2016 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.
What is the value of
Solution:
We can factor a out the numerator and simplify. Thus, the correct answer is B.
2.
For what value of does
Solution:
We can express the as and as to get Since the bases are the same, the exponents must also be the same. Therefore, Thus, the correct answer is C.
3.
For every dollar Ben spent on bagels, David spent cents less. Ben paid more than David. How much did they spend in the bagel store together?
Solution:
This means that for every dollar Ben spent, he spent cents more than David.
This means that Ben spent dollars. Therefore, David spent $50 - $12.5 = $37.5
The total amount of money they spent is $50 + $37.5 = $87.5.
Thus, the correct answer is C.
4.
The remainder can be defined for all real numbers and with by where denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to What is the value of
Solution:
Using the formula, we get Thus, the correct answer is B.
5.
A rectangular box has integer side lengths in the ratio Which of the following could be the volume of the box?
Solution:
Let be the side length of the smallest side. Then the other two sides are and
The volume is therefore Testing out values of we see that if then which is an answer choice.
Thus, the correct answer is D.
6.
Ximena lists the whole numbers through once. Emilio copies Ximena's numbers, replacing each occurrence of the digit by the digit Ximena adds her numbers and Emilio adds his numbers. How much larger is Ximena's sum than Emilio's?
Solution:
Whenever Ximena replaces a units digit of with a her total sum decreases by
Similarly, whenever a tens digit of is replaced with a her total sum decreases by
appears as a unit digit times ( and ) and it appears in the tens digit times ().
Her total sum, therefore, will be less than Emilio's sum.
Thus, the correct answer is D.
7.
The mean, median, and mode of the data values are all equal to What is the value of
Solution:
The sum of the elements in this set is making the mean Therefore, Thus, the correct answer is D.
8.
Trickster Rabbit agrees with Foolish Fox to double Fox's money every time Fox crosses the bridge by Rabbit's house, as long as Fox pays coins in toll to Rabbit after each crossing. The payment is made after the doubling. Fox is excited about his good fortune until he discovers that all his money is gone after crossing the bridge three times. How many coins did Fox have at the beginning?
Solution:
We know that Fox has coins at the end. Then before paying the final toll, Fox had coins.
Then he had coins before the doubling. Then before paying the toll for the second crossing, he had coins.
Before the doubling on the second crossing, he had coins. On the first crossing before the toll, Fox had coins.
Finally, before the first doubling, Fox had coins.
Thus, the correct answer is C.
9.
A triangular array of coins has coin in the first row, coins in the second row, coins in the third row, and so on up to coins in the th row. What is the sum of the digits of
Solution:
Recall that the sum of the first number is
We want to find such that Cross-multiplying and simplifying gives us Factoring gives us We want the positive value so Adding together the digits gives us
Thus, the correct answer is D.
10.
A rug is made with three different colors as shown. The areas of the three differently colored regions form an arithmetic progression. The inner rectangle is one foot wide, and each of the two outer regions are foot wide on all four sides. What is the length in feet of the inner rectangle?
Solution:
Let be the length of the inner rectangle. Then the area of the inner rectangle is
The area of the middle region is going to be The area of the outer region is
We know that these values form an arithmetic sequence. That means that
Thus, the correct answer is B.
11.
Find the area of the shaded region.
Solution:
We can split the region into triangles with bases of
Two of the triangles have bases and the other two have bases
The sum of the areas of the triangles is
Thus, the correct answer is D.
12.
Three distinct integers are selected at random between and inclusive. Which of the following is a correct statement about the probability that the product of the three integers is odd?
Solution:
The only way for the product of the three integers to be odd is if all the numbers themselves are odd.
There are an even number of consecutive integers, which means that there is a chance that a randomly chosen number is odd.
For all numbers to be add, the probability is But note that all integers must be distinct. This lowers the probability since we have added an extra restriction.
Thus, the correct answer is A.
13.
Five friends sat in a movie theater in a row containing seats, numbered to from left to right. (The directions "left" and "right" are from the point of view of the people as they sit in the seats.)
During the movie Ada went to the lobby to get some popcorn. When she returned, she found that Bea had moved two seats to the right, Ceci had moved one seat to the left, and Dee and Edie had switched seats, leaving an end seat for Ada. In which seat had Ada been sitting before she got up?
Solution:
Note that Dee and Edie do not change the answers since their seats remain occupied throughout.
Since Bea moves to the right, this forces Ada and Ceci to move to offset this disruption.
Ceci only moves one seat, so Ada must also move one to cancel out the two seat shift that Bea did.
Bea moved to the right and Ceci moved to the left, so Ada must also move to the left to get a total displacement of
Therefore, Ada must have started off in seat to move one to the left to end up in seat
Thus, the correct answer is B.
14.
How many ways are there to write as the sum of twos and threes, ignoring order? (For example, and are two such ways.)
Solution:
The problem can be rewritten as an equation where is the number of twos and is the number of threes.
The goal is to find the number of multiples of that can be subtracted from 2016 to result in an even number.
This can be achieved by the pairs of up to with being incremented by
This gives us solutions for and
Thus, the correct answer is C.
15.
Seven cookies of radius inch are cut from a circle of cookie dough, as shown. Neighboring cookies are tangent, and all except the center cookie are tangent to the edge of the dough. The leftover scrap is reshaped to form another cookie of the same thickness. What is the radius in inches of the scrap cookie?
Solution:
The circle of cookie dough has a radius of inches since it is the same as the diameter plus the radius of a cookie.
The area of the cookie dough is and the cookies have an area of
The area of the leftover scrap is therefore This means that its radius is
Thus, the correct answer is A.
16.
A triangle with vertices and is reflected about the -axis, then the image is rotated counterclockwise about the origin by to produce Which of the following transformations will return to
counterclockwise rotation about the origin by
clockwise rotation about the origin by
reflection about the -axis
reflection about the line
reflection about the -axis
Solution:
To figure out how to reverse the transformations, we can analyze a single point and see what happens to it.
Let be the point. After being reflected about the -axis, the point would go to
Rotating this counterclockwise would put it at The only transformation that puts this back at is reflection about
Thus, the correct answer is D.
17.
Let be a positive multiple of One red ball and green balls are arranged in a line in random order. Let be the probability that at least of the green balls are on the same side of the red ball. Observe that and that approaches as grows large. What is the sum of the digits of the least value of such that
Solution:
For the condition to be satisfied, the red ball cannot be placed in the middle fifth of the green balls.
This means that there are spots where the red ball cannot be placed.
Placing the red ball anywhere else works, which means that
Cross-multiplying and simplifying gives us
The smallest value of is therefore The sum of the digits is
Thus, the correct answer is A.
18.
Each vertex of a cube is to be labeled with an integer through with each integer being used once, in such a way that the sum of the four numbers on the vertices of a face is the same for each face. Arrangements that can be obtained from each other through rotations of the cube are considered to be the same. How many different arrangements are possible?
Solution:
We have that the sum of the vertices on each face is This is because two opposite faces use all vertices, and their vertices have the sum.
Let and be the vertices next to Then the remaining vertices are and
We can do casework on The only restrictions we have are that and all the vertices are distinct.
WLOG let
which is not allowed
all the vertices work
all the vertices work
which is not allowed
which is not allowed
which is not allowed
all vertices work
For each triple, the only way we can arrange them to create unique configurations is and
These cannot be created with rotations by each other. Therefore, there are arrangements.
Thus, the correct answer is C.
19.
In rectangle and Point between and and point between and are such that Segments and intersect at and respectively.
The ratio can be written as where the greatest common factor of and is What is
Solution:
Note that by angle-angle using alternate interior angles.
This gives us
Similarly, we have that which gives us
Finally, we get that Then the desired ratio is
The sum of these is
Thus, E is the correct answer.
20.
For some particular value of when is expanded and like terms are combined, the resulting expression contains exactly terms that include all four variables and each to some positive power. What is
Solution:
We want to find all the terms that are of the form Note that
These variables must satisfy
Since and must be positive, we can define and similarly for all the other variables.
Then, we get that
Using these new variables, we get the new equation Now we can use stars and bars since all the values are non-negative. There are solutions to the equation.
We need to find such that Checking all the answer choices yields as the right answer.
Thus, the correct answer is B.
21.
Circles with centers and having radii and respectively, lie on the same side of line and are tangent to at and respectively, with between and The circle with center is externally tangent to each of the other two circles. What is the area of triangle
Solution:
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we get that and
This follows from and The heights of the triangles are also just
Then, we get that
We also get that
Finally, we have that
Now, we can express as
This evaluates to
Thus, the correct answer is D.
22.
For some positive integer the number has positive integer divisors, including and the number How many positive integer divisors does the number have?
Solution:
Note that the prime factorization of is
Recall that if a number is expressed as then it has factors.
We know that has at least factors, namely and
The only way to express as the product of at least numbers is
This means that has no other prime factors. Then the exponents must be and from the above formula.
Let be a factor of Then has a factor of which makes have a factor of
Then let be a factor of Then has a factor of which means that has a factor of
We do not have to alter the number of s since it already has as its exponent.
This means that we can let Then This number has factors.
Thus, the correct answer is D.
23.
A binary operation has the properties that and that for all nonzero real numbers and (Here represents multiplication). The solution to the equation can be written as where and are relatively prime positive integers. What is
Solution:
Let us see what properties we can gather from the given conditions. First, we see that which tells us that
Now, let's see what happens if we set and apply the second property. We get which simplifies to We can divide by since is nonzero.
We can now calculate the value of directly.
Then we have that
Thus, the correct answer is A.
24.
A quadrilateral is inscribed in a circle of radius Three of the sides of this quadrilateral have length What is the length of the fourth side?
Solution:
Let intersect and at and respectively.
Since we get that
Then we get that is an interior angle with value
Then, by angle-angle, we get that This gives us We have that as they are both radii, which means that Similarly, we have that
Now, we get that from the above ratios, which means that
This tells us that
Then we get that Thus, the correct answer is E.
25.
How many ordered triples of positive integers satisfy and
Solution:
We can prime factorize into into and into
Note that the lcm of and does not have a factor of so will neither nor This means must have a factor of
Then we can express and
By definition of lcm, we get that
Since the max of and is we have that Similarly, since the max of and is we have that
We are left with a few redundant equations, so we can trim them down to and For the first equation, at least one of them must be giving us options:
For the second equation, at least one of them must be giving us options:
There are then possible combinations for all the variables.
Thus, the correct answer is A.