answer is A.
8.
The letter F shown below is rotated clockwise around the origin, then reflected in the -axis, and then rotated a half turn around the origin. What is the final image?
Solution:
The rotation puts the F under the -axis with its lines going to the right.
Then, note that a half turn is the same as reflecting upon both axes in any order, so it undoes the reflection upon the -axis and reflects it upon the -axis. This means the last two turns just reflects it upon the -axis.
The reflection puts the F above the -axis with its lines going to the right.
Thus, the correct answer is E.
9.
The shaded region below is called a shark's fin falcata, a figure studied by Leonardo da Vinci. It is bounded by the portion of the circle of radius and center that lies in the first quadrant, the portion of the circle with radius and center that lies in the first quadrant, and the line segment from to What is the area of the shark's fin falcata?
Solution:
The area of the portion of the circle of radius in the first quadrant is equal to:
Similarly, the are of the portion of the cicle with radius centered at that lies in the first quadrant is equal to:
The area of the shark's fin falcata is equal to the difference of these regions:
Thus, the correct answer is B.
10.
What are the sign and units digit of the product of all the odd negative integers strictly greater than
It is a negative number ending with a 1.
It is a positive number ending with a 1.
It is a negative number ending with a 5.
It is a positive number ending with a 5.
It is a negative number ending with a 0.
Solution:
There are odd numbers greater than
Our product is of an odd number of negative numbers, so the result is negative.
Also, we multiply by in there, so the product is a multiple of making it end in or None of our factors are even, so the product can't be even.
Therefore, the product must end in
Thus, the correct answer is C.
11.
Among the positive integers less than each of whose digits is a prime number, one is selected at random. What is the probability that the selected number is prime?
Solution:
The only digits that are prime are and
Our number can either be one or two digits. There are one digit numbers that have its digits being prime, and two digit numbers that have its digits being prime. This makes a total of
Each of the one one digit numbers are prime. For the two digit numbers, if it ends in or then it isn't prime since it would be a multiple of or
Thus, we only need to check the numbers that end in or
The possible numbers are:
and are multiples of so they aren't prime.
Then, and are multiples of so they aren't prime.
This leaves and as the only two digit primes.
Therefore, there are primes out of making the probability
Thus, the correct answer is B.
12.
For how many integers is the point inside or on the circle of radius centered at
Solution:
The distance between and is We must find how many are such that that value is less than or equal to Therefoe, Therefore, we have included tintegers.
Thus, the correct answer is A.
13.
The line forms a triangle with the coordinate axes. What is the sum of the lengths of the altitudes of this triangle?
Solution:
The triangle is a right triangle with legs of and This makes the hypotenuse
Two of the altitudes are then and Also, for any side, where is the base and is the altitude.
The area is so the other altitude can be found with Thus, this altitude is
Therefore, the sum is
Thus, the correct answer is E.
14.
Let and be three distinct one-digit numbers. What is the maximum value of the sum of the roots of the equation
Solution:
The equation is equal to This makes the roots equal to: and the sum is
Therefore, we want to maximize while making the highest.
As such, we can have and get a sum:
Thus, the correct answer is D.
15.
The town of Hamlet has people for each horse, sheep for each cow, and ducks for each person. Which of the following could not possibly be the total number of people, horses, sheep, cows, and ducks in Hamlet?
Solution:
Let the number of horses be and let the number of cows be
Then, the number of people is and the number of ducks is
Also, the total number of sheep is so the number of total number of animals or people is
If we take the total and subtract then we get a multiple of Thus, any valid number is such that there is a multiple of that is lower than the number that has the same remainder when divided by
For the lowest multiple of that has the same remainder when divided by is so this is a valid solution.
For the lowest multiple of that has the same remainder when divided by is so this isn't valid solution.
For the lowest multiple of that has the same remainder when divided by is so this is a valid solution.
For the lowest multiple of that has the same remainder when divided by is so this is a valid solution.
For the lowest multiple of that has the same remainder when divided by is so this is a valid solution.
Therefore, cannot possible be the total.
Thus, the correct answer is B.
16.
Al, Bill, and Cal will each randomly be assigned a whole number from to inclusive, with no two of them getting the same number. What is the probability that Al's number will be a whole number multiple of Bill's and Bill's number will be a whole number multiple of Cal's?
Solution:
Let their numbers be and Then, if is a multiple of and they aren't the same number, then Similarly,
Thus, making Thus, or Also, creating an upper bound of
Now, casing:
If then means Then, This makes exactly one case.
If then means or
If then can be one of making cases.
If then can be one of making cases.
If then can is making case.
If then can is making case.
Thus, makes cases.
There are then total values of that work. The total number of pairs that are possible is
Therefore, the probability is
Thus, the correct answer is C.
17.
The centers of the faces of the right rectangular prism shown below are joined to create an octahedron. What is the volume of this octahedron?
Solution:
If we connect all the centers of the prism, we get an octohedron made of two different pyramids. The area of the base of the pyramid is half of the area of the rectangle it is parallel with. As such, the volume of each pyramid is so the combined area is:
The sum of the height is the full side length, so this scales the volume down by a factor of
Therefore, the ratio of the the volume of the prism to the octahedron is The volume of the prism is so the volume of the octohedron is
Thus, the correct answer is B.
18.
Johann has fair coins. He flips all the coins. Any coin that lands on tails is tossed again. Coins that land on tails on the second toss are tossed a third time. What is the expected number of coins that are now heads?
Solution:
A coin ends as tails if and only if it has flips that are tails, which happens with probability Thus, the probability of any coin being heads is
As the probability that a given coin flip is and there are coin flips in total, the expected number of coins that are now heads is:
Thus, the correct answer is D.
19.
In and Squares and are constructed outside of the triangle. The points and lie on a circle. What is the perimeter of the triangle?
Solution:
Consider the following diagram:
The points are on the circle, so the center goes through its perpendicular bisector, which is the same as the perpendicular bisector of
The points are on the circle, so the center goes through its perpendicular bisector, which is the same as the perpendicular bisector of
Thus, the center is on the perpendicular bisector of and which is the circumcenter. The circumcenter of a right triangle is the midpoint of the hypotenuse, so it is the midpoint of
Then, let be the midpoint of This would make
Therefore, the radius is so
Then, the distance from to is also equal to: Which simplifies to equal
Therefore, Since we have making an isoceles right triangle. Therefore
As such, the perimeter is
Thus, the correct answer is C.
20.
Erin the ant starts at a given corner of a cube and crawls along exactly 7 edges in such a way that she visits every corner exactly once and then finds that she is unable to return along an edge to her starting point. How many paths are there meeting these conditions?
Solution:
Suppose we have the unit cube where the points are ordered triples with coordinates that are or
Then, after an odd number of moves, the sum of the coordinates is odd. Therefore, the only valid last point is
Then, there are choices for the first move and for the second. These choices are all identical, so their next moves would be the same.
From here everything is forced to prevent us from going to until the last move, so there are just moves.
Thus, the correct answer is A.
21.
Cozy the Cat and Dash the Dog are going up a staircase with a certain number of steps. However, instead of walking up the steps one at a time, both Cozy and Dash jump.
Cozy goes two steps up with each jump (though if necessary, he will just jump the last step).
Dash goes five steps up with each jump (though if necessary, he will just jump the last steps if there are fewer than steps left).
Suppose Dash takes fewer jumps than Cozy to reach the top of the staircase. Let denote the sum of all possible numbers of steps this staircase can have. What is the sum of the digits of
Solution:
The amount Cozy jumps is The amount Dash jumps is Thus, As such, we can case on whether is even or odd.
If it is even, then we have: Which implies that, Therefore,
Simplifying the inequality, we get so the only possible even are
Both these cases satisfy the equation so they are both valid answers.
If it is odd, then Which implies that, Therefore, Simplifying the inequality, we get, so the only possible odd are
Only satisfies so it is the only valid answer.
Therefore, the sum of the answers is making the sum of the digits
Thus, the correct answer is D.
22.
In the figure shown below, is a regular pentagon and What is
Solution:
Due to rotational symmetry, so is isoceles. Thus, This is equal to by rotational symmetry.
Then, since and is a parallelogram, making
Thus, we need to just find
Since Therefore,
This means so,
This means
Thus, the correct answer is D.
23.
Let be a positive integer greater than 4 such that the decimal representation of ends in zeros and the decimal representation of ends in zeros. Let denote the sum of the four least possible values of What is the sum of the digits of
Solution:
The number of zeros to end a number is equal to the power of in the
Since we are trying to find the lowest numbers, we can inspect small numbers where so that the number of zeros to end is and the number of zeros to end is
This means Then, we can inspect each value of as follows:
Case 1: If then implying that which has no valid solutions.
Case 2: If then so
Then, we also know The only solutions are when so making
Thus, we have the solutions
Case 3: If then so
Then, we also know The only solutions are when so making
Thus, we have the solutions
Since is non-decreasing, we found the four smallest solutions.
As such, their sum is making the sum of the digits
Thus, the correct answer is B.
24.
Aaron the ant walks on the coordinate plane according to the following rules.
He starts at the origin facing to the east and walks one unit, arriving at
For right after arriving at the point if Aaron can turn left and walk one unit to an unvisited point he does that. Otherwise, he walks one unit straight ahead to reach Thus the sequence of points continues and so on in a counterclockwise spiral pattern. What is
Solution:
When walking around, Aaron always walks in a counter-clockwise spiral centered at
Thus, he always makes a square length in as few points as possible, which would be Thus, after points, he would make a square of side length This would have corners at the points
Since it is a counter-clockwise spiral, the square the th point is at Note that is one of the points, so
Then, since we have to go back points and it is a counter-clockwise spiral, we subtract from the -value, making
Thus, the correct answer is D.
25.
A rectangular box measures where and are integers and The volume and the surface area of the box are numerically equal. How many ordered triples are possible?
Solution:
Our problem statment is equivalent to the number of solutions for
Then, so
Also, so so
We case on as follows:
If we have so Thus, which has solutions since has factors, making of them less than or equal to and thus possible values for
If we have so Thus, which has solutions since has factors, making of them less than or equal to and thus possible values for
If we have so Thus, which has solution since we can only get since
If we have so Thus, which has solution since we can only get since Thus, we have solutions.
Thus, the correct answer is B.