2018 AIME I Problem 10
Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 10 of the 2018 AIME I, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2018 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.
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Difficulty rating: 3060
10.
The wheel shown below consists of two circles and five spokes, with a label at each point where a spoke meets a circle. A bug walks along the wheel, starting at point At every step of the process, the bug walks from one labeled point to an adjacent labeled point. Along the inner circle the bug only walks in a counterclockwise direction, and along the outer circle the bug only walks in a clockwise direction. For example, the bug could travel along the path which has steps. Let be the number of paths with steps that begin and end at point Find the remainder when is divided by
Solution:
From any inner point the bug has exactly two moves, counterclockwise along the inner circle or outward along a spoke; from any outer point it has exactly two, clockwise along the outer circle or inward along a spoke. Call a move if it is counterclockwise or inward and if it is clockwise or outward. Then every string in describes exactly one -step path from
A step arrives on the inner circle exactly when it is an so the path ends on the inner circle exactly when its last move is an in that case the numbers of inward and outward moves are equal. Measuring angular position in fifths of a turn (counterclockwise clockwise spokes ), the path returns to exactly when it ends on the inner circle and the net rotation is a multiple of that is, when the last move is and With moves this means the number of s is or
Fixing the last move as the first moves contain or s, so and the remainder is
Problem 10 in Other Years
1997 AIME · 1998 AIME · 1999 AIME · 2000 AIME I · 2000 AIME II · 2001 AIME I · 2001 AIME II · 2002 AIME I · 2002 AIME II · 2003 AIME I · 2003 AIME II · 2004 AIME I · 2004 AIME II · 2005 AIME I · 2005 AIME II · 2006 AIME I · 2006 AIME II · 2007 AIME I · 2007 AIME II · 2008 AIME I · 2008 AIME II · 2009 AIME I · 2009 AIME II · 2010 AIME I · 2010 AIME II · 2011 AIME I · 2011 AIME II · 2012 AIME I · 2012 AIME II · 2013 AIME I · 2013 AIME II · 2014 AIME I · 2014 AIME II · 2015 AIME I · 2015 AIME II · 2016 AIME I · 2016 AIME II · 2017 AIME I · 2017 AIME II · 2018 AIME II · 2019 AIME I · 2019 AIME II · 2020 AIME I · 2020 AIME II · 2021 AIME I · 2021 AIME II · 2022 AIME I · 2022 AIME II · 2023 AIME I · 2023 AIME II · 2024 AIME I · 2024 AIME II · 2025 AIME I · 2025 AIME II · 2026 AIME I · 2026 AIME II