Joey’s Problem Databank

Contents
1 Geometry 2
1.1 Similarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.1.1 Setup 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1.2 Setup 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.1.3 Ratio Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2 Inscribed Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.3 3-d Geo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.4 Analytic Geo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5 Mass Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
1.6 Pythag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1.7 Funky Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.8 Circle angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.9 Special Right Triangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.10 LoS and LoC and Trig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.11 Drills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.12 Triangle Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.13 Angle Bisector Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1.14 Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.15 Tangents to Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1.16 Power of a Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
1.17 Cyclic Quads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.18 Nice, Uncategorized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2 Algebra 39
2.1 Logs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.2 Complex Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.3 Trig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.4 Word Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.5 Normal Factorizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.6 Special Factorizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
2.7 Clever Substitutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.8 AM-GM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.9 Systems of Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.10 Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.11 Symmetric Equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
2.12 Synthetic Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.13 Vieta’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
2.14 Ratio Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2.15 General Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.16 Series and Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2.17 D=RT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.18 Quadratics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.19 Absolute Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.20 Defined Functions (MC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.21 Floor Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.22 Mean, Median, Mode, Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
2.23 SFFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

1
3 Combinatorics 58
3.1 Basic Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.2 Stars and Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3 Adding Stuff to Help Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.4 Overcounting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.5 PIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.6 Phi Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.7 Geometric Counting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.8 Double Counting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.9 Conditional Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
3.10 Algebraic Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.11 Order or no Order? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
3.12 Just Choose It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.13 Nomial Theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3.14 Slot Models/Just count it! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.15 States/Recursion/Expected Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3.16 Splitting up complicated stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
3.17 WLOG/Modeling Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.18 Complementary Counting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
3.19 Symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.20 Geometric Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
3.21 Casework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
3.22 Nice Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
3.23 Pathwalking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

4 Number Theory 73
4.1 Divisibility Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
4.2 Modular Inverses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.3 Linear Congruences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.4 Powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.5 Legendre’s Thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.6 Mods Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4.7 Euclidean Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.8 Prime Factorization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.9 Factor Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4.10 Base arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.11 Division Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.12 NT Factoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

5 Altering perspective? 81

6 AMC Uncategorized 81
6.1 Anshul 2/8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.1.1 Speeeeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.1.2 Speed Week 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.2 March 7 Q’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
6.3 Pi day Problems! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

2
1 Geometry

1.1 Similarity

• The diameter AB of a circle of radius 2 is extended to a point D outside the circle so that BD = 3
Pint E is chosen so that ED = 5 and line ED is perpendicular to line AD. Segment AE intersects the
circle at a point C between A and E. What is the area of 4ABC? (2017 AMC 12B)
• A cone is sliced by planes parallel to its base into three pieces of equal height. What fraction of the
original volume is in the middle piece? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2014 State Sprint)

• The side lengths of three similar regular pentagons are in the ratio 2:5:7. The area of the smallest
pentagon is 40 in2 . What is the area of the largest pentagon? (2014 State Sprint)
• In the figure BD is parallel to AE and also BF is parallel to DE. The area of the larger triangle ACE
is 128. The area of the trapezoid BDEA is 78. Determine the area of triangle ABF . (2006 UNCO)

X
1

4 Y

• Quadrilateral CDEF is a parallelogram. Its area is 36 square units. Points G and H are the midpoints
of sides CD and EF , respectively. What is the area of triangle of CDJ? (2008 Chapter Sprint)

3
• Two circles lie outside regular hexagon ABCDEF . The first is tangent to AB, and the second is
tangent to DE. Both are tangent to lines BC and F A. What is the ratio of the area of the second
circle to that of the first circle? (2010 AMC 10B)
• In rectangle ABCD, AB = 6, AD = 30, and G is the midpoint of AD. Segment AB is extended 2
units beyond B to point E, and F is the intersection of ED and BC. What is the area of BF DG?
(2012 AMC 10B)
• On the inside of a square with side length 60, construct four congruent isosceles triangles each with
base 60 and height 50, and each having one side coinciding with a different side of the square. Find the
area of the octagonal region common to the interior of all four triangles. (2015 Purple Comet)
• In the figure below, quadrilateral CDEG is a square with CD = 3, and quadrilateral BEF H is a
rectangle. If BE = 5, how many units is BH? Express your answer as a mixed number. (2009 State
Team)

• In trapezoid ABCD, AB is parallel to CD, AB = 7 units, and CD = 10 units. Segment EF is drawn

parallel to AB with E lying on AD and F lying on BC. If BF : F C = 3 : 4, what is EF ? Express
your answer as a common fraction. (2009 State Sprint)
• In the figure shown below, ABCDE is a regular pentagon and AG = 1. What is F G + JH + CD?
(2015 AMC 10B)
A

E F G B

J H
I

D C
• A circle with a radius of 2 units has its center at (0, 0). A circle with a radius of 7 units has its center
at (15, 0). A line tangent to both circles intersects the x- axis at (x, 0) to the right of the origin. What
is the value of x? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2008 State Sprint)
• Given circle ω and point P outside the circle, let A, B, C, and D be on the circle such that P , A, B

4
 are collinear and P , C, D are collinear. Then prove P A × P B = P C × P D. (Power of a Point)
• Given circle ω and point P inside the circle, let A, B, C, D be on the circle such that the chords AB
and CD intersect at P . Then prove P A × P B = P C × P D. (Power of a Point)
• A cubical cake with edge length 2 inches is iced on the sides and the top. It is cut vertically into three
pieces as shown in this top view, where M is the midpoint of a top edge. The piece whose top is triangle
B contains c cubic inches of cake and s square inches of icing. What is c + s? (2009 AMC 10B)
A B

H E
G

D 1 F 1 C
2 2

1.1.1 Setup 1

• In rectangle ABCD, AB = 1, BC = 2, and points E, F , and G are midpoints of BC, CD, and AD,
respectively. Point H is the midpoint of GE. What is the area of the shaded region? (2014 AMC 10A)

A
B
M
C

• In rectangle ABCD, shown here, points E and F lie on side BC and CD, respectively. Point F is the
midpoint of CD and BE = 13 BC. Segments AC and F E intersect at point P . What is the ratio of
AP to P C? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2013 National Target)

• In rectangle ABCD, points E and F lie on segments AB and CD, respectively, such that AE = AB 3
and CF = CD 2 . Segment BD intersects segment EF at P . What fraction of the area of rectangle
ABCD lies in triangle EBP ? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2010 State Sprint)
• In isosceles trapezoid ABCD, AB||CD, AB = 4 units, and CD = 10 units. Points E and F are on
CD with BE parallel to AD and AF parallel to BC. AF and BE intersect at point G. What is the

5
 ratio of the area of triangle EF G to the area of trapezoid ABCD? Express your answer as a common
fraction. (2013 State Sprint)
• In rectangle ABCD, AB = 6 and BC = 3. Point E between B and C, and point F between E and C
are such that BE = EF = F C. Segments AE and AF intersect BD at P and Q, respectively. The
ratio BP : P Q : QD can be written as r : s : t where the greatest common factor of r, s and t is 1.
What is r + s + t? (2016 AMC 10A)
• In rectangle ABCD, point M is the midpoint of side BC, and point N lies on CD such that DN : N C =
1 : 4. Segment BN intersects AM and AC at points R and S, respectively. If N S : SR : RB = x : y : z,
where x, y, and z are positive integers, what is the minimum possible value of x + y + z? (2012 State
Sprint)
• In a trapezoid ABCD with AB parallel to CD, the diagonals AC and BD intersect at E. If the area
of triangle ABE is 50 square units, and the area of triangle ADE is 20 square units, what is the area
of trapezoid ABCD? (2009 National Sprint)
• In rectangle ABCD, BC = 2AB. Points O and M are the midpoints of AD √ and BC, respectively.
Point P bisects AO. Let N be the intersection of OB and P M . If OB = 6 2 units, what is the area
of 4N OP ? (2013 MC State Target)
• In rectangle ABCD, AB = 6 units, the measure of 6 DBC is 30◦ , M is the midpoint of segment AD
and segments CM and BD intersect at K. What is the length of segment M K? Express your answer
in simplest radical form. (2012 MC State Sprint)
• In a trapezoid ABCD with AB parallel to CD, the diagonals intersect at a point E. The area of
triangle 4ABE is 32 and of triangle 4CDE is 50. Find the area of the trapezoid. (2016 State Written
Comprehensive)
• In trapezoid ABCD segments AB and CD are parallel. Point P is the intersection of diagonals AC
and BD. The area of 4P AB is 16 square units, and the area of 4P CD is 25 square units. What is
the area of trapezoid ABCD? (2012 State Sprint)
• Trapezoid ABCD has base AB = 20 units and base CD = 30 units. Diagonals AC and BD intersect
at X. If the area of trapezoid ABCD is 300 square units, what is the area of triangle BXC? (2010
State Target)
• In the figure below, a 3-inch by 3-inch square adjoins a 10-inch by 10-inch square. What is the area of
the region CDF E? Express your answer in square inches as a common fraction. (2009 State Target)

• In quadrilateral ABCD, AB||CD and BC ⊥ AB. Lines AC and BD intersect at E. If AB = 20,

BC = 2016, and CD = 16, find the area of 4BCE. (NIMO 25)
• Points A, B, C, D, E and F lie, in that order, on AF , dividing it into five segments, each of length 1.
Point G is not on line AF . Point H lies on GD, and point J lies on GF . The line segments HC, JE,
and AG are parallel. Find HC/JE. (2002 AMC 10A)

6
• Three unit squares and two line segments connecting two pairs of vertices are shown. What is the area
of 4ABC? (2012 AMC 10A)
A B

• In the overlapping triangles 4ABC and 4ABE sharing common side AB, 6 EAB and 6 ABC are right
angles, AB = 4, BC = 6, AE = 8, and AC and BE intersect at D. What is the difference between the
areas of 4ADE and 4BDC? (2004 AMC 12A)
E

8 D
6

A 4 B
• Consider the 12-sided polygon ABCDEF GHIJKL, as shown. Each of its sides has length 4, and each
two consecutive sides form a right angle. Suppose that AG and CH meet at M . What is the area of
quadrilateral ABCM ? (2007 AMC 10A)
A B

K L C D

M
J I F E

H G
• Rectangle ABCD has AB = 5 and BC = 4. Point E lies on AB so that EB = 1, point G lies on BC
so that CG = 1. and point F lies on CD so that DF = 2. Segments AG and AC intersect EF at Q
and P , respectively. What is the value of P Q
EF ? (2016 AMC 10B)

7
 A E B

Q
P
G

D F C
√ √
13 2 9 10 1
(A) 16 (B) 13 (C) 82 (D) 91 (E) 9

• Rectangle ABCD is inscribed in triangle EF G such that side AD of the rectangle is on side EG of the
triangle, as shown. The triangle’s altitude from F to side EG is 7 inches, and EG = 10 inches. The
length of segment AB is equal to half the length of the segment AD. What is the area of rectangle
ABCD? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2007 National Team)

1.1.2 Setup 2

• A square with side length x is inscribed in a right triangle with sides of length 3, 4, and 5 so that one
vertex of the square coincides with the right-angle vertex of the triangle. A square with side length y
is inscribed in another right triangle with sides of length 3, 4, and 5 so that one side of the square lies
on the hypotenuse of the triangle. What is xy ? (2017 AMC 12A)
• Diagonal XZ of rectangle W XY Z is divided into three segments each of length 2 units by points M
and N as shown. Segments M W and N Y are parallel and are both perpendicular to XZ. What is the
area of W XY Z? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2016 State Sprint)

• Right triangle ABC has one leg of length 6 cm, one leg of length 8 cm, and a right angle at A. A
square has one side on the hypotenuse of triangle ABC and a vertex on each of the two legs of triangle
ABC. What is the length of one side of the square? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2006
State Sprint)
• In the diagram below, ABCD is a square. Point E is the midpoint of AD. Points F and G lie on CE,
and H and J lie on AB and BC, respectively, so that F GHJ is a square. Points K and L lie on GH,

8
 and M and N lie on AD and AB, respectively, so that KLM N is a square. The area of KLM N is 99.
Find the area of F GHJ.(2015 AIME I)

A M E D
N G

L
H K

B J C
• Find the side length of the largest square that will fit completely inside of an 8-15-17 right triangle,
given that two sides of the square lie on the sides of length 8 and 15? (2007 VHHS)
• Triangle M N O is an isosceles triangle with M N = N O = 25 cm. A line segment, drawn from the
midpoint of M O perpendicular to M N , intersects M N at point P with N P : P M = 4 : 1. What is
the length of the altitude drawn from point N to M O? Express your answer in simplest radical form.
(2012 State Sprint)
• Square BCF E is inscribed in right triangle AGD, as shown below. If AB = 28 units and CD = 58
units, what is the area of square BCF E? (2005 State Sprint)

• Right triangle ABC has one leg of length 6 cm, one leg of length 8 cm, and a right angle at A. A
square has one side on the hypotenuse of triangle ABC and a vertex on each of the two legs of triangle
ABC. What is the length of one side of the square? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2007
State Sprint)

1.1.3 Ratio Stuff

• Approximately 70.8% of Earth’s surface is covered with water; the rest is land. It is said that Mars,
whose surface is covered entirely with land, has approximately the same amount of land as the earth.
Based on this information, what percent of Earth’s radius is Mars’ radius? Express your answer to the
nearest whole number. (2016 State Team)
• Two similar quadrilaterals have areas of 14 m2 and 56 m2 . If one of the quadrilaterals has a perimeter
of 16 m, what is the perimeter, in meters, of the other quadrilateral? (2013 FSE)

9
• Triangle LM N , shown here, has altitude M H drawn to side LN . Circles are inscribed in triangles
M N H and M LH tangent to altitude M H at A and T , respectively. If M A : AT : T H = 4 : 2 : 1, what
is the ratio of the smaller circle’s area to the larger circle’s area? Express your answer as a common
fraction. (2016 Chapter Sprint)

• In square units, what is the largest possible area a rectangle inscribed in a 10-17-21 triangle can have?
(2013 State Sprint)
• In 4ABC, line segments are drawn parallel to each of the sides dividing the triangle into six regions.
The areas of three regions are shown in the figure. What is the total area of 4ABC?

• Four cubes with edge lengths 1, 2, 3, and 4 are stacked as shown. What is the length of the portion of
XY contained in the cube with edge length 3?
√ √
3 33 √ 2 33 √
(A) (B) 2 3 (C) (D) 4 (E) 3 2
5 3

X
1

4 Y

• When the diameter of a pizza increases by 2 inches, the area increases by 44%. What was the area, in

10
 square inches, of the original pizza? Express your answer in terms of π. (2011 State Sprint)
• The line y = b − x with 0 < b < 4 intersects the y-axis at P and the line x = 4 at S. If the ratio of the
area of triangle QRS to the area of triangle QOP is 9 : 25, what is the value of b? Express the answer
as a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2005 Nats Target)

• The two cones shown have parallel bases and common apex T . T W = 32 m, W V = 8 m, and ZY = 5
m. What is the volume of the frustum with circle W and circle Z as its bases? Express your answer in
terms of π. (2013 State Sprint)

• The two cones in the diagram share a common apex and have parallel bases. Millie found the volumes
of the smaller and larger cones to be 125πunits3 and 512πunits3 , respectively. She found the lateral
surface area of the smaller cone to be 125units2 . What is the lateral surface area of the larger cone?
(2013 National Target)

• Segment XY is drawn parallel to the base of triangle ABC. If the area of trapezoid BCY X is 10
square units and the area of triangle AXY is 8 square units, what is the ratio of XY to BC? Express
your answer as a common fraction. (2015 Chapter Sprint)

11
 √
• A right square pyramid with base edges of length 8 2 units each and slant edges of length 10 units
each is cut by a plane that is parallel to its base and 3 units above its base. What is the volume, in
cubic units, of the new pyramid that is cut off by this plane? (2009 National Target)
• The surface area of sphere A is 96% more than the surface area of sphere B. The volume of sphere A
is r% more than the volume of sphere B. What is the value of r? Express your answer to the nearest
whole number. (2001 Nats Target)
• A right circular cone is sliced into four pieces by planes parallel to its base, as shown in the figure. All
of these pieces have the same height. What is the ratio of the volume of the second-largest piece to the
volume of the largest piece? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011 State Sprint)

• A solid right, circular cone has a base radius of 5 meters and a slant height of 10 meters. A top cone will
be removed so that the volume of the remaining frustum will be 13 that of the original cone. In square
meters, what is the total surface area, including both bases, of the frustum? Express your answer to
the nearest whole number. (2014 State Target)

• Logan is constructing a scaled model of his town. The city’s water tower stands 40 meters high, and
the top portion is a sphere that holds 100,000 liters of water. Logan’s miniature water tower holds 0.1
liters. How tall, in meters, should Logan make his tower? (2010 AMC 12A)
• A frustum of a right circular cone is formed by cutting a small cone off of the top of a larger cone. If a
particular frustum has an altitude of 24 centimeters, the area of its lower base is 225π sq cm and the
area of its upper base is 25π square cm, what is the altitude of the small cone that was cut off? (2010
National Target)
• A pyramid has a square base with side of length 1 and has lateral faces that are equilateral triangles.
A cube is placed within the pyramid so that one face is on the base of the pyramid and its opposite
face has all its edges on the lateral faces of the pyramid. What is the volume of this cube? (2011 AMC
12B)
• A container in the shape of a right circular cone is 12 inches tall and its base has a 5-inch radius. The
liquid that is sealed inside is 9 inches deep when the cone is held with its point down and its base
horizontal. When the liquid is held with its point up and its base horizontal, the height of the liquid
√
is m − n 3 p, where m, n, and p are positive integers and p is not divisible by the cube of any prime
number. Find m + n + p. (2000 AIME I)

12
1.2 Inscribed Stuff

• The area of the semicircle on the left is half the area of the circle on the right. The area of a square
inscribed in the semicircle as shown, is what fraction of the area of a square inscribed in the circle?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2007 State Sprint)

• A silo-shaped plane figure is formed by positioning a semicircle above a square. The diameter of the
semicircle is 2 units long and coincides with the top of the square. What is the radius, r, of the smallest
circle that contains this figure? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2012 State Sprint)

• A semicircle and a circle are placed inside a square with sides of length 4 cm, as shown. The circle is
tangent to two adjacent sides of the square and to the semicircle. The diameter of the semicircle is a
side of the square. In centimeters, what is the radius of the circle? Express your answer as a decimal
to the nearest hundredth. (2012 State Target)

• In the circle with center Q, radii AQ and BQ form a right angle. The two regions are tangent semicircles,
as shown. The radius of the circle with center Q is 14 inches. What is the radius of the smaller
semicircle? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2008 National Sprint)

A Q

B
• In the figure below, semicircles with centers at A and B and with radii 2 and 1, respectively, are drawn
in the interior of, and sharing bases with, a semicircle with diameter JK. The two smaller semicircles
are externally tangent to each other and internally tangent to the largest semicircle. A circle centered

13
 at P is drawn externally tangent to the two smaller semicircles and internally tangent to the largest
semicircle. What is the radius of the circle centered at P ?

• Six spheres of radius 1 are positioned so that their centers are at the vertices of a regular hexagon of
side length 2. The six spheres are internally tangent to a larger sphere whose center is the center of
the hexagon. An eighth sphere is externally tangent to the six smaller spheres and internally tangent
to the larger sphere. What is the radius of this eighth sphere? (2013 AMC 10A)
• A sphere is inscribed in a truncated right circular cone as shown. The volume of the truncated cone is
twice that of the sphere. What is the ratio of the radius of the bottom base of the truncated cone to
the radius of the top base of the truncated cone? (2014 AMC 10B)

• A sphere is inscribed in a right cone

√ with base radius 12 m and height 24 cm, as shown. The radius of
the sphere can be expressed as a c − a cm. What is the value of a + c? (2010 National Sprint)

• A square and a circle intersect so that each side of the square contains a chord of the circle equal in
length to the radius of the circle. What is the ratio of the area of the square to the area of the circle?
Express your answer as a common fraction in terms of π. (2011 State Sprint)

• A right cylinder with abase radius of 3 units is inscribed in a sphere of radius 5 units. What is the total

14
 volume, in cubic units, of the space inside the sphere and outside the cylinder? Express your answer
as a common fraction in terms of π. (2008 State Sprint)
• In square ABCD, shown here, sector BCD was drawn with a center C and BC = 24 cm. A semicircle
with diameter AE is drawn tangent to the sector BCD. If points A, E, and D are collinear. What is
AE? (2014 State Target)

• Seven cookies of radius 1 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? (2016 AMC 10A)

• The number of inches in the perimeter of an equilateral triangle equals the number of square inches in
the area of its circumscribed circle. What is the radius, in inches, of the circle? (2003 AMC 10A)
• Points A and B lie on a circle centered at O, and 6 AOB = 60◦ . A second circle is internally tangent
to the first and tangent to both OA and OB. What is the ratio of the area of the smaller circle to that
of the larger circle? (2008 AMC 12A)
• Four circles of radius 1 are each tangent to two sides of a square and externally tangent to a circle of
radius 2, as shown. What is the area of the square? (2007 AMC 10A)

• A circle of radius 1 is internally tangent to two circles of radius 2 at points A and B, where AB is a
diameter of the smaller circle. What is the area of the region, shaded in the picture, that is outside the
smaller circle and inside each of the two larger circles? (2004 AMC 10B)

15
 2
A
1

B
2

• Circle C with radius 2 has diameter AB. Circle D is internally tangent to circle C at A. Circle E is
internally tangent to circle C, externally tangent to circle D, and tangent√to AB. The radius of circle
D is three times the radius of circle E, and can be written in the form m − n, where m and n are
positive integers. Find m + n. (2014 AIME II)
• Circles A, B, and C are externally tangent to each other and internally tangent to circle D. Circles B
and C are congruent. Circle A has radius 1 and passes through the center of D. What is the radius of
circle B? (2004 AMC 10A)
D
B

• Eight semicircles line the inside of a square with side length 2 as shown. What is the radius of the
circle tangent to all of these semicircles? (2014 AMC 10B)

• Four circles, each with radius 4 cm, are tangent to each other and tangent to an external square. A
smaller circle is drawn tangent to each of the larger circles as shown. What is the number of square
centimeters in the area of the smaller circle? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.
(2000 National Target)

16
1.3 3-d Geo

• 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? (2011 AMC 10A)
• Let points A = (0, 0, 0), B = (1, 0, 0), C = (0, 2, 0), and D = (0, 0, 3). Points E, F , G, and H are
midpoints of line segments BD, AB, AC, and DC respectively. What is the area of EF GH? (2012
AMC 10A)
• A solid tetrahedron is sliced off a solid wooden unit cube by a plane passing through two nonadjacent
vertices on one face and one vertex on the opposite face not adjacent to either of the first two vertices.
The tetrahedron is discarded and the remaining portion of the cube is placed on a table with the cut
surface face down. What is the height of this object? (2012 AMC 10B)

1.4 Analytic Geo

• A square and isosceles triangle of equal height are side-by-side, as shown, with both bases on the x-axis.
The lower right vertex of the square and the lower left vertex of the triangle are at (10, 0). The side of
the square and the base of the triangle on the x-axis each equal 10 units. A segment is drawn from the
top left vertex of the square to the farthest vertex of the triangle, as shown. What is the area of the
shaded region? (2010 State Team)

• What is the area of the region defined by the inequality |3x − 18| + |2y + 7| ≤ 3? (2008 AMC 12A)
• A line segment with endpoints A(3, 1) and B(2, 4) is rotated about a point in the plane so that its
endpoints are moved to A0 (4, 2) and B 0 (7, 3), respectively. What are the coordinates of the center of
rotation? Express your answer as an ordered pair. (2013 State Sprint)
• In the coordinate plane, LM passes through the origin. If LM ⊥ RS, and they intersect at (5,3), what
is the x-coordinate of the point where RS intersects the x-axis? Express your answer as a common
fraction. (2013 National Sprint)
• If x and y satisfy (x − 3)2 + (y − 4)2 = 49, what is the minimum possible value of x2 + y 2 ? (2012
National Sprint)
• What is the area of the quadrilateral with vertices (0, 0), (1, 2), (3, 4), and (6, 5)? Express your answer
as a mixed number. (2014 State Sprint)
• Find the distance between the point (6, 8.2) and the line that passes through the points (3, 5) and (7, 2).
(2015 VHHS)

17
• Find the distance between the point (6, 8, 4) and the line that passes through the points (3, 5), and
(7, 2). (2015 VHHS adjusted)
• A line containing the points (−8, 9) and (−12, 12) intersects the x-axis at point P . What is the x-
coordinate of point P ? (2012 Chapter Target)
• A line passes through the points (−2, 8) and (5, −13). When the equation of the line is written in the
form y = mx + b, what is the product of m and b? (2013 Chapter Sprint)
• If the slope of a line is k, and the line passes through the points (0, k + 3) and (−3, 0), what is the value
of k? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2014 Chapter Sprint)
• The line y = − 13 x + 4 intersects a perpendicular line at (6, 2). What is the y-intercept of that perpen-
dicular line? Express your answer as an ordered pair. (2014 Chapter Sprint)
• Quadrilateral AP BQ, shown here, has vertices A(0, 0) and B(8, 0), and vertices P and Q lie on the
line given by the equation 4x + 3y = 19. If P Q = 3 units, what is the area of quadrilateral AP BQ?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2016 State Team)

• Let points A = (0, 0), B = (1, 2), C = (3, 3), and D = (4, 0). Quadrilateral ABCD is cut into equal
area pieces by a line passing through A. This line intersects CD at point ( pq , rs ), where these fractions
are in lowest terms. What is p + q + r + s? (2013 AMC 10A)
• A triangle with vertices (6, 5), (8, −3), and (9, 1) is reflected about the line x = 8 to create a second
triangle. What is the area of the union of the two triangles? (2013 AMC 10A)
• Positive integers a and b are such that the graphs of y = ax + 5 and y = 3x + b intersect the x-axis
at the same point. What is the sum of all possible x-coordinates of these points of intersection? (2014
AMC 10A)
(A) −20 (B) −18 (C) −15 (D) −12 (E) −8
• What is the area of the region bounded by the three lines with equations 2x + y = 8, 2x − 5y = 20,
x + y = 10? (2005 State Sprint)
• What is the length of the shortest segment that can be drawn from the point (4, 1) to 2x − y + 4 = 0?
Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest hundredth. (2013 State Target)
• The points (1, 7), (13, 16) and (5, k), where k is an integer, are vertices of a triangle. What is the sum
of the values of k for which the area of the triangle is a minimum? (2010 State Sprint)
• What is the shortest distance from the point (6, 0) to the line y = 2x − 2? Express your answer in
simplest radical form. (2008 State Target)
• Point P lies on the line x = −3 and is 10 units from the point (5, 2). Find the product of all possible
y-coordinates that satisfy the given conditions. (2001 National Team)
• A circle centered at (u, v) passes through the points (−2, 0), (0, 2), and (8, 0). What are the coordinates
of the center of the circle? Express your answer as a coordinate pair. (2002 Nats Team)

18
 • Let u and v be integers satisfying 0 < v < u. Let A = (u, v), let B be the reflection of A across the
line y = x, let C be the reflection of B across the y-axis, let D be the reflection of C across the x-axis,
and let E be the reflection of D across the y-axis. The area of pentagon ABCDE is 451. Find u + v.
(2000 AIME I)
• Point B lies on line segment AC with AB = 16 and BC = 4. Points D and E lie on the same side of
line AC forming equilateral triangles 4ABD and 4BCE. Let M be the midpoint of AE and N be
the midpoint of CD. The area of 4BM N is x. Find x2 . (2015 AIME I)
√
• A line that passes through the origin intersects both the line x = 1 and the line y = 1 + 33 x. The
three lines create an equilateral triangle. What is the perimeter of the triangle? (2015 AMC 10A)
• A piece of cheese is located at (12, 10) in a coordinate plane. A mouse is at (4, −2) and is running up
the line y = −5x + 18. At the point (a, b) the mouse starts getting farther from the cheese rather than
closer to it. What is a + b? (2007 AMC 12A)
• Let A = (0, 9) and B = (0, 12). Points A0 and B 0 are on the line y = x and AA0 and BB 0 intersect at
C = (2, 8). What is the length of A0 B 0 ? (2004 AMC 12A)
• Triangle ABC lies in the Cartesian plane and has an area of 70. The coordinates of B and C are (12, 19)
and (23, 20), respectively, and the coordinates of A are (p, q). The line containing the median to side
BC has slope 5. Find the largest possible value of p + q. (2005 AIME I)
• A cubical cake with edge length 2 inches is iced on the sides and the top. It is cut vertically into three
pieces as shown in this top view, where M is the midpoint of a top edge. The piece whose top is triangle
B contains c cubic inches of cake and s square inches of icing. What is c + s?

A
B
M
C

• How many points (a, b) satisfy both a2 + b2 = 25 and the area of the triangle with vertices (−5, 0),
(5, 0) and (a, b) is 10? (2002 National Sprint)
• In the figure, what is the area of triangle ABD? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2008
National Team)

1.5 Mass Points

• In triangle ABC, point D is on segment AC with AD : DC = 2 : 1, and point E is on segment AB

with AE : EB = 2 : 3. Segments EC and DB intersect at point K. What is DK : KB? Express your
answer as a common fraction. (2011 National Team)
• Points D, E, and F lie along the perimeter of 4ABC such that AD, BE, and CF intersect at point G.
If AF = 3, BF = BD = CD = 2, and AE = 5, then what is BG EG ? Express your answer as a common
fraction. (2014 Chapter Team)
• In right triangle ABC, shown here, AC = 5 units and BC = 12 units. Points D and E lie on AB and
BC, respectively, so that CD is perpendicular to AB and E is the midpoint of BC. Segments AE and

19
 CD intersect at point F . What is the ratio of AF to F E? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2013 National Sprint)

• Given noncollinear points A, B, C, segment AB is trisected by points D and E, and F is the midpoint
of segment AC. DF and BF intersect CE at G and H, respectively. If [DEG] = 18, compute [F GH].
(2012 ARML Team)

• Triangle ABC is divided into six smaller triangles drawn from the vertices through a common interior
point. The areas of four of these triangles are as indicated. Find the area of triangle ABC. (1985
AIME)

• Point E is selected on side AB of 4ABC in such a way that AE : EB = 1 : 3 and point D is selected
on side BC so that CD : DB = 1 : 2. The point of intersection of AD and CE is F . Find EF AF
FC + FD .
(AHSME 1967)
• In 4ABC, C 0 is on side AB such that AC 0 : C 0 B = 1 : 2, and B 0 is on AC such that AB 0 : B = 3 : 4.
If BB 0 and CC 0 intersect at P , and if A0 is the intersection of ray AP and BC then find AP : P A0
(NYCML)
• In 4ABC, D is on AB such that AD : DB = 3 : 2 and E is on BC such that BE : EC = 3 : 2. If ray
DE and ray AC intersect at F , then find DE : EF . (NYCML)
• Triangle ABC has AB = 21, AC = 22 and BC = 20. Points D and E are located on AB and AC,
respectively, such that DE is parallel to BC and contains the center of the incircle of triangle ABC.
Then DE = m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n. (2001 AIME I)
• In triangle ABC, E is on side AC so that AE : EC = 4/7 and D is on side BC so that BD : DC = 3/10.

20
 Let F be the intersection of AD and BE. Then the ratio of the area of triangle ABC to the area of
triangle ABF can be expressed in the form m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers.
Find m + n. (Clevermath)
20
• In triangle ABC, AB = 11 AC. The angle bisector of 6 A intersects BC at point D, and point M is the
midpoint of AD. Let P be the point of the intersection of AC and BM . The ratio of CP to P A can
be expressed in the form m
n , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n. (2011
AIME II)
• In 4ABC, points D and E lie on BC and AC, respectively. If AD and BE intersect at T so that
AT /DT = 3 and BT /ET = 4, what is CD/BD? (2004 AMC 10B)
B

D
T

A E C
• In triangle ABC, medians AD and CE intersect at P , P E = 1.5, P D = 2, and DE = 2.5. What is
the area of AEDC? (2013 AMC 10B)
C

A E B

1.6 Pythag

• A sheet of paper 12 inches by 18 inches is folded so that two opposite corners touch, as shown in
the figures below. What is the area, in square inches, of the shaded triangle formed where the paper
overlaps itself? (2010 State Team)

• An isosceles trapezoid has legs of length 30 cm each, two diagonals of length 40 cm each and the longer
base is 50 cm. What is the trapezoid’s area? (2007 State Target)

21
• Triangle 4ABC with sides 5, 6, 7 is placed in the three-dimensional plane with one vertex on the
positive x axis, one on the positive y axis, and one on the positive z axis. Let O be the origin. What
is the volume of OABC? (2008 AMC 12A)
• A cubical room has edge length 10 feet with A and B denoting two corners that are farthest apart. A
caterpillar crawls from A to B along the walls. In feet, what is the length of the shortest path from A to
B that the caterpillar may have taken? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2012 National
Sprint)
• Point E lies within rectangle ABCD. If AE = 7, BE = 5, and CE = 8, what is DE? Express your
answer in simplest radical form.
• Given that the diagonals of a rhombus are perpendicular bisectors of each other, what is the perimeter
of a rhombus with diagonals of lengths 12 and 16 units? (2009 Chapter Sprint)
• The areas of three faces of a rectangular prism are 54, 24, and 36 units2 . What is the length of the
space diagonal of this prism? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2016 State Target)
• Rectangle ABCD is shown with AB = 6 units and AD = 5 units. If AC is extended to point E such
that AC is congruent to CE, what is the length of DE? (2016 State Sprint)

• Rectangle ABCD and right triangle DCE have the same area. They are joined to form a trapezoid,
as shown. What is DE?
A 6 D

B C E
• For what value a is there a right triangle with sides a + 1, 6a, and 6a + 1? (2003 National Sprint)
• Each of three, standard, six-sided dice is rolled once. What is the probability that the three numbers
rolled are the lengths of the sides of an obtuse triangle? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2008 State Team)
• A circle√with center O has area 156π. Triangle ABC is equilateral, BC is a chord on the circle,
OA = 4 3, and point O is outside 4ABC. What is the side length of 4ABC? (2010 AMC 10B)
• Trapezoid ABD has parallel sides AB of length 33 and CD of length 21. The other two sides are
of lengths 10 and 14. The angles A and B are acute. What is the length of the shorter diagonal of
ABCD? (2014 AMC 10B)
• Let 4ABC be an equilateral triangle and P a point on BC. If P B = 50 and P C = 30, compute P A.
(CMIMC 2016)

22
• Points A, B, C and D lie on a line, in that order, with AB = CD and BC = 12. Point E is not on the
line, and BE = CE = 10. The perimeter of 4AED is twice the perimeter of 4BEC. Find AB. (2002
AMC 10A)
D 39 C
5 12
• A 52 B
In trapezoid ABCD with bases AB and CD, we have AB = 52, BC = 12, CD = 39, and DA = 5
(diagram not to scale). What is the area of ABCD? (2002 AMC 10A)
• A diagonal of a rectangle is 41 inches, and the perimeter is 98 inches. What is the number of square
inches in the area of the rectangle? (2000 National Sprint)
• A rectangular prism measures 10-inches by 20-inches by 10-inches. What is the length, in inches, of the
diagonal connecting point A and point B? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2009 State
Target)

• A right pyramid has a square base that measures 10 cm on each side. Its peak is 12 cm above the
center of its base. What is the sum of the lengths of the pyramid’s eight edges? Express your answer
as a decimal to the nearest whole number. (2008 State Target)
• A circular cylindrical post with a circumference of 4 feet has a string wrapped around it, spiraling form
the bottom of the post to the top of the post. The string evenly loops around the post exactly four
full times, starting at the bottom edge and finishing at the top edge. The height of the post is 12 feet.
What is the length, in feet, of the string? (2008 State Sprint)
• Suppose a very poorly designed bridge 10,000 feet long expands in length by one foot on a warm
summer day. Because the side supports do not move, the middle of the bridge sags downward, making
two straight, congruent line segments as shown. How many feet below the original bridge’s height is
the middle (A) of the lengthened bridge? Express your answer to the nearest whole number. (2007
State Target)

• A triangle has a side of length 6 cm, a side of length 8 cm, and a right angle. What is the shortest
possible length of the remaining side of the triangle? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest
hundredth. (2006 State Target)
√
• Triangle ABC has√vertices A(0, 0), B(0, 3), and C(5, 0). A point P inside the triangle is 10 units
from point A and 13 units from point B. How many units is P from point C? Express your answer
in simplest radical form. (2006 State Sprint)
• In rectangle ABCD, AB = 3 and BC = 9. The rectangle is folded so that points A and C coincide,

23
 forming the pentagon ABEF D. What is the length of segment EF ? Express your answer in simplest
radical form. (2006 Nats Sprint)

• In quadrilateral ABCD, BC = 8, CD = 12, AD = 10, and m6 A = m6 B = 60◦ . Given that

√
AB = p + q, where p and q are positive integers, find p + q. (2005 AIME I)
• Square ABCD has side length 13 and points E and F are exterior to the square such that BE = DF =
5, AE = CF = 12, and EF is not parallel to AD. Find EF 2 . (2007 AIME II)

1.7 Funky Area

• Quadrilateral ABCD is a square with BC = 12 cm. Arc BOC and arc DOC are semicircles. In terms
of π, what is the area of the shaded region? (2013 State Sprint)

• Regular hexagon ABCDEF and regular hexagon GHIJKL both have side length 24. The hexagaons
overlap, so that G is on AB, B is on GH, K is on DE, and D is on JK. If [GBCDKL] = 12 [ABCDEF ],
compute LF . (2013 ARML)
• Six regular hexagons surround a regular hexagon of side length 1 as shown. What is the area of 4ABC?
(2014 AMC 10B)
B

C
• 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 3 and center (0, 0) that lies in the first quadrant, the
portion of the circle with radius 23 and center (0, 32 ) that lies in the first quadrant, and the line segment
from (0, 0) to (3, 0). What is the area of the shark’s fin falcata? (2015 AMC 10B)
y
3

3
2

3 x

24
• Equilateral 4ABC has side length 1, and squares ABDE, BCHI, CAF G lie outside the triangle.
What is the area of hexagon DEF GHI? (2014 AMC 10A)
F
E

G
D

B C

I H

• A regular octagon ABCDEF GH has sides of length two. Find the area of 4ADG. (2002 AMC 10B)
• Spot’s doghouse has a regular hexagonal base that measures one yard on each side. He is tethered to
a vertex with a two yard rope. What is the area, in square yards, of the region outside the doghouse
that Spot can reach? (2002 AMC 10A)
• A circle is inscribed in a rhombus the lengths of whose diagonals are 2 feet and 4 feet. What is the area,
in square feet, of the region of the rhombus that is outside the circular region? Express your answer as
a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2010 National Target)

• Segment AB has midpoint C, and segment BC has midpoint D. Semi-circles are constructed with
diameters AB and BC to form the entire region shown. Segment CP splits the region into two sections
of equal area. What is the degree measure of angle ACP ? Express your answer as a decimal to the
nearest tenth. (2005 State Sprint)

• The region shown is bounded by the arcs of circles having radius 4 units, having a central angle measure
of 60 degrees
√ and intersecting at points
√ of tangency. The area of the region can be expressed in the
form a b + cπ square units, where b is a radical in simplest form. What is the value of a + b + c?
(2011 State Sprint)

25
• A belt is drawn tightly around three circles of radius 10 cm each, as shown. The length of the belt, in
cm, can be written in the form a + bπ. What is the value of a + b? (2010 State Target)

• Circle O is tangent to two sides of equilateral triangle XY Z. If the two shaded regions have areas 50
cm2 and 100 cm2 as indicated, what is the ratio of the area of triangle XY Z to the area of circle O?
Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest hundredth. (2015 State Target)

• The figure shown is called a trefoil and is constructed by drawing circular sectors about the sides of
the congruent equilateral triangles. What is the area of a trefoil whose horizontal base has length 2?
(2005 AMC 10A)
• A semicircle of diameter 1 sits at the top of a semicircle of diameter 2, as shown. The shaded area
inside the smaller semicircle and outside the larger semicircle is called a lune. Determine the area of
this lune. (2003 AMC 12A)

26
 • Circles centered
√ at A and B each have radius 2, as shown. Point O is the midpoint of AB, and
OA = 2 2. Segments OC and OD are tangents to the circles centered at A and B, respectively, and
EF is a common tangent. What is the area of the shaded region ECODF ? (2007 AMC 10A)
E F
C D
A B
O
2 2

• One hundred concentric circles with radii 1, 2, 3, . . . , 100 are drawn in a plane. The interior of the circle
of radius 1 is colored red, and each region bounded by consecutive circles is colored either red or green,
with no two adjacent regions the same color. The ratio of the total area of the green regions to the
area of the circle of radius 100 can be expressed as m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive
integers. Find m + n. (2003 AIME I)

1.8 Circle angles

• In circle O, P C = OA, 6 P OA is a straight angle, and m6 BOA = 60◦ . Find m6 P . (2014 VHHS)

• CD is tangent to circle O. Minor arcs AC and BC are congruent, AB = 3, AF = 6, and F E = 10.

Find ED. (2014 VHHS)

• The circumference of the circle with center O is divided into 12 equal arcs, marked the letters A through
L as seen below. What is the number of degrees in the sum of the angles x and y? (2014 AMC 8)

27
 B
A C

x
L D

O
K E

J F
y
I G
H
• Compute the smallest n such that in the regular n-gon A1 A2 A3 . . . An , m6 A1 A20 A13 < 60◦ . (2013
ARML Relay)
• Compute the smallest possible value of n such that two diagonals of a regular n-gon intersect at an
angle of 159 degrees. (2013 ARML Individual)
• Circle T has a circumference of 12π inches and segment XY is a diameter. If the measure of 6 T XZ is
60◦ , what is the length, in inches, of segment XZ? (2008 State Team)
• Two tangents to the same circle form a 50◦ angle. The radius of the circle is 10. Find the length of the
smaller of the intercepted arcs. (2016 Comprehensive State Written)
• The point O is the center of a circle circumscribed about triangle ABC, with 6 BOC = 120◦ and
6 AOB = 140◦ . What is the degree measure of 6 ABC? (2007 AMC 12B)

• In the figure, A is the center of the circle. If 6 RAS = 74 and 6 RT B = 28, what is the measure of
minor arc BR in degrees? (2009 State Sprint)
R

S
A T
B

• A triangle with side lengths in the ratio 3 : 4 : 5 is inscribed in a circle with radius 3. What is the area
of the triangle? (2007 AMC 12A)
• In the given circle, the diameter EB is parallel to DC, and AB is parallel to ED. The angles AEB
and ABE are in the ratio 4 : 5. What is the degree measure of angle BCD? (2011 AMC 10B)

28
 A

E B

D C
• In 4ABC, AB = 13, AC = 14, and BC = 15. Let M denote the midpoint of AC. Point P is placed
on line segment BM such that AP ⊥ P C. Suppose that p, q, and r are positive integers with
√
p and r
p q
relatively prime and q squarefree such that the area of 4AP C can be written in the form r . What
is p + q + r? (David Altizio)

1.9 Special Right Triangles

• Equilateral triangle ABC with side-length 12 cm is inscribed in a circle. What is the area of the largest
equilateral triangle that can be drawn with two vertices on segment AB and the third vertex on minor
arc AB of the circle? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2015 State Team)
• In pentagon ABCDE, 6 E and 6 C are right angles and m6 D = 120◦ . If AB = 12, AE = BC = 18,
and ED = DC, what is ED? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2014 State Sprint)
• Pentagon ABCDE has AE = AB = 1 unit. Angles B and E each have measure 90◦ , and m6 A = 120◦ .
The two remaining angles are congruent to each other and the three remaining sides are congruent to
each other. What is the area of the pentagon ABCDE? Express your answer as a common fraction in
simplest radical form. (2013 National Target)

• ABCD, AEHI, and EF GH are congruent squares. J and F are on line DC. Find 6 EJD. (frost13)

29
 A B

I D J C F

• An equilateral triangle, with sides of length 2 units has a circular arc centered at B, inscribed as shown.
What is the length of a segment drawn parallel to side AC with endpoint D and E? Express your
answer in simplest radical form. (2014 Chapter Sprint)

• An equilateral triangle has two vertices at (0, 5) and (8, 5). If the third vertex is in the first quadrant,
what is its y-coordinate? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2010 Chapter Sprint)
• A circle with center O and radius 1 contains chord AB of length 1, and point M is the midpoint of AB.
If the perpendicular to AO through M intersects AO at P , compute [M AP ]. (2012 ARML Individual)
• In rectangle ABCD, DC = 2CB and points E and F lie on AB so that ED and F D trisect 6 ADC as
shown. What is the ratio of the area of 4DEF to the area of rectangle ABCD? (2014 AMC 10B)
A E FB

D C
• In rectangle ABCD, AB = 20 and BC = 10. Let E be a point on CD such that 6 CBE = 15◦ . What
is AE? (2014 AMC 10A)
√
• A rectangular piece of paper whose length is 3 times the width has area A. The paper is divided into
three equal sections along the opposite lengths, and then a dotted line is drawn from the first divider
to the second divider on the opposite side as shown. The paper is then folded flat along this dotted
line to create a new shape with area B. What is the ratio B : A? (2014 AMC 10A)

30
• Alice and Bob live 10 miles apart. One day Alice looks due north from her house and sees an airplane.
At the same time Bob looks due west from his house and sees the same airplane. The angle of elevation
of the airplane is 30◦ from Alice’s position and 60◦ from Bob’s position. Which of the following is
closest to the airplane’s altitude, in miles? (2016 AMC 12B)
• The shaded region consists of 16 congruent squares. If P Q = 6 cm, what is the area of the entire shaded
region? (2005 State Sprint)

• Coplanar points A, B, C, D, and E are arranged such that A, B, and C are collinear with B between
A and C, triangle ABD is equilateral, triangle BEC is isosceles with congruent legs BE and EC , and
points D and E are on the same side of line AC. The measure of 6 EBC is 30 degrees. the areas of
triangles ABD and BEC are equal. What is the number of degrees in the measure of 6 BDE? (2005
State Team)

• Point D lies on side AC of equilateral triangle ABC such that the measure of angle DBC is 45 degrees.
What is the ratio of the area of triangle ADB to the area of triangle CDB? Express your answer as a
common fraction in simplest radical form. (2010 State Sprint)
• Quadrilateral ABCD is inscribed in a circle with segment AC a diameter of the circle. If m6 DAC = 30◦
and m6 BAC = 45◦ , the ratio of the area of ABCD to the√area of the circle can be expressed as a
common fraction in simplest radical form in terms of π as a+cπ b . What is the value of a + b + c? (2011
State Sprint)
• A triangle has angles measuring 15◦ , 45◦ , and 120◦ . The side opposite the 45◦ angle is 20 units in
√
length, and the area of the triangle can be expressed in square units as (m − n q), where q is a prime
number. What is the value of the sum m + n + q? (2012 State Sprint)
• Two boards, one four inches wide and the other six inches wide, are nailed together to form an “X”. The
angle at which they cross is 60 degrees. If this structure is painted and the boards are then separated,
what is the area of the unpainted region on the four-inch board? (The holes caused by the nails are
negligible.) Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2006 National Sprint)

• A 30-60-90 triangle is drawn on the exterior of an equilateral triangle so that the hypotenuse of the
right triangle is one side of the equilateral triangle. If the shorter leg of the right triangle is 6 units,
what is the distance between the two vertices that the triangles do not have in common? Express your
answer in simplest radical form. (2008 National Target)

31
• Six circles of radius 1 unit are drawn tangent to the sides of a regular hexagon. Each circle is also
tangent to two other circles as shown in the drawing. What is the perimeter of the hexagon? Express
your answer in simplest radical form. (2012 Chapter Sprint)

• A circle is inscribed in a rhombus with sides of length 4 cm. If the two acute angles in the rhombus
each measure 60◦ , what is the length of the circle’s radius? Express your answer in simplest radical
form. (2012 Chapter Sprint)

• A regular hexagon is truncated to form a regular dodecagon (12-gon) by removing identical isosceles
triangles from its six corners. What percent of the area of the original hexagon was removed? Express
your answer to the nearest tenth. (2008 National Team)
√
• In triangle ABC, m6 A = 90◦ , m6 B = 75◦ , and BC = 3 units. What is the area of triangle ABC?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2009 National Sprint)
• Side AB of regular hexagon ABCDEF is extended past B to point X such that AX = 3AB. Given
that each side of the hexagon is 2 units long, what is the length of segment F X? Express your answer
in simplest radical form. (2010 National Sprint)
• In pentagon ABCDE, BC = CD = DE = 2 units, 6 E is a right angle and m6 B = √m C = m D =
6 6
135◦ . The length of segment AE can be expressed in simplest radical form as a + 2 b units. What is
the value of a + b? (2011 National Sprint)
• The radius of the inscribed circle is 6 cm. What is the number of centimeters in the length of AB?
Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2001 National Sprint)

32
 • Two angles of a triangle
√ measure 30 and 45 degrees. If the side of the triangle opposite the 30-degree
angle measures 6 2 units, what is the sum of the lengths of the two remaining sides? Express your
answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2009 State Team)

1.10 LoS and LoC and Trig

• Let ABC be an equilateral triangle. Extend side AB beyond B to a point B 0 so that BB 0 = 3AB.
Similarly, extend side BC beyond C to a point C 0 so that CC 0 = 3BC, and extend side CA beyond A
to a point A0 so that AA0 = 3CA. What is the ratio of the area of 4A0 B 0 C 0 to the area of 4ABC?
(2017 AMC 12B)
• A round table has radius 4. Six rectangular place mats are placed on the table. Each place mat has
width 1 and length x as shown. They are positioned so that each mat has two corners on the edge
of the table, these two corners being end points of the same side of length x. Further, the mats are
positioned so that the inner corners each touch an inner corner of an adjacent mat. What is x? (2008
AMC 12A)
1
x

• Let equilateral triangle ABC with side length 6 be inscribed in a circle and let P be on arc AC such
that AP · P C = 10. Find the length of BP . (2013 SMT)
• In the right triangle 4ACE, we have AC = 12, CE = 16, and EA = 20. Points B, D, and F are
located on AC, CE, and EA, respectively, so that AB = 3, CD = 4, and EF = 5. What is the ratio
of the area of 4DBF to that of 4ACE? (2004 AMC 10B)
A
3
B
15

9
F
5

C 4 D 12 E
• The points (0, 0), (a, 11), and (b, 37) are the vertices of an equilateral triangle. Find the value of ab.
(1994 AIME)

33
 • In a circle, parallel chords of lengths 2, 3, and 4 determine central angles of α, β, and α + β radians,
respectively, where α + β < π. If cos α, which is a positive rational number, is expressed as a fraction
in lowest terms, what is the sum of its numerator and denominator? (1985 AIME)
• Given 4ABC with a = 325, b = 91, and = 312. Find sin A. (2015 VHHS)
• In 4ABC, AC = r, AB = 3r, and 6 BAC = 60◦ . What is BC? (VHHS 2014)
• A circle√with center O has area 156π. Triangle ABC is equilateral, BC is a chord on the circle,
OA = 4 3, and point O is outside 4ABC. What is the side length of 4ABC? (2010 AMC 10B)
• (2010 AMC 10A) Equiangular hexagon ABCDEF has side lengths AB = CD = EF = 1 and BC =
DE = F A = r. The area of 4ACE is 70% of the area of the hexagon. What is the sum of all possible
values of r?
• In 4P QR, P Q = 36 m, m6 Q = 45◦ , and m6 R = 60◦ . What is the length, in meters, of P R? (2012
FSE)

1.11 Drills

• (2007 AMC 12A) Triangles ABC and ADC are isosceles with AB = BC and AD = DC. Point D is
inside triangle ABC, angle ABC measures 40 degrees, and angle ADC measures 140 degrees. What is
the degree measure of angle BAD?
(A) 20 (B) 30 (C) 40 (D) 50 (E) 60
• (2010 AMC 12A) Rectangle ABCD, pictured below, shares 50% of its area with square EF GH. Square
AB
EF GH shares 20% of its area with rectangle ABCD. What is AD ?
E F

A B
D C

H G

(A) 4 (B) 5 (C) 6 (D) 8 (E) 10

• (2007 AMC 10A) Consider the 12-sided polygon ABCDEF GHIJKL, as shown. Each of its sides has
length 4, and each two consecutive sides form a right angle. Suppose that AG and CH meet at M .
What is the area of quadrilateral ABCM ?
A B

K L C D

M
J I F E

H G
44 88 62
(A) 3 (B) 16 (C) 5 (D) 20 (E) 3

• (2003 AMC 10A) A point (x, y) is randomly picked from inside the rectangle with vertices (0, 0), (4, 0),
(4, 1), and (0, 1). What is the probability that x < y?

34
 1 1 3 1 3
(A) 8 (B) 4 (C) 8 (D) 2 (E) 4

• (2004 AMC 12B) A square has sides of length 10, and a circle centered at one of its vertices has radius
10. What is the area of the union of the regions enclosed by the square and the circle?
(A) 200 + 25π (B) 100 + 75π (C) 75 + 100π (D) 100 + 100π (E) 100 + 125π
• (2009 AMC 10A) Rectangle ABCD has AB = 4 and BC = 3. Segment EF is constructed through B
so that EF is perpendicular to DB, and A and C lie on DE and DF , respectively. What is EF ?
125 103
(A) 9 (B) 10 (C) 12 (D) 9 (E) 12
• (2007 AMC 10B) A circle passes through the three vertices of an isosceles triangle that has two sides
of length 3 and a base of length 2. What is the area of this circle?
5 81 7
(A) 2π (B) 2π (C) 32 π (D) 3π (E) 2π

• (2005 AMC 12A) A line passes through A (1, 1) and B (100, 1000). How many other points with integer
coordinates are on the line and strictly between A and B?
(A) 0 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 8 (E) 9

1.12 Triangle Centers

• Triangle ABC has AC = 3, BC = 4, and AB = 5. Point D is on AB, and CD bisects the right angle.
The inscribed circles of 4ADC and 4BCD have radii ra and rb , respectively. What is ra /rb ? (2008
AMC 12A)
• A triangle has sides of length 10, 17, and 21 units. What is the radius of its circumscribed circle?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2013 National Sprint)
• A right triangle has sides with lengths 8 cm, 15 cm, and 17 cm. A circle is inscribed in the triangle. In
centimeters, what is the radius of the circle? (2012 State Sprint)
• Triangle ABC has vertices at A(5, 8), B(3, −2), and C(6, 1). The point D with coordinates (m, n) is
chosen inside the triangle so that the three small triangles ABD, ACD, and BCD all have equal areas.
What is the value of 10m + n? (2009 National Sprint)
• Let T1 be a triangle with sides 2011, 2012, and 2013. For n ≥ 1, if Tn = 4ABC and D, E, and F are
the points of tangency of the incircle of 4ABC to the sides AB, BC and AC, respectively, then Tn+1
is a triangle with side lengths AD, BE, and CF, if it exists. What is the perimeter of the last triangle
in the sequence (Tn )? (2011 AMC 10B)
• Let ABCD be a square. Let E, F, G and H be the centers, respectively, of equilateral triangles with
bases AB, BC, CD, and DA, each exterior to the square. What is the ratio of the area of square EF GH
to the area of square ABCD? (2016 AMC 12A)

1.13 Angle Bisector Theorem

• Trapezoid KLM N has sides KL = 80 units, LM = 60 units, M N = 22 units, and KN = 65 units,

with KL parallel to M N . A semicircle with center A on KL is drawn tangent to both sides KN and
M L. What is the length of segment KA? Express your answer as a mixed number. (2013 National
Sprint)

35
• Nondegenerate 4ABC has integer side lengths, BD is an angle bisector, AD = 3, and DC = 8. What
is the smallest possible value of the perimeter? (2010 AMC 10A)
• Let ABC be a triangle. The angle bisector of 6 B intersects AC at point P , while the angle bisector of
6 C intersects AB at a point Q. Suppose the area of 4ABP is 27, the area of 4ACQ is 32, and the
√
area of 4ABC is 72. The length of BC can be written in the form m n where m and n are positive
integers with n as small as possible. What is m + n? (CMIMC 2016)
• The sides of triangle CAB are in the ratio of 2 : 3 : 4. Segment BD is the angle bisector drawn to
the shortest side, dividing it into segments AD and DC. What is the length, in inches, of the longer
subsegment of side AC if the length of side AC is 10 inches? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2010 National Sprint)
• In right triangle ABC, AC = 24 units and BC = 7 units. Point D lies on AB so that CD ⊥ AB. The
bisector of the smallest angle of 4ABC intersects CD at point E. What is the length of ED? Express
your answer as a common fraction. (2013 State Target)
• Triangle ABC has a right angle at B, AB = 1, and BC = 2. The bisector of 6 BAC meets BC at D.
What is BD? (2009 AMC 10B)
A

B D C

• In 4ABC, AB = 6, BC = 7, and CA = 8. Point D lies on BC, and AD bisects 6 BAC. Point E

lies on AC, and BE bisects 6 ABC. The bisectors intersect at F . What is the ratio AF : F D? (2016
AMC 12A)
C

E D
F

A B
• In 4ABC shown in the figure, AB = 7, BC = 8, CA = 9, and AH is an altitude. Points D and E lie
on sides AC and AB, respectively, so that BD and CE are angle bisectors, intersecting AH at Q and
P , respectively. What is P Q? (2016 AMC 12B)

36
 C

9
8
D

Q H

E
7 B
A

1.14 Areas

• Points X and Y lie on sides AB and AC respectively of triangle ABC. If AB = 7, AC = 10, AX = 4,

and AY = 6, what is the ratio of the area of triangle AXY to the area of triangle ABC? Express your
answer as a common fraction. (2008 National Target)
• Two sides of a triangle have lengths 10 and 15. The length of the altitude to the third side is the
average of the lengths of the altitudes to the two given sides. How long is the third side? (2013 AMC
10A)
• Points X and Y lie on sides AB and AC respectively of triangle ABC. If AB = 7, AC = 10, AX = 4,
and AY = 6, what is the ratio of the area of triangle AXY to the area of triangle ABC? Express your
answer as a common fraction. (2008 National Target)
• The lengths of the perpendiculars drawn to the sides of a regular hexagon from an interior point are
2, 4, 5, 8, 10, and 12 centimeters. What is the number of centimeters in the length of a side of this
hexagon? Express your answer as a common fraction in simplest radical form. (2001 Nats Sprint)
• Point P is inside equilateral 4ABC. Points Q, R, and S are the feet of the perpendiculars from P to
AB, BC, CA, respectively. Given that P Q = 1, P R = 2, and P S = 3, what is AB? (2007 AMC 12B)
• What is the area of the shaded region of the given 8 × 5 rectangle? (2016 AMC 12A)
1 7
1

1
7 1

37
 • Circles with centers P, Q and R, having radii 1, 2 and 3, respectively, lie on the same side of line l and
are tangent to l at P 0 , Q0 and R0 , respectively, with Q0 between P 0 and R0 . The circle with center Q
is externally tangent to each of the other two circles. What is the area of triangle P QR? (2016 AMC
12A)
• In the right triangle 4ACE, we have AC = 12, CE = 16, and EA = 20. Points B, D, and F are
located on AC, CE, and EA, respectively, so that AB = 3, CD = 4, and EF = 5. What is the ratio
of the area of 4DBF to that of 4ACE? (2004 AMC 10B)
A

3
B
15

9
F
5

C 4 D 12 E
• In a rectangle ABCD, point E is on side CD. The area of triangle ADE is one-fifth of the area of
quadrilateral ABCE. What is the ratio of the length of segment DE to the length of segment DC?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011 State Sprint)

1.15 Tangents to Circles

• Let regular pentagon HDEF G have perimeter 50. If AB = 24, CB = 21, AG = 17, and circles O and
P are tangent to all four sides of their corresponding quadrilaterals, find CD. (2015 VHHS)

• Two tangents of length 10 from an external point P are drawn to a circle and intersect it at A and B.
−→ −−→
A third tangent meets the circle at T , and the tangents P A and P B at points Q and R, respectively.
Find the perimeter of 4P QR. (AoPS)

38
 • Let Ω1 and Ω2 be two circles in the plane. Suppose the common external tangent to Ω1 and Ω2 has
length 2017 while their common internal tangent has length 2009. What is the product of the radii of
Ω1 and Ω2 ? (NIMO 19)

1.16 Power of a Point

• In circle O, shown, OP = 2 units, P L = 8 units, P K = 9 units, and N K = 18 units. Points K, P , and

M are collinear, as are points L, P , O, and N . What is the length of segment M N ? (2012 National
Sprint)

• The circles are concentric and BC is tangent to the smaller circle. AB = x, BC = 2x, AD = 6,
DE = 5, EF = 8, and F G = 5. Find the difference in the areas of the two circles. (2010 VHHS)

• In the diagram, F D is a diameter of circle E, AB = 7, CD = 2, and BC = 5. Find the diameter of

the circle. (2015 VHHS)

• Chords AB and CD of a given circle are perpendicular to each other and intersect at a right angle at
point E. Given that BE = 16, DE = 4, and AD = 5, find CE. (ARML)
• Square ABCD of side length 10 has a circle inscribed in it. Let M be the midpoint of AB. Find the
length of that portion of the segment M C that lies outside of the circle. (AoPS)
• In 4ABC, AB = 86, and AC = 97. A circle with center A and radius AB intersects BC at points B
and X. Moreover BX and CX have integer lengths. What is BC? (2013 AMC 10A)
• A truncated cone has horizontal bases with radii 18 and 2. A sphere is tangent to the top, bottom, and
lateral surfaces of the truncated cone. What is the radius of the sphere? (2004 AMC 12B)

39
1.17 Cyclic Quads

• Quadrilateral ABCD is inscribed in circle O and has side lengths AB = 3, BC = 2, CD = 6, and

DA = 8. Let X and Y be points on
1 11
BD such that DX BY
BD = 4 and BD = 36 . Let E be the intersection of line AX and the line through Y
parallel to AD. Let F be the intersection of line CX and the line through E parallel to AC. Let G be
the point on circle O other than C that lies on line CX. What is XF · XG? (2017 AMC 12A)
• In triangle ABC, AB = 13, BC = 14, and CA = 15. Distinct points D, E, and F lie on segments BC,
CA, and DE, respectively, such that AD ⊥ BC, DE ⊥ AC, and AF ⊥ BF . The length of segment
DF can be written as m
n , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. What is m + n? (2013
AMC 12B)
• Quadrilateral ABCD is inscribed in a circle with m6 C = 85◦ . Find m6 A. (2016 Comprehensive State
Written)
• Points A, B, C and D lie on a circle with AC a diameter, AB = 4 and BC = 2, 6 ABD ∼ = 6 CBD.
What is BD? (2016 Comprehensive State Written)
√
• A quadrilateral is inscribed in a circle of radius 200 2. Three of the sides of this quadrilateral have
length 200. What is the length of its fourth side? (2016 AMC 12A)
• Triangle AEF is a right triangle with AE = 4 and EF = 3. The triangle is inscribed inside square
ABCD as shown. What is the area of the square? (David Altizio)
B E C

A D

1.18 Nice, Uncategorized

• Point A lies on the circumference of a circle Ω with radius 78. Point B is placed such that AB is
tangent to the circle and AB = 65, while point C is located on Ω such that BC = 25. Compute the
length of AC. (2016 CMIMC)

2 Algebra

2.1 Logs

• In an isosceles trapezoid, the parallel bases have lengths log 3 and log 192, and the altitude to these
bases has length log 16. The perimeter of the trapezoid can be written in the form log 2p 3q , where p
and q are positive integers. Find p + q. (2015 AIME II)
• Let x, y, and z be real numbers satisfying the system log2 (xyz−3+log5 x) = 5, log3 (xyz−3+log5 y) = 4,
log4 (xyz − 3 + log5 z) = 4. Find the value of | log5 x| + | log5 y| + | log5 z|. (2016 AIME II)

40
2.2 Complex Numbers

• What is the sum of the roots of z 12 = 64 that have a positive real part? (2017 AMC 12B)
• There are 24 different complex numbers z such that z 24 = 1. For how many of these is z 6 a real
number? (2017 AMC 12A)
• The solutions of the equation z 4 + 4z 3 i − 6z 2 − 4zi − i = 0 are the vertices of a convex polygon in the
complex plane. What is the area of the polygon? (2008 AMC 12A)
• A sequence (a1 , b1 ), (a2 , b2 ), (a3 , b3 ), . . . of points in the coordinate plane satisfies
√ √
(an+1 , bn+1 ) = ( 3an − bn , 3bn + an ) for n = 1, 2, 3, . . ..
Suppose that (a100 , b100 ) = (2, 4). What is a1 + b1 ? (2008 AMC 12A)

2.3 Trig
2π 4π 8π
• Compute cos3 7 + cos3 7 + cos3 7 . (2013 ARML Team)

2.4 Word Problems

• In a race, people rode either bicycles with blue wheels or tricycles with tan wheels. Given that 15 more
people rode bicycles than tricycles and there were 15 more tan wheels than blue wheels, what is the
total number of people who rode in the race? (2016 CMIMC)

2.5 Normal Factorizations

• If f (x) = 5x − 3, g(x) = 3x2 + 1, and h(x) = f (x) + g(x), what is the sum of the x-values for which
h(x) = 0? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2010 Chapter Sprint)
• Lauren solved the equation |x − 5| = 2. Meanwhile Jane solved an equation of the form x2 + bx + c = 0
that had the same two solutions for x as Lauren’s equation. What is the ordered pair (b, c)? (2008
State Sprint)
x2
• If the answer to this problem is x, compute 8 + 2. (NIMO 2011)

2.6 Special Factorizations

√ √
• Given m and n are positive integers such that for some positive integer x, x + 43 = m and x + 16 =
n, what is the value of the product mn? (2010 Chapter Sprint)
• Compute the largest prime factor of 20! + 16!. (2016 SBIMC Team)
• Find the largest divisor of 1001001001 that does not exceed 10000. (2003 ARML)
• Suppose that p and q are two-digit prime numbers such that p2 − q 2 = 2p + 6q + 8. Compute the largest
possible value of p + q. (2012 ARML)
√
• What is the product of the roots of x2 − 4 7 + x282 ? (2014 State Written)
• Positive integers a, b, c, and d satisfy a > b > c > d, a + b + c + d = 2010, and a2 − b2 + c2 − d2 = 2010.
Find the number of possible values of a. (2010 AIME I)
• If the solution to 3x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 2x(y + z) is the ordered triple (a, b, c), find the sum of a, b, and c.
(VHHS 2010)

41
 √
• Evaluate for n = 20102010: b n2 − 16n + 69c. (VHHS 2010)
√
• Let x1 < x2 < x3 be the three real roots of the equation 2014x3 − 4029x2 + 2 = 0. Find x2 (x1 + x3 ).
(2014 AIME I)
• In 1991 the population of a town was a perfect square. Ten years later, after an increase of 150 people,
the population was 9 more than a perfect square. Now, in 2011, with an increase of another 150 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? (2011 AMC 10A)
• Let a, b, and c be positive integers with a ≥ b ≥ c such that a2 − b2 − c2 + ab = 2011 and a2 + 3b2 +
3c2 − 3ab − 2ac − 2bc = −1997.
What is a? (2012 AMC 10A)
√ √
• Points ( π, a) and ( π, b) are distinct points on the graph of y 2 + x4 = 2x2 y + 1. What is |a − b|?
(2015 AMC 10A)
(1+l)2 13
• Let l be a real number satisfying the equation 1+l2 = 37 . Then

(1 + l)3 m
= ,
1 + l3 n
where m and n are positive coprime integers. Find m + n. (2016 CMIMC)
• There exist unique positive integers x and y such that 4y − 615 = x2 . What is the value of x + y?
(Math League)
• There exist unique positive integers x and y that satisfy the equation x2 + 84x + 2008 = y 2 . Find x + y.
(2008 AIME I)
• Let N = 1002 + 992 − 982 − 972 + 962 + · · · + 42 + 32 − 22 − 12 , where the additions and subtractions
alternate in pairs. Find the remainder when N is divided by 1000. (2008 AIME II)
• Let P be the product of the nonreal roots of x4 − 4x3 + 6x2 − 4x = 2005. Find bP c. (2005 AIME I)
• If −5 ≤ a ≤ −1 and 1 ≤ b ≤ 3, what is the least possible value of a1 + 1b 1b − a1 ? Express your

answer as a common fraction. (2007 National Target)

• The areas of two squares differ by 100 square units, and the perimeters of the two squares differ by 10
units. What is the perimeter, in units, of the smaller square? (2008 State Sprint)
p √ √
• Compute (x − 2 x + 1)(x + 2 x + 1) + 1 (AoPS)
• If x is a real number such that 25x − 9x = 18 and 5x − 3x = 3, compute 5x + 3x (AoPS).
• Evaluate: 2033 − 1973 (4x4)
p
• Simplify (111, 111, 111, 111)(1, 000, 000, 000, 005) + 1 (2010 VHHS Comprehensive)
p
• Evaluate (31)(30)(29)(28) + 1 (1989 AIME).
• Given that x2 − 5x + 8 = 1, what is the positive value of x4 − 10x3 + 25x2 − 9? (2008 State Sprint)
• There is a prime number p such that 16p + 1 is the cube of a positive integer. Find p. (2015 AIME I)
• What is the value of 52683 × 52683 − 52660 × 52706? (2011 State Sprint)
√ √
3
3
• The real root of the equation 8x3 − 3x2 − 3x − 1 = 0 can be written in the form a+c b+1 , where a, b,
and c are positive integers. Find a + b + c. (2013 AIME I)
√ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
• Evaluate the product ( 5 + 6 + 7)(− 5 + 6 + 7)( 5 − 6 + 7)( 5 + 6 − 7). (1986 AIME)

42
 • Suppose that the number a satisfies the equation 4 = a + a−1 . What is the value of a4 + a−4 ? (2007
AMC 10A)
(A) 164 (B) 172 (C) 192 (D) 194 (E) 212
• Real numbers x and y satisfy the equation x2 + y 2 = 10x − 6y − 34. What is x + y? (2013 AMC 10B)

2.7 Clever Substitutions

√
q p
• What is the value of 1 + 2 + 2 + . . ., where all subsequent numbers in the expression are 2s?
Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2014 Chapter Sprint)
1 3 3 3 2 5
• If x + y = 4 and x − y = 12 , what is the value of x + y? (2014 Chapter Sprint)
• If x is a number such that 3x + 3x+2 = 9x + 9x+2 , then what is the value of 3x ? Express your answer
as a common fraction. (2016 State Team)
• Find the product of all solutions of the equation 32x+2 + 3 = 28(3x ). (2015 State Written)
√
• What is the product of the real roots of the equation x2 + 18x + 30 = 2 x2 + 18x + 45? (1983 AIME)
• Find the positive solution to

1 1 2
+ 2 − 2 = 0.
x2 − 10x − 29 x − 10x − 45 x − 10x − 69
(1990 AIME)
• If (x2 − x + 1)6 = a12 x12 + a11 x11 + · · · + a1 x + a0 , then find a12 + a10 + a8 + . . . + a2 + a0 . (2016 ZIML)
p √ p √
• Which of the following is equal to 9 − 6 2 + 9 + 6 2? (2011 AMC 10A)
• For how many integers x is the number x4 − 51x2 + 50 negative? (2014 AMC 10B)
• Let c be the larger solution to the equation x2 − 20x + 13 = 0. Compute the area of a circle with center
(c, c) passing through the point (13, 7). (Mandelbrot)
• What is the smallest solution of the equation x4 − 34x2 + 225 = 0? (2009 State Sprint)
√
q p
• What is the value of x for which x + x + x + . . . = 5? (2010 State Sprint)
√
q p
• What is the value of the expression 6 + 6 + 6 + . . .? (2000 National Sprint)
1 1
• Find x and y if 1
1+ x
= 2 and 1+ 1 = 2 (2014 UNCO)
1+ 1
1+ 1
y

1 3
• For positive integers a, b, and c such that a+ 1 = 8, what is the value of the product abc? (2000
b+ 1
c
National Sprint)
p √
• The √number 17 + 12 2 is an example of a number expressed in “embedded radical form” because of
the 2 under√ the radical. What is the equivalent value of this number expressed in simplest radical
form a + b c where a and b are integers and c is a positive integer containing no perfect square factors
greater than 1? (2006 National Sprint)
p √ √ √ √ √ √
• The number 104 6 + 468 10 + 144 15 + 2006 can be written as a 2 + b 3 + c 5, where a, b, and
c are positive integers. Find abc. (2006 AIME I)
 2  
• What is the greatest possible value of x for the equation 4x−16
3x−4 + 4x−16
3x−4 = 12? (2008 National
Sprint)

43
 p √ p √
• What is the value of 15 − 6 6 + 15 + 6 6? (2009 National Sprint)
• The solutions to 32x − 7 · 3x + 10 = 0 are log3 A and log3 B. Find A + B. (2010 VHHS Comprehensive)
• Find the product of the solutions to x1+log3 x = 729 (2010 VHHS Comprehensive)
2
2
• Find the sum of the roots of 3cos x−1
+ 3cos(2x) = 3 using the interval [0, 2π). (2015 VHHS Compre-
hensive)
√ 12
• What is the sum of the solutions to the equation 4
x= √ ?
7− 4 x
(1986 AIME)

• Find x2 + y 2 if x and y are positive integers such that

xy + x + y = 71
x2 y + xy 2 = 880

2.8 AM-GM
a+b a−b
• If a and b are integers with a > b, what is the smallest possible positive value of a−b + a+b ? (2010
State Sprint)
• (2016 AMC 12B) The sum of an infinite geometric series is a positive number S, and the second term
in the series is 1. What is the smallest possible value of S?
√ √
(A) 1+2 5 (B) 2 (C) 5 (D) 3 (E) 4

2.9 Systems of Equations

• (2001 National Sprint) Each letter represents a non-zero digit. What is the value of t?

c+o=u
u+n=t
t+c=s
o + n + s = 12

• A collection of 20 coins made up of only nickels, dimes and quarters has a total value of $3.35. If the
dimes were nickels, the nickels were quarters and the quarters were dimes, the collection of coins would
have a total value of $2.75. How many quarters are in the original collection? (MATHCOUNTS 2007
State Sprint)
• When trying to recall some facts about the ages of his three aunts, Josh made the following claims:
– Alice is fifteen years younger than twice Catherine’s age
– Beatrice is twelve years older than half of Alice’s age
– Catherine is eight years younger than Beatrice
– The three women’s ages add to exactly one hundred years
However Josh’s memory is not perfect, and in fact only three of these four claims are true. If each
aunt’s age is an integer number of years, how old is Beatrice? (2015 State Target)

44
2.10 Polynomials

• The graph of y = f (x), where f (x) is a polynomial of degree 3, contains points A(2, 4), B(3, 9), and
C(4, 16). Lines AB, AC, and BC intersect the graph again at points D, E and F , respectively, and
the sum of the x-coordinates of D, E, and F is 24. What is f (0)? (2017 AMC 12B)
• Define the hotel elevator cubic as the unique cubic polynomial P for which P (11) = 11, P (12) = 12,
P (13) = 14, P (14) = 15. What is P (15)? (NIMO 20)
• Let P (x) be a nonzero polynomial such that (x − 1)P (x + 1) = (x + 2)P (x) for every real x, and
2
(P (2)) = P (3). Then P ( 72 ) = m
n , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
(2016 AIME I)
• Let a > 0, and let P (x) be a polynomial with integer coefficients such that
P (1) = P (3) = P (5) = P (7) = a, and
P (2) = P (4) = P (6) = P (8) = −a.
What is the smallest possible value of a? (2010 AMC 10B)

2.11 Symmetric Equations

• Let x and y be real numbers satisfying x4 y 5 + y 4 x5 = 810 and x3 y 6 + y 3 x6 = 945. Evaluate 2x3 +
(xy)3 + 2y 3 . (2015 AIME II)
• Find all real pairs (a, b) that solve the system of equations:

a2 + b2 = 25,
3(a + b) − ab = 15.

(2016 German MO)

1 1
• If x + x = 3, what is the value of x4 + x4 ? (2015 State Sprint)
• If a and b are real numbers such that a + b = 1 and a2 + b2 = 2, what is the value of a3 + b3 ? Express
your answer as a common fraction. (2013 National Sprint)
• If y + 4 = (x − 2)2 , x + 4 = (y − 2)2 , and x 6= y, what is the value of x2 + y 2 ? (2015 AMC 10A)
• Let a + 1 = b + 2 = c + 3 = d + 4 = a + b + c + d + 5. What is a + b + c + d? (2002 AMC 10A)
• If a + b = 1 and a2 + b2 = 2, what is the value of a3 + b3 ? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2001 Nats Sprint)
• Suppose that x, y, and z are three positive numbers that satisfy the equations xyz = 1, x + z1 = 5, and
y + x1 = 29. Then z + y1 = m
n , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n. (2000
AIME I)
• A sequence of numbers x1 , x2 , x3 , . . . x100 has the property that, for every integer k between 1 and
100, inclusive, the number xk is k less than the sum of the other 99 numbers. Given that x50 = m n,
where m and n are relatively prime positive integers, find m + n. (2000 AIME I)
• Two positive numbers have the property that the sum of their squares is 20 and the sum of their
reciprocals is 2. What is their product? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2012 State
Sprint)
• If x and y are positive real numbers for which (x + y)2 + (x − y)2 = 10 and (x + y)4 + (x − y)4 = 98,
what is the value of xy? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2010 National Sprint)
1
• If a + b = 7 and a3 + b3 = 42, what is the value of the sum a + 1b ? Express your answer as a common
fraction. (2004 Nats Sprint)

45
 • If x + y + z = 7 and x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 19, what is the arithmetic mean of the three products xy, yz, and
xz? (2011 State Sprint)

2.12 Synthetic Division

x2 +2x+5
• What is the greatest integer value of x such that x−3 is an integer? (2002 Nats Sprint)
• What is the largest positive integer n for which n3 + 100 is divisible by n + 10? (1986 AIME)

2.13 Vieta’s

• Steve says to Jon, ”I am thinking of a polynomial whose roots are all positive integers. The polynomial
has the form P (x) = 2x3 − 2ax2 + (a2 − 81)x − c for some positive integers a and c. Can you tell me
the values of a and c?”
After some calculations, Jon says, ”There is more than one such polynomial.”
Steve says, ”You’re right. Here is the value of a.” He writes down a positive integer and asks, ”Can
you tell me the value of c?”
Jon says, ”There are still two possible values of c.”
Find the sum of the two possible values of c. (2015 AIME II)
• If the roots of the equation 8x4 − 6x3 + 7x2 − 8x + 4 = 0 are a, b, c, and d, find bcd + acd + abd + abc.
(2010 VHHS)
• Find the sum of the solutions for x: (x2 − 7x + 11)( x2 − 11x + 30) = 1. (2009 VHHS)
• Find the sum of the roots of the equation x2 − 243x − 2008 = 0.
1 1 1
• Let P (x) = x3 − 7x2 + 8x − 11 have roots a, b, and c. What is the value of ab + bc + ac ? (2008 VHHS)
• Find the polynomial whose roots are three less than those of 5x3 + 10x2 + 2x + 1. (2007 VHHS)
(A) 5x3 − 35x2 + 77x − 50 (B) 5x3 + 97x2 + 125x + 232 (C) 5x3 + 55x2 + 197x + 232 (D) 5x3 − 30x2 −
25x + 232 (E) NOTA
• Three real numbers a, b, and c satisfy the equations a + b + c = 2, ab + ac + bc = −7, and abc = −14.
What is the largest of the three numbers? Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2011 National
Team)
• For certain real numbers a, b, and c, the polynomial

g(x) = x3 + ax2 + x + 10

has three distinct roots, and each root of g(x) is also a root of the polynomial

f (x) = x4 + x3 + bx2 + 100x + c.

What is f (1)? (2017 AMC 12A)

• The fourth degree polynomial equation x4 − 7x3 + 4x2 + 7x − 4 = 0 has four real roots, a, b, c, and d.
What is the value of the sum a1 + 1b + 1c + d1 ? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2014 State
Sprint)
• Let x1 and x2 be the roots of x2 − x − 2014, with x1 < x2 . Let x3 and x4 be the roots of x2 − 2x − 2014,
with x3 < x4 . Compute (x4 − x2 ) + (x3 − x1 ). (2014 RMT)

46
 • Let z1 and z2 be the zeros of the polynomial f (x) = x2 + 6x + 11. Compute (1 + z12 z2 )(1 + z1 z22 ). (2009
RMT)
√ √
• Let a and b be the roots of the equation x2 − 47x + 289 = 0. Compute a + b. (SDML 2014-2015)
• The quadratic equation x2 + px + 2p = 0 has solutions x = a and x = b. If the quadratic equation
x2 + cx + d = 0 has solutions x = a + 2 and x = b + 2, what is the value of d? (2015 State Sprint)
• What is the product of all of the values of x that satisfy x2 + 2012x = 2013? (2013 National Sprint)
• Let a and b be positive real numbers, and suppose that the equation x2 − 11x + 14 = 0 has roots a2 + 1
and b2 + 1. Suppose further that the equation x2 − M x + N = 0 has roots a3 + b and b3 + a, where M
and N are constants. Find the ordered pair (M, N ). (MWMT 4)
• (2008 ARML Team) Let S be the set of all complex ordered triple solutions to the following system:

x + yz = 7
y + xz = 10
z + xy = 10

1 1
• Find the sum of the squares of the solutions to |x2 − x + 2008 | = 2008 . (2008 ARML Individual)
3 2
• Let f be the function defined by f (x) = x − 49x + 623x − 2015, and let g(x) = f (x + 5). Compute
the sum of the roots of g. (2015 ARML Individual)
• The four zeros of the polynomial x4 +jx2 +kx+225 are distinct real numbers in arithmetic progression.
Compute the value of j. (2012 ARML Individual)
• Let f be a function for which f (x/3) = x2 + x + 1. Find the sum of all values of z for which f (3z) = 7.
(2000 AMC 10)
• The polynomial x3 − ax2 + bx − 2010 has three positive integer roots. What is the smallest possible
value of a? (2010 AMC 10A)
• For certain real values of a, b, c, and d, the equation x4 + ax3 + bx2 + cx + d = 0 has four non-real roots.
√
The product of two of these roots is 13 + i and the sum of the other two roots is 3 + 4i, where i = −1.
Find b. (1995 AIME)
• Both roots of the quadratic equation x2 − 63x + k = 0 are prime numbers. What is the number of
possible values of k? (2002 AMC 12A)
• The sum of the zeros, the product of the zeros, and the sum of the coefficients of the function f (x) =
ax2 + bx + c are equal. Their common value must also be which of the following? (2007 AMC 12A)
(A) the coefficient of x2 (B) the coefficient of x (C) the y-intercept of the graph of y = f (x) (D) one of
the x-intercepts of the graph of y = f (x) (E) the mean of the x-intercepts of the graph of y = f (x)
a−b b
• If a and b are nonzero unequal real numbers and a = a−b , what is the sum of all possible values for
a
b ? (2011 National Target)
2003 1
• What is the sum of the reciprocals of the roots of the equation 2004 x +1+ x = 0? (2003 AMC 10A)
3
−3x2 −28x+60)
• What is the sum of the values of x that satisfy 9(x = 1? (2013 National Sprint)

2.14 Ratio Problems

• David, when submitting a problem for CMIMC, wrote his answer as 100 xy , where x and y are two
positive integers with x < y. Andrew interpreted the expression as a product of two rational numbers,

47
 while Patrick interpreted the answer as a mixed fraction. In this case, Patrick’s number was exactly
double Andrew’s! What is the smallest possible value of x + y? (2016 CMIMC)
• Of the students attending a school party, 60% of the students are girls, and 40% of the students like to
dance. After these students are joined by 20 more boy students, all of whom like to dance, the party
is now 58% girls. How many students now at the party like to dance? (2008 AIME I)
• In Grants Pass, Oregon 54 of the men are married to 3
7 of the women. What fraction of the adult
population is married? (2007 UNCO)
• Jack chose nine different integers from 1 through 19 and found their sum. From the remaining ten
integers, Jill chose nine and found their sum. If the ratio of Jack’s sum to Jill’s sum was 7 : 15, which
of the nineteen integers was chosen be neither Jack nor Jill. (Math League)

2.15 General Functions

• The graph of the function f is shown below. How many solutions does the equation f (f (x)) = 6 have?
(2002 AMC 12A)
y
(-2, 6) 6 (1, 6)
5
4
3
2
1

−7−6−5−4−3−2−1
−1 1 2 3 4 5 6
−2 x
−3
(-7, -4) −4
−5
−6 (5, -6)

(A) 2 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 7

2.16 Series and Sequences

• An arithmetic sequence has first term a and common difference d. If the sum of the first ten terms is
half the sum of the next ten terms, what is the ratio ad ? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2015 State Team)
• The measures of the interior angles of a convex hexagon form an increasing arithmetic sequence. How
many such sequences are possible if the hexagon is not equiangular and all of the angle degree measures
are positive integers less than 150 degrees? (2010 State Team)
√
• The geometric mean of two positive numbers a and b is ab. The third term of an arithmetic sequence
of positive numbers, in which the difference between the terms is not zero, is the geometric mean of
the first and eleventh terms. What is the ratio of the second term to the first term of the sequence?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011 State Team)
• An arithmetic series of positive integers has 8 terms and a sum of 2008. What is the smallest possible
value of any member of the series? (2012 National Sprint)

48
• The first three terms of a geometric sequence are 3, 6 + p, and 30 − p, and each term is a positive
number. What is the fifth term of this sequence? (2012 National Sprint)
• If the 4014th term of a geometric sequence of non-negative numbers is 135, and the 14th term is 375,
what is the 2014th term? (2014 National Sprint)
• Three distinct real numbers form (in some order) a 3-term arithmetic sequence, and also form (in
possibly a different order) a 3-term geometric sequence. Compute the greatest possible value of the
common ratio of this geometric sequence. (Math Prize)
• Consider an arithmetic sequence with a3 = 165 and a12 = 615. For what value of n is an = 2015?
(2015 State Sprint)
• For a particular sequence, a1 = 3, a2 = 5, and an = an−1 − an−2 , for n ≥ 3. What is the 2015th term
in this sequence? (2015 Chapter Sprint)
• The increasing geometric sequence x0 , x1 , x2 , . . . consists entirely of integer powers of 3. Given that
P7 P 
7
n=0 log (x
3 n ) = 308 and 56 ≤ log 3 n=0 n ≤ 57,
x

find log3 (x14 ). (2007 AIME II)

• For some integer k, the first three terms of an arithmetic sequence are k, 2k + 3, and 4k + 1, in that
order. What is the integer value of the fourth term in the sequence? (2015 Chapter Target)
• The sum of the first five terms of an arithmetic sequence is 90 less than the sum of the next five terms.
What is the absolute difference between two consecutive terms of this sequence? Express your answer
as a common fraction. (2016 Chapter Target)
1 2 3 4
• Evaluate 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + . . .. (2010 VHHS)
• A high school basketball game between the Raiders and Wildcats was tied at the end of the first quarter.
The number of points scored by the Raiders in each of the four quarters formed an increasing geometric
sequence, and the number of points scored by the Wildcats in each of the four quarters formed an
increasing arithmetic sequence. At the end of the fourth quarter, the Raiders had won by one point.
Neither team scored more than 100 points. What was the total number of points scored by the two
teams in the first half? (2010 AMC 10B)
• In the eight-term sequence A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, the value of C is 5 and the sum of any three consec-
utive terms is 30. What is A + H? (2011 AMC 10A)
• Two non-decreasing sequences of nonnegative integers have different first terms. Each sequence has the
property that each term beginning with the third is the sum of the previous two terms, and the seventh
term of each sequence is N . What is the smallest possible value of N ? (2013 AMC 10B)
• A sequence of natural numbers is constructed by listing the first 4, then skipping one, listing the next
5, skipping 2, listing 6, skipping 3, and, on the nth iteration, listing n + 3 and skipping n. The sequence
begins 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13. What is the 500, 000th number in the sequence? (2014 AMC 10A)
√ √
• Let {xn }150
n=1 be a sequence of real numbers such that xi ∈ { 2 + 1, 2 − 1} for all positive integers i
with 1 ≤ i ≤ 150. For how many positive integers 1 ≤ S ≤ 1000 does there exist such a sequence {xn }
with the property that
x1 x2 + x3 x4 + · · · + x149 x150 = S?
(Argentina TST)
• Let a1 , a2 , . . . be an infinite sequence of (positive) integers such that k divides gcd(ak−1 , ak ) for all
k ≥ 2. Compute the smallest possible value of a1 + a2 + · · · + a10 . (2016 CMIMC)
• Let a1 , a2 , . . . be a sequence defined by a1 = 1 and for n ≥ 1,

p
an+1 = a2n − 2an + 3 + 1.

49
 Find a513 . (OMO)
• In how many ways can 345 be written as the sum of an increasing sequence of two or more consecutive
positive integers? (2016 AMC 12B)
• Let ABCD be a unit square. Let Q1 be the midpoint of CD. For i = 1, 2, . . . , let Pi be the intersection
of AQi and BD, and let Qi+1 be the foot of the perpendicular from Pi to CD. What is
∞
X
Area of 4DQi Pi ?
i=1

(2016 AMC 12B)

• Find the value of a2 + a4 + a6 + a8 + . . . + a98 if a1 , a2 , a3 . . . is an arithmetic progression with common
difference 1, and a1 + a2 + a3 + . . . + a98 = 137. (1984 AIME)
n
• Let x1 = 97, and for n > 1, let xn = xn−1 . Calculate the product x1 x2 x3 x4 x5 x6 x7 x8 . (1985 AIME)
• A sequence of integers a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . is chosen so that an = an−1 − an−2 for each n ≥ 3. What is the
sum of the first 2001 terms of this sequence if the sum of the first 1492 terms is 1985, and the sum of
the first 1985 terms is 1492? (1985 AIME)
• Call a 3-digit number geometric if it has 3 distinct digits which, when read from left to right, form a
geometric sequence. Find the difference between the largest and smallest geometric numbers. (2009
AIME I)
• The pages of a book are numbered 1 through n. When the page numbers of the book were added, one
of the page numbers was mistakenly added twice, resulting in an incorrect sum of 1986. What was the
number of the page that was added twice? (1986 AIME)
• Given that

x1 = 211,
x2 = 375,
x3 = 420,
x4 = 523, and
xn = xn−1 − xn−2 + xn−3 − xn−4 when n ≥ 5,

find the value of x531 + x753 + x975 . (2001 AIME II)

1 1
• Consider the sequence defined by ak = for k ≥ 1. Given that am + am+1 + · · · + an−1 = , for
k2 + k 29
positive integers m and n with m < n, find m + n. (2002 AIME I)
• The terms of an arithmetic sequence add to 715. The first term of the sequence is increased by 1, the
second term is increased by 3, the third term is increased by 5, and in general, the kth term is increased
by the kth odd positive integer. The terms of the new sequence add to 836. Find the sum of the first,
last, and middle terms of the original sequence. (2012 AIME I)
• Two geometric sequences a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . and b1 , b2 , b3 , . . . have the same common ratio, with a1 = 27,
b1 = 99, and a15 = b11 . Find a9 . (2012 AIME II)
• For any sequence of real numbers A = (a1 , a2 , a3 , . . .), define ∆A to be the sequence (a2 − a1 , a3 −
a2 , a4 − a3 , . . .), whose nth term is an+1 − an . Suppose that all of the terms of the sequence ∆(∆A)
are 1, and that a19 = a92 = 0. Find a1 . (1992 AIME)
• Suppose that {an } is an arithmetic sequence with

a1 + a2 + · · · + a100 = 100 and a101 + a102 + · · · + a200 = 200.

50
 What is the value of a2 − a1 ? (2002 AMC 10B)
(A) 0.0001 (B) 0.001 (C) 0.01 (D) 0.1 (E) 1
• Let f be a function with the following properties:
:(i) f (1) = 1, and :(ii) f (2n) = n × f (n), for any positive integer n.
What is the value of f (2100 )? (2004 AMC 12A)
(A) 1 (B) 299 (C) 2100 (D) 24950 (E) 29999
• Express the following sum as a whole number:
1 + 2 − 3 + 4 + 5 − 6 + 7 + 8 − 9 + 10 + 11 − 12 + · · · + 2005 + 2006 − 2007. (2007 UNCO)
• (2014 UNCO) On the first slate, the Queens jurors write the number 1. On the second slate they write
the numbers 2 and 3. On the third slate the jurors write 4, 5, and 6, and so on, writing n integers on
the nth slate.
(a) What is the largest number they write on the 20th slate?
(b) What is the sum of the numbers written on the 20th slate?
(c) What is the sum of the numbers written on the nth slate?

• (2014 UNCO) Define the Cheshire Cat function :) by

:) (x) = −x if x is even and

:) (x) = x if x is odd

Find the sum :) (1) + :) (2) + :) (3) + :) (4) + ... + :) (289)

• Arithmetic sequences (an ) and (bn ) have integer terms with a1 = b1 = 1 < a2 ≤ b2 and an bn = 2010
for some n. What is the largest possible value of n? (2010 AMC 12A)
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 8 (D) 288 (E) 2009
• (2005 Alabama ARML TST) Find the sum of the infinite series:
11 9 n2 + 2n + 3
3+ + + ··· + + ··· .
4 4 2n

• The sum of the first 2011 terms of a geometric sequence is 200. The sum of the first 4022 terms is 380.
Find the sum of the first 6033 terms. (2011 AIME II)
• Boxes are arranged in a 20-layer tower. The top layer has three boxes, and each subsequent layer has
one more than twice the number of boxes in the layer above it. If 2n is the largest power of two that
is a factor of the total number of boxes, what is the value of n? (2011 National Sprint)
• The sum of the first ten terms of a particular arithmetic sequence is four times the sum of the first five
terms of the sequence. What is the ratio of the first term to the second term? Express your answer as
a common fraction. (2007 National Team)
• The sum of four positive integers that form an arithmetic sequence is 46. Of all such possible sequences,
what is the greatest possible third term? (2005 State Sprint)
• What is the positive difference between the 2000th term and the 2005th term of the arithmetic sequence
−8, −2, 4, 10, . . .? (2005 State Sprint)
• The numbers a, b, c, and d form a geometric sequence, in that order. If b is three more than a, and c is
nine more than b, what is the value of d? Express your answer as a mixed number. (2011 State Sprint)

51
 • The 80th term of an arithmetic sequence is twice the 30th term. If the first term of the sequence is 7,
what is the 40th term? (2011 State Sprint)
• For a certain sequence of numbers, the sum of the first n numbers in the sequence is given by n3 + 4n
for all positive integers n. What is the tenth number in the sequence? (2011 State Sprint)
• A monument made of a certain number of rows consisting of cube-shaped bricks starts with a row of
34 bricks. The row above has 31 bricks, the row above that has 28 bricks, and so on such that each row
has three fewer bricks than the row below it. Later a student notices that the total number of bricks
used in the monument is just enough to create the brick floor of a rectangular patio that is one layer
of bricks, seven times as long as it is wide. (No bricks are broken to make the floor.) How many rows
of bricks does the monument have? (2005 State Target)
• For −1 < r < 1, let S(r) denote the sum of the geometric series

12 + 12r + 12r2 + 12r3 + · · · .

Let a between −1 and 1 satisfy S(a)S(−a) = 2016. Find S(a) + S(−a). (2016 AIME I)
• Anh read a book. On the first day she read n pages in t minutes, where n and t are positive integers.
On the second day Anh read n + 1 pages in t + 1 minutes. Each day thereafter Anh read one more page
than she read on the previous day, and it took her one more minute than on the previous day until she
completely read the 374 page book. It took her a total of 319 minutes to read the book. Find n + t.
(2016 AIME I)
• The positive integers A, B, and C form an arithmetic sequence while the integers B, C, and D form
C
a geometric sequence. If B = 53 , what is the smallest possible value of A + B + C + D? (2010 State
Sprint)
• In a sequence of positive integers, every term after the first two terms is the sum of the two previous
terms in the sequence. If the fifth term is 2012, what is the maximum possible value of the first term?
(2012 State Sprint)
• An infinite geometric series has sum 2005. A new series, obtained by squaring each term of the original
series, has 10 times the sum of the original series. The common ratio of the original series is m
n where
m and n are relatively prime integers. Find m + n. (2005 AIME II)
• A strictly increasing sequence of positive integers a1 , a2 , a3 , · · · has the property that for every positive
integer k, the subsequence a2k−1 , a2k , a2k+1 is geometric and the subsequence a2k , a2k+1 , a2k+2 is
arithmetic. Suppose that a13 = 2016. Find a1 . (2016 AIME I)

2.17 D=RT

• Driving at a constant speed, Sharon usually takes 180 minutes to drive from her house to her mother’s
house. One day Sharon begins the drive at her usual speed, but after driving 31 of the way, she hits a
bad snowstorm and reduces her speed by 20 miles per hour. This time the trip takes her a total of 276
minutes. How many miles is the drive from Sharon’s house to her mother’s house? (2017 AMC 12A)
• It take 24 minutes for Jana to walk one mile. At that rate, how far will she walk in 10 minutes? Express
your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2005 Chapter Sprint)
• At the beginning of my bike ride I feel good, so I can travel 20 miles per hour. Later, I get tired and
travel only 12 miles per hour. If I travel a total of 122 miles in a total time of 8 hours, for how many
hours did I feel good? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2006 Chapter Sprint)
• Grady rides his bike 60% faster than his little brother Noah. If Grady rides 12 miles further than Noah
in two hours, how fast does Noah ride? (2007 Chapter Sprint)
• Ms. Quinn traveled at a constant speed for a distance of 50 miles on her trip to a campground. On
a later trip, she traveled at a constant speed for a distance of 400 miles to a ski resort, driving three

52
 times as fast as she had on her earlier trip to the campground. What is the ratio of the time it took
for her second trip to the time it took for her first trip? Express your answer as a common fraction.
• If it takes 96 people 6 days to pave 1 mile of road, how many days will it take 64 people to pave 2
miles of road? (The time required to pave a road is directly proportional to the length of the road and
inversely proportional to the number of workers on the job.) (2010 Chapter Sprint)
• If Kenton walks for 60 minutes at the rate of 3 mph and then runs for 15 minutes at the rate of 8 mph,
how many miles will he travel? (2011 Chapter Sprint)
• Okta can stay in the sun for 16 minutes before getting sunburned. If he uses a sunscreen with SPF 20, he
can stay in the sun 20 times as long before getting sunburned, or 20 × 16 = 320 minutes. This morning,
he spent 9 minutes in the sun before putting on sunscreen. If he then applies SPF 20 sunscreen, how
many more minutes can he stay in the sun before getting burned? (2012 Chapter Sprint)
• Working in pairs, Alana and Bob can complete a job in 2 hours, Bob and Cody can do the job in 3
hours, and Alana and Cody can do the same job in 4 hours. How many hours will it take for Alana,
Bob, and Cody working together to complete this job? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2013 Chapter Sprint)
• A car traveled a certain distance at 20 miles per hour. The car then traveled twice the original distance
at 40 miles per hour. If the entire trip lasted four hours, what was the total number of miles driven?
(2012 Chapter Sprint)
• Three people can paint 5 rooms in 2 days. Working at this same rate, how many days will it take 6
people to paint 15 rooms? (2013 Chapter Sprint)
• Andys lawn has twice as much area as Beths lawn and three times as much area as Carlos lawn. Carlos
lawn mower cuts half as fast as Beths mower and one third as fast as Andys mower. If they all start to
mow their lawns at the same time, who will finish first? (2002 AMC 12B)
(A) Andy (B) Beth (C) Carlos (D) Andy and Carlos tie for first. (E) All three tie.
• Paula the painter and her two helpers each paint at constant, but different, rates. They always start
at 8:00 AM, and all three always take the same amount of time to eat lunch. On Monday the three
of them painted 50% of a house, quitting at 4:00 PM. On Tuesday, when Paula wasn’t there, the two
helpers painted only 24% of the house and quit at 2:12 PM. On Wednesday Paula worked by herself
and finished the house by working until 7:12 P.M. How long, in minutes, was each day’s lunch break?
(2012 AMC 10A)
• Rudolph bikes at a constant rate and stops for a five-minute break at the end of every mile. Jennifer
bikes at a constant rate which is three-quarters the rate that Rudolph bikes, but Jennifer takes a five-
minute break at the end of every two miles. Jennifer and Rudolph begin biking at the same time and
arrive at the 50-mile mark at exactly the same time. How many minutes has it taken them? (2008
AIME II)
• Annie, Ben, and Claire are training for MATHCOUNTS. On January 1st, they each started to solved
a large packet of problems that their coach gave them. Each of them worked at a constant rate. Annie
solved six problems each day and finished four days after Ben did. Claire solved three more problems
each day than Ben did and finished two days before he did. How many problems were in the packet
their coach gave them? (2010 National Sprint)
• If m workers can complete a job in d days, how many days will it take n workers, working at the same
rate, to complete one-third of the job? Express your answer as a common fraction in terms of d, m,
and n. (2008 National Sprint)
• Alyssa rode her bicycle for seven hours. She started on level ground and rode at a rate of 8 mph. She
came to a hill that slowed her down to a rate of 5 mph. Upon reaching the top of the hill, she turned
around and descended at a rate of 20 mph. Finally, she returned home on the flat portion at 8 mph.
What is the total number of miles that she rode? (2000 National Sprint)

53
• Jack and Jill drove in separate cars to their favorite hill, leaving from the same place at the same time.
Jill drove 20% faster than Jack and arrived half an hour earlier. How many hours did Jack drive? (2012
State Sprint)
• Allowing each soldier five ounces of protein each day, an army of 600 soldiers has enough provisions for
five weeks. With the same total amount of provisions, how many soldiers could be fed for 10 weeks if
each soldier receives only three ounces of protein per day? (2005 State Target)
• A robot moving forward at a constant speed takes 2.5 hours to travel 1 kilometer. Moving forward at
this same constant speed, it takes the robot 90 seconds to travel the length of a particular hallway.
How many meters long is the hallway? (2006 State Sprint)
• One complete lap around a particular circular track is 400 meters. Jun and Quan each start running
tat the starting line and run around the track; Jun runs clockwise at 3 meters per second, and Quan
runs counterclockwise at 5 meters per second. When they meet for the sixth time after starting, they
stop and both walk back together along the track to the starting line. What is the shortest distance
they could walk back on the track together? (2006 State Target)
• At a particular speed, a jumbo jet can travel its own length in 20 seconds. At this same speed, the
jumbo jet taxied completely past a 710-foot-long hangar in 70 seconds, as shown. What is the length
of this jumbo jet? (2008 State Team)

• A car passes point A driving at a constant rate of 60 km per hour. A second car, traveling at a constant
rate of 75 km per hour, passes the same point A a while later and then follows the first car. If catches
the first car after traveling a distance of 75 km past point A. How many minutes after the first car
passed point A did the second car pass point A? (2010 State Sprint)
• On Monday, a worker began painting a fence at 8:00 a.m. At 10:00 a.m., two more workers showed up
and helped the first worker paint. The three workers finished the job at 11:30 a.m. On Tuesday, the
first worker began painting an identical fence at 8:00 a.m. The other two workers showed up earlier
this time, and the job was finished at 10:54 a.m. All three workers paint at the same constant rate.
How many minutes did the first worker paint alone on Tuesday? (2016 Chapter Sprint)
• A bug crawls a distance of n miles at a speed of n + 1 miles per hour one day and then crawls 2n + 1
miles at a speed of n2 + n miles per hour the next day. If the total time for the trip was 6 hours, what
was the bug’s average speed? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2016 Chapter Sprint)
• Joy is riding her bicycle up a hill. After traveling 3 km, Joy passes Greg, who is walking down the hill
at a rate of 1 m/s. Joy continues up the hill for another 7 km before riding down at double the average
speed she rode up. Joy and Greg arrive at Joy’s starting point at the same moment. In meters per
second, what was Joy’s average speed going down the hill? (2013 State Target)
• Mr. Earl E. Bird gets up every day at 8:00 AM to go to work. If he drives at an average speed of 40
miles per hour, he will be late by 3 minutes. If he drives at an average speed of 60 miles per hour,
he will be early by 3 minutes. How many miles per hour does Mr. Bird need to drive to get to work
exactly on time? (2002 AMC 12A)
• The speed of a stream is 3 km per hour. A boat travels upstream 12 km and then returns to its original
position downstream along the same route. If the speed of the boat in still water is 9 km per hour,
what is the average speed of the boat for the entire round trip? (2009 State Team)
• David drives from his home to the airport to catch a flight. He drives 35 miles in the first hour, but
realizes that he will be 1 hour late if he continues at this speed. He increases his speed by 15 miles per

54
 hour for the rest of the way to the airport and arrives 30 minutes early. How many miles is the airport
from his home? (2014 AMC 10A)
(A) 140 (B) 175 (C) 210 (D) 245 (E) 280

2.18 Quadratics

• What is the maximum possible area of a triangle with vertices (a, 0), (b, 0), and (c, d), where 1+a−2a2 =
1 + b − 2b2 = 0, 1 + c − 2c2 = d and d > 0? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2013 National
Target)
• What is the shortest distance between the point (4, 0) and the parabola y 2 = 2x? (2009 VHHS)
• What is the product of all the roots of the equation
p p
5|x| + 8 = x2 − 16.

(2011 AMC 10B)

• The sum of the first m positive odd integers is 212 more than the sum of the first n positive even
integers. What is the sum of all possible values of n? (2012 AMC 10A)
• The real numbers c, b, a form an arithmetic sequence with a ≥ b ≥ c ≥ 0. The quadratic ax2 + bx + c
has exactly one root. What is this root? (2013 AMC 10B)
• Given the function y = x2 + 10x + 21, what is the least possible value of y? (2011 State Sprint)
Lauren solved the equation |x − 5| = 2. Meanwhile Jane solved an equation of the form x2 + bx + c = 0
that had the same two solutions for x as Lauren’s equation. What is the ordered pair (b, c)? (2008
State Sprint)
• The parabolas y = ax2 − 2 and y = 4 − bx2 intersect the coordinate axes in exactly four points, and
these four points are the vertices of a kite of area 12. What is a + b? (2015 AMC 12A)
• There are two values of a for which the equation 4x2 + ax + 8x + 9 = 0 has only one solution for x.
What is the sum of those values of a? (2005 AMC 10A)
• A parabola with vertical axis of symmetry passes through (−2, 9), (1, 17), and (3, −4). Find the x-
coordinate of the vertex. (2015 VHHS Comprehensive)

2.19 Absolute Values

• What is the maximum value of the function

1
.
|x + 1| + |x + 2| + |x − 3|
(2014-2015 SDML)
• What is the sum of all the solutions of x = |2x − |60 − 2x||? (2010 AMC 10B)
• Given that x is a real number, find the minimum value of f (x) = |x + 1| + 3|x + 3| + 6|x + 6| + 10|x + 10|.
(2016 OMO)

2.20 Defined Functions (MC)

• Let f be a function taking real numbers to real numbers such that for all reals x 6= 0, 1, we have
1 1
f (x) + f ( ) = (2x − 1)2 + f (1 − )
1−x x

55
 .
Compute f (3). (2015 CHMMC)
• Given that f (x) + 2f (8 − x) = x2 for all real x, compute f (2). (2013 RMT)
• If f is a function such that f (f (x)) = x2 − 1, what is f (f (f (f (3))))? (2015 Chapter Sprint)
• If f is a function such that f (x) + x1 · f (− x1 ) = 3, what is the value of f (2)? Express your answer as a
common fraction. (2015 Chapter Target)
• A function f (x) is defined for all positive integers. If f (a) + f (b) = f (ab) for any two positive integers
a and b and f (3) = 5, what is f (27)? (2016 State Sprint)
• The function f (n) = a · n! + b, where a and b are positive integers, is defined for all positive integers. If
the range of f contains two numbers that differ by 20, what is the least possible value of f (1)? (2016
State Sprint)

2.21 Floor Functions

P10
• Let f (x) = k=2 (bkxc − kbxc), where brc denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to r. How
many distinct values does f (x) assume for x ≥ 0? (2016 AMC 10B)
• Suppose r is a real number for which

19 20 21 91
br + c + br + c + br + c + . . . + br + c = 546.
100 100 100 100

Find b100rc. (For real x, bxc is the greatest integer less than or equal to x.) (1991 AIME)
• How many positive integers N less than 1000 are there such that the equation xbxc = N has a solution
for x? (The notation bxc denotes the greatest integer that is less than or equal to x.) (2009 AIME I)
• Given a nonnegative real number x, let hxi denote the fractional part of x; that is, hxi = x − bxc, where
bxc denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to x. Suppose that a is positive, ha−1 i = ha2 i, and
2 < a2 < 3. Find the value of a12 − 144a−1 . (1997 AIME)
• How many of the first 1000 positive integers can be expressed in the form

b2xc + b4xc + b6xc + b8xc,

where x is a real number, and bzc denotes the greatest integer less than or equal to z? (1985 AIME)

2.22 Mean, Median, Mode, Range

• A set of 7 positive integers has a unique mode of 1, a mean of 5, and a median of 6. What is the largest
possible value for any of the integers in the set? (2009 Chapter Sprint)
• The mean of a set of five numbers is 3k. When a sixth number is added to the set, the mean increases
by k. What is the ratio of the sixth number to the sum of the first five numbers? Express your answer
as a common fraction. (2016 Chapter Sprint)
• The median of the set {n, n + 5, n + 6, n + 9, n + 15} is 9. What is the mean? (2008 Chapter Sprint)
• When the mean, median, and mode of the list 10, 2, 5, 2, 4, 2, x are arranged in increasing order, they
form a non-constant arithmetic progression. What is the sum of all possible real values of x? (2000
AMC 10)

56
• The mean, median, unique mode, and range of a collection of eight integers are all equal to 8. What is
the largest integer that can be an element of this collection? (2002 AMC 12A)
(A) 11 (B) 12 (C) 13 (D) 14 (E) 15
• A, B, C are three piles of rocks. The mean weight of the rocks in A is 40 pounds, the mean weight of
the rocks in B is 50 pounds, the mean weight of the rocks in the combined piles A and B is 43 pounds,
and the mean weight of the rocks in the combined piles A and C is 44 pounds. What is the greatest
possible integer value for the mean in pounds of the rocks in the combined piles B and C? (2013 AMC
12A)
(A) 55 (B) 56 (C) 57 (D) 58 (E) 59
• Seven numbers form an arithmetic sequence. The median of the seven numbers is five. The mean of
the four largest numbers is seven more than the mean of the three smallest numbers. What is the
ratio of the smallest number to the largest number? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011
National Sprint)
• Yesterday, 28 students took a test. The arithmetic mean of those 28 scores was 72 points. Two students
who were absent yesterday took the test this morning, and the arithmetic mean of all 30 test scores is
73 points. If the difference of the two scores from this morning is 22 points, what is the lower score
from this morning? (2005 State Sprint)
• The mean of the seven numbers x, 2x − 4, 4x − 3, −13, 9, 5x + 2, and x − 2 is 4. What is the integer
value of the mode of this set of numbers? (2010 State Target)
• A collection of five positive integers has mean 4.4, unique mode 3, and median 4. If an 8 is added to
the collection, what is the new median? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2006
State Sprint)
• The sum of five different positive integers is 320. The sum of the greatest three integers in this set is
283. The sum of the greatest and least integers is 119. If x is the greatest integer in the set, what is
the positive difference between the greatest possible value and least possible value for x? (2006 State
Sprint)
• A data set for a class of 25 sixth graders has their ages listed as the integer values of either 10 or 11
years. The median age in the data set is 0.36 years greater than the mean. How many 10-year-olds are
in the class? (2007 State Sprint)
• Joan has four test scores. The median is 80 points, and the range is 12 points. What is the maximum
possible score she could have received on a test? (2011 State Sprint)
• A set of seven distinct positive integers has its mean and its median both equal to 30. What is the
largest possible integer this set can contain? (2010 State Sprint)
• What is the sum of the mean, median, and mode of the numbers 2, 3, 0, 3, 1, 4, 0, 3? (2010 AMC 8)
• The mean of five positive integers is 1.5 times their median. Four of the integers are 8, 18, 36, and 62,
and the largest integer is not 62. What is the largest integer? (2009 State Sprint)
• The math department at a small high school has six classes with 25 students each, four classes with 20
students each, and two classes with 35 students each. No student takes more than one math class. If
each student correctly fills out a questionnaire asking for the total number of students in his/her math
class, what is the average of all the numbers turned in on the questionnaires? (2006 Nats Team)
• How many subsets of two elements can be removed from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} so that
the mean (average) of the remaining numbers is 6? (2015 AMC 8)
• A collection of nickels, dimes, and pennies has an average value of $0.07 per coin. If a nickel were
replaced by 5 pennies, the average would drop to $0.06 per coin. What is the number of dimes in the
collection? (2005 Nats Team)

57
 • Reid took seven tests. On the first five tests he took, he averaged 86 points. On the last three tests,
he averaged 95 points. If he averaged 88 points on all seven tests, how many points did he average on
the last two tests? (2004 Nats Sprint)
• The arithmetic mean of three numbers x, y, and z is 24. The arithmetic mean of x, 2y, and z − 7 is
34. What is the arithmetic mean of x and z? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth.
(2003 Nats Sprint)
• Brad bicycles from home at an average speed of 9 miles per hour until he gets a flat tire. With no way
to fix the tire, Brad walks his bike back home by the same route, averaging 3 miles per hour. If the
entire round trip of biking and walking took a total of 6 hours, what was Brad’s average speed in miles
per hour for the entire round trip? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2003 Nats
Sprint)
• In a five-element set of integer test scores between 0 and 100 inclusive, the unique mode is 67 and the
range is 81. What is the minimum possible value of the median? (2013 FSE)
• The mean of a set of five positive integers is 1.5 times the median. If three of the integers in the set
are 24, 52 and 86, and one of them is the median, what is the sum of all distinct possible sums of the
other two integers? (2009 State Team)

2.23 SFFT

• A rectangular box has integer edge lengths. The sum of the numerical values of its volume, its surface
area, and its twelve edge lengths is 2015. Compute the length of the box’s interior diagonal. (2015
ARML Individual)
• How many rectangles with side lengths x, y with x ≤ y have equal perimeter and area? (Folklore)
• Find all positive lattice points (x, y) such that xy + 8x = 7y + 86 (AoPS).
1 1 1
• How many pairs of natural numbers (x, y) exist such that x + y = 12 ? (2015 VHHS Comprehensive)
x
• Consider the set of all fractions where x and y are relatively prime positive integers. How many of
y
these fractions have the property that if both numerator and denominator are increased by 1, the value
of the fraction is increased by 10%? (2015 AMC 10A)
• A rectangle with positive integer side lengths in cm has area Acm2 and perimeter P cm. Which of the
following numbers (100, 102, 104, 106, 108) cannot equal A + P ? (2015 AMC 10A)
x+12
• How many pairs of integers (x, y) satisfy the equation y = 2x−1 ? (AoPS)
• The zeroes of the function f (x) = x2 − ax + 2a are integers. What is the sum of the possible values of
a? (2015 AMC 10A)
• Find 3x2 y 2 if x and y are integers such that y 2 + 3x2 y 2 = 30x2 + 517. (1987 AIME)
• For positive integers n and m, each exterior angle of a regular n-sided polygon is 45 degrees larger
than each exterior angle of a regular m-sided polygon. One example is n = 4 and m = 8 because
the measures of each exterior angle of a square and a regular octagon are 90 degrees and 45 degrees,
respectively. What is the greatest of all possible values of m? (2015 Chapter Sprint)
2 1
• In how many different ways can 15 be represented as a + 1b , if a and b are positive integers with a ≥ b?
(2005 State Team)
• How many non-congruent right triangles with positive integer leg lengths have areas that are numerically
equal to 3 times their perimeters? (2007 AMC 12B)

58
3 Combinatorics

3.1 Basic Probability

• Jean is twice as likely to make a free throw as she is to miss it. What is the probability that she will
miss three free throws in a row? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2012 State Sprint)
• Bag A contains 3 white and 2 red balls. Bag B contains 6 white and 3 red balls. One of the two
bags will be chosen at random, and then two balls will be drawn from that bag at random without
replacement. What is the probability that the two balls drawn will be the same color? Express your
answer as a common fraction. (2010 State Sprint)

3.2 Stars and Bars

• When five standard six-sided dice are rolled sequentially there are 65 = 7776 possible outcomes. For
how many outcomes is the sum of the five rolled numbers exactly 27? (2007 State Sprint)
• The squares in a 7 × 7 grid are colored one of two colors: green and purple. The coloring has the
property that no green square is directly above or to the right of a purple square. Find the total
number of ways this can be done. (2014-2015 SDML)
• Five people board a train containing three cars. The conductor records the ordered triple (a, b, c)
indicating how many of the five passengers take a seat in the first, second, and third car, respectively.
How many such ordered triples are possible? (2013 National Sprint)
• Find the number of ordered triples (a, b, c) of positive integers that satisfy the equation a + b + 2c = 35.
• 2n objects of each of three kinds are given to two persons so that each person gets 3n objects. How
many ways can this be done, in terms of n?
• Pat wants to buy four donuts from an ample supply of three types of donuts: glazed, chocolate, and
powdered. How many different selections are possible? (2001 AMC 10)
• How many different points in three-dimensional space have three positive integral coordinates whose
sum is 100? (2009 VHHS)
• As a reward for working for NIMO, Evan divides 100 indivisible marbles among three of his volunteers:
David, Justin, and Michael. (Of course, each volunteer must get at least one marble!) However Evan
knows that, in the middle of the night, Lewis will select a positive integer n > 1 and, for each volunteer,
steal exactly n1 of his marbles (if possible, i.e. if n divides the number of marbles). In how many ways
can Evan distribute the 100 marbles so that Lewis is unable to steal marbles from every volunteer,
regardless of which n he selects? (NIMO 25)
• The sum of the last four digits of Marian’s phone number is 30. How many such four-digit sequences
are there? (2005 State Team)
• If three standard, six-faced dice are rolled, what is the probability that the sum of the three numbers
rolled is 9? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2009 State Sprint)
• For some particular value of N , when (a + b + c + d + 1)N is expanded and like terms are combined,
the resulting expression contains exactly 1001 terms that include all four variables a, b, c, and d, each
to some positive power. What is N ? (2016 AMC 10A)
• Find the number of ordered pairs of positive integers (a, b, c, d) that satisfy a + b + c + d = 12. (2005
Alabama ARML TST)
• Seven identical red cards and three identical black cards are laid in a row on a table. How many
different arrangements are possible if no two black cards are allowed to be adjacent to each other?
(2010 National Target)

59
 • Bill is sent to a donut shop to purchase exactly six donuts. If the shop has four kinds of donuts and
Bill is to get at least one of each kind, how many combinations will satisfy Bill’s order requirements?
(2008 State Target)
• How many ordered triples (a, b, c) of positive integers satisfy the equation a + b + c = 6? (2008 State
Target)

3.3 Adding Stuff to Help Count

• How many ways are there to choose positive integers a, b, and c, not necessarily distinct, so that
a + b < c and c ≤ 5? (2017 School Target)
• Define an ordered quadruple of integers (a, b, c, d) as interesting if 1 ≤ a < b < c < d ≤ 10, and
a + d > b + c. How many interesting ordered quadruples are there? (2011 AIME II)

3.4 Overcounting

• Let S be the set of points (a, b) in the coordinate plane, where each of a and b may be −1, 0, or 1. How
many distinct lines pass through at least two members of S? (2004 AMC 12A)

3.5 PIE

• How many positive integers not exceeding 2001 are multiples of 3 or 4 but not 5? (2001 AMC 10)
• Seven distinct pieces of candy are to be distributed among three bags. The red bag and the blue
bag must each receive at least one piece of candy; the white bag may remain empty. How many
arrangements are possible? (2010 AMC 10B)
• Daphne is visited periodically by her three best friends: Alice, Beatrix, and Claire. Alice visits every
third day, Beatrix visits every fourth day, and Claire visits every fifth day. All three friends visited
Daphne yesterday. How many days of the next 365-day period will exactly two friends visit her? (2013
AMC 10A)
• Many states use a sequence of three letters followed by a sequence of three digits as their standard
license-plate pattern. Given that each three-letter three-digit arrangement is equally likely, the prob-
ability that such a license plate will contain at least one palindrome (a three-letter arrangement or a
three-digit arrangement that reads the same left-to-right as it does right-to-left) is m
n , where m and n
are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n (2002 AIME I)
• Let S be the set {1, 2, 3, . . . , 10}. Let n be the number of sets of two non-empty disjoint subsets of S.
(Disjoint sets are defined as sets that have no common elements.) Find the remainder obtained when
n is divided by 1000. (2002 AIME II)
• Call a number “prime-looking” if it is composite but not divisible by 2, 3, or 5. The three smallest
prime-looking numbers are 49, 77, and 91. There are 168 prime numbers less than 1000. How many
prime-looking numbers are there less than 1000?
• Each of the 100 students in a certain summer camp can either sing, dance, or act. Some students have
more than one talent, but no student has all three talents. There are 42 students who cannot sing, 65
students who cannot dance, and 29 students who cannot act. How many students have two of these
talents? (2016 AMC 12A)
• Each of the 2001 students at a high school studies either Spanish or French, and some study both. The
number who study Spanish is between 80 and 85 percent of the school population, and the number
who study French is between 30 and 40 percent. Let m be the smallest number of students who could

60
 study both languages, and let M be the largest number of students who could study both languages.
Find M − m. (2001 AIME II)
• What is the number of positive integers less than 1000 which are divisible by neither 5 nor 7? (1966
AHSME)
• Find the number of positive integers that are divisors of at least one of 1010 , 157 , 1811 . (AoPS)
• A box has 5 different candies. In how many ways can these candies be given to 3 kids such that each
kid has at least one?
• Four young couples are sitting in a row. In how many ways can we seat them so that no person sits
next to his or her “significant other”? (ACoPS)
• Phi
• Derangements
• Six people of different heights are getting in line to buy donuts. Compute the number of ways they can
arrange themselves in line such that no three consecutive people are in increasing order of height, from
front to back. (2015 ARML Individual Problem 10)
• Seven different prizes are to be distributed among three contest winners such that each winner receives
at least one prize and each of the prizes goes to one of the three winners. In how many different ways
can the prizes be distributed among the three winners? (2014 State Sprint)

3.6 Phi Function

• Find the number of rational numbers r, 0 < r < 1, such that when r is written as a fraction in lowest
terms, the numerator and the denominator have a sum of 1000. (2014 AIME I)
21
• What is the remainder when you divide 2121 by 100?

3.7 Geometric Counting

• If p is the maximum number of points of intersection possible of n distinct lines, and the ratio p : n =
6 : 1, what is the value of n? (2015 State Target)
• The figure below represents a figure with a total of 120 triangles and n points labeled as vertices on
the horizontal base. What is the value of n? (2006 State Target)

• In the figure shown, there are parallelograms of many sizes. How many total parallelograms are there
in the diagram? (2011 State Sprint)

61
 • Ten points are marked on a circle. How many distinct convex polygons of three or more sides can be
drawn using some (or all) of the ten points as vertices? (1989 AIME)
• The nine horizontal and nine vertical lines on an 8 × 8 checkerboard form r rectangles, of which s are
squares. The number s/r can be written in the form m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive
integers. Find m + n. (1997 AIME)
• A convex polyhedron P has 26 vertices, 60 edges, and 36 faces, 24 of which are triangular, and 12 of
which are quadrilaterals. A space diagonal is a line segment connecting two non-adjacent vertices that
do not belong to the same face. How many space diagonals does P have? (2004 AIME I)
• A convex polyhedron has for its faces 12 squares, 8 regular hexagons, and 6 regular octagons. At each
vertex of the polyhedron one square, one hexagon, and one octagon meet. How many segments joining
vertices of the polyhedron lie in the interior of the polyhedron rather than along an edge or a face?
(1988 AIME)

3.8 Double Counting

• Let S be a set with six elements. In how many different ways can one select two not necessarily distinct
subsets of S so that the union of the two subsets is S ? The order of selection does not matter; for
example, the pair of subsets {a, c} , {b, c, d, e, f } represents the same selection as the pair {b, c, d, e, f } ,
{a, c} . (1993 AIME)
• The regular octagon ABCDEF GH has its center at J. Each of the vertices and the center are to be
associated with one of the digits 1 through 9, with each digit used once, in such a way that the sums
of the numbers on the lines AJE, BJF , CJG, and DJH are all equal. In how many ways can this be
done?
A B

H C
J
G D

F E

3.9 Conditional Probability

• Two counterfeit coins of equal weight are mixed with 8 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 10 coins. A second pair is selected at random
without replacement from the remaining 8 coins. The combined weight of the first pair is equal to
the combined weight of the second pair. What is the probability that all 4 selected coins are genuine?
(2011 AMC 10A)
• Suppose that one of every 500 people in a certain population has a particular disease, which displays
no symptoms. A blood test is available for screening for this disease. For a person who has this disease,
the test always turns out positive. For a person who does not have the disease, however, there is a

62
 2% false positive rate–in other words, for such people, 98% of the time the test will turn out negative,
but 2% of the time the test will turn out positive and will incorrectly indicate that the person has the
disease. Let p be the probability that a person who is chosen at random from this population and gets
a positive test result actually has the disease. Which of the following is closest to p? (2012 AMC 10B)
• At CMU, markers come in two colors: blue and orange. Zachary fills a hat randomly with three markers
such that each color is chosen with equal probability, then Chase shuffles an additional orange marker
into the hat. If Zachary chooses one of the markers in the hat at random and it turns out to be orange,
the probability that there is a second orange marker in the hat can be expressed as a simplified fraction
m
n . Find m + n. (2016 CMIMC)

3.10 Algebraic Probability

• An unfair coin has the property that when flipped four times, the probability of it landing twice heads
up and twice tails up (in any order) is the same as the probability of it landing three times heads up
and once tails up (in any order). What is the probability of this coin landing heads up in one flip?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2014 National Sprint)
• When Mandi shoots free throws, she consistently makes the shot with a probability of p, where p < 12 .
4
When she shoots six free throws, the probability that she makes exactly half of them is 545 . What is
the value of p? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2014 State Target)
• In three flips of an unfair coin the probability of getting three heads is the same as the probability
of getting exactly two tails. What is the ratio of the probability of flipping a tail to the probability
of flipping a head? Express your answer as a common fraction in simplest radical form. (2011 State
Sprint)
• Jackie and Phil have two fair coins and an unfair coin that comes up heads with probability 47 . Jackie
flips the three coins, and then Phil flips the three coins. Let m
n be the probability that Jackie gets the
same number of heads as Phil, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n. (2010
AIME I)
• When a certain biased coin is flipped five times, the probability of getting heads exactly once is not
equal to 0 and is the same as that of getting heads exactly twice. Let ji , in lowest terms, be the
probability that the coin comes up heads in exactly 3 out of 5 flips. Find i + j. (1989 AIME)
• A bag contains red balls and white balls. If five balls are to be pulled from the bag, with replacement,
the probability of getting exactly three red balls is 32 times the probability of getting exactly one red
ball. What percent of the balls originally in the bag are red? (2011 State Sprint)
• In 2010, the probability of Mark sinking a free throw was twice what it was in 2009, and yet the
probability of him sinking exactly two out of three free throws was the same in both years. What was
the probability of Mark sinking a free throw in 2010, given that the probability was greater than zero?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011 National Sprint)
• A coin is altered so that the probability that it lands on heads is less than 12 and when the coin is
flipped four times, the probability of an equal number of heads and tails is 16 . What is the probability
that the coin lands on heads? (2010 AMC 12A)

3.11 Order or no Order?

• If Desi flips a fair coin eight times, what is the probability that he will get the same number of heads
and tails? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2015 Chapter Sprint)
• A tennis coach divides her 9-player squad into three 3-player groups with each player in only one group.
How many different sets of three groups can be made? (2009 National Sprint)

63
 • Six students are being grouped into three pairs to work on a science lab. How many different combina-
tions of three pairs are possible? (2009 State Sprint)
• In how many ways can six different gifts be given to five different children with each child receiving at
least one gift and each gift being given to exactly one child? (2012 State Sprint)
• In a math class, 12 out of 15 girls are freshmen and 11 out of 15 boys are freshmen. What is the
probability that in a randomly selected group of five students from the class, there will be two freshmen
girls and three freshmen boys? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest thousandth. (2006
State Team)
• (2005 AMC 10B) Forty slips are placed into a hat, each bearing a number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or
10, with each number entered on four slips. Four slips are drawn from the hat at random and without
replacement. Let p be the probability that all four slips bear the same number. Let q be the probability
that two of the slips bear a number a and the other two bear a number b 6= a. What is the value of
q/p?

3.12 Just Choose It

• How many permutations of the digits 1, 2, 3, 4 have 1 before 3 and 2 before 4? One such permutation
to include is 2134. (2014 Chapter Sprint)
• Bobby, Peter, Greg, Cindy, Jan, and Marcia line up for ice cream. In an acceptable lineup, Greg is ahead
of Peter, Peter is ahead of Bobby, Marcia is ahead of Jan, and Jan is ahead of Cindy. For example,
the lineup with Greg in front, followed by Peter, Marcia, Jan, Cindy, and Bobby, in that order, is an
acceptable lineup. Compute the number of acceptable lineups. (2014 ARML Individual)
• A spider has one sock and one shoe for each of its eight legs. In how many different orders can the
spider put on its socks and shoes, assuming that, on each leg, the sock must be put on before the shoe?
(2001 AMC 12)
• In a shooting match, eight clay targets are arranged in two hanging columns of three targets each and
one column of two targets. A marksman is to break all the targets according to the following rules:
(1) The marksman first chooses a column from which a target is to be broken.
(2) The marksman must then break the lowest remaining target in the chosen column.
If the rules are followed, in how many different orders can the eight targets be broken? (1990 AIME)
• A positive integer is called ascending if, in its decimal representation, there are at least two digits and
each digit is less than any digit to its right. How many ascending positive integers are there?
• A game uses a deck of n different cards, where n is an integer and n ≥ 6. The number of possible sets
of 6 cards that can be drawn from the deck is 6 times the number of possible sets of 3 cards that can
be drawn. Find n. (2005 AIME II)
• At a cafeteria, there are 10 seats in a row, and 10 people are lined up to walk into the cafeteria. The
first person can sit anywhere, but any future person will only sit in a seat next to someone who is
already sitting down. If the first person sits in the 5th seat, how many total ways are there for the rest
of the people to sit down? (Expii Solve)

3.13 Nomial Theorems

• Compute 96 + 6 · 95 + 15 · 94 + 20 · 93 + 15 · 92 + 6 · 9. (2014 RMT)

√
• Let N = b(3 + 5)34 c. Compute the remainder when N is divided by 100. (2012 ARML Team)
• Find the smallest positive integer n for which the expansion of (xy − 3x + 7x − 21)n , after like terms
have been collected, has at least 1996 terms. (1996 AIME)

64
 • How many zeroes occur at the end of the number 19996 + 6 · 1999 + 5? (Mandelbrot)
• What is the hundreds digit of 20112011 ? (2011 AMC 10B)
• When (x + 2y − z)8 is expanded, and the like terms are combined, what is the coefficient of the term
x3 y 2 z 3 ? (2009 National Sprint)
2 16
• In the expansion of (xy − y3 ) , find the coefficient of the term that does not contain y. (Volume 2)
• Find the two-digit number formed by the last two digits of 92014 . (AoPS)
• In the expansion of (ax + b)2000 , where a and b are relatively prime positive integers, the coefficients of
x2 and x3 are equal. Find a + b. (2000 AIME I)

2001
• Find the sum of the roots, real and non-real, of the equation x2001 + 21 − x = 0, given that there
are no multiple roots. (2001 AIME I)
• What is the tens digit of 1212 ? (4x4)
• In Pascal’s Triangle, each entry is the sum of the two entries above it. In which row of Pascal’s Triangle
do three consecutive entries occur that are in the ratio 3 : 4 : 5? (1992 AIME)

3.14 Slot Models/Just count it!

• The phrase “COLORFUL TARTAN” is spelled out with wooden blocks, where blocks of the same letter
are indistinguishable. How many ways are there to distribute the blocks among two bags of different
color such that neither bag contains more than one of the same letter? (2016 CMIMC)
• A dessert chef prepares the dessert for every day of a week starting with Sunday. The dessert each
day is either cake, pie, ice cream, or pudding. The same dessert may not be served two days in a row.
There must be cake on Friday because of a birthday. How many different dessert menus for the week
are possible? (2012 AMC 12B)
• A license plate in a certain state consists of 4 digits, not necessarily distinct, and 2 letters, also not
necessarily distinct. These six characters may appear in any order, except that the two letters must
appear next to each other. How many distinct license plates are possible? (2006 AMC 10A)
• In a drawer Sandy has 5 pairs of socks, each pair a different color. On Monday Sandy selects two
individual socks at random from the 10 socks in the drawer. On Tuesday Sandy selects 2 of the remaining
8 socks at random and on Wednesday two of the remaining 6 socks at random. The probability that
Wednesday is the first day Sandy selects matching socks is m n , where m and n are relatively prime
positive integers, Find m + n. (2015 AIME I)

3.15 States/Recursion/Expected Value

• The figure below shows a ring made of six small sections which you are to paint on a wall. You have
four paint colors available and you will paint each of the six sections a solid color. Find the number
of ways you can choose to paint the sections if no two adjacent sections can be painted with the same
color. (2016 AIME II)

• A square is drawn in the Cartesian coordinate plane with vertices at (2, 2), (−2, 2), (−2, −2), (2, −2).
A particle starts at (0, 0). Every second it moves with equal probability to one of the eight lattice
points (points with integer coordinates) closest to its current position, independently of its previous
moves. In other words, the probability is 1/8 that the particle will move from (x, y) to each of (x, y + 1),
(x + 1, y + 1), (x + 1, y), (x + 1, y − 1), (x, y − 1), (x − 1, y − 1), (x − 1, y), or (x − 1, y + 1). The particle
will eventually hit the square for the first time, either at one of the 4 corners of the square or at one of
the 12 lattice points in the interior of one of the sides of the square. The probability that it will hit at

65
 a corner rather than at an interior point of a side is m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive
integers. What is m + n? (2017 AMC 12A)
• for a positive integer n, let C(n) equal the number of pairs of consecutive 10 s in the binary representation
of n. For example, C(183) = C(101101112 ) = 3. Compute C(1) + C(2) + · · · + C(256). (ARML)
• Bob is eating a chunk of tofu. However, he is bad at using chopsticks, so every time he tries to eat a
piece of tofu, he succeeds 1/2 of the time, and the other half of the time, splits it into 2 smaller pieces.
Assuming that the tofu can get infinitely small, what is the probability Bob will finish all his tofu?
(AoPS)
• Bob starts with an empty whiteboard. He then repeatedly chooses one of the digits 1, 2, . . . , 9 (uniformly
at random) and appends it to the end of the currently written number. Bob stops when the number
on the board is a multiple of 25. Let E be the expected number of digits that Bob writes. If E = m n
for relatively prime positive integers m and n, find 100m + n. (NIMO 25)
• In a small pond there are eleven lily pads in a row labeled 0 through 10. A frog is sitting on pad 1.
N
When the frog is on pad N , 0 < N < 10, it will jump to pad N − 1 with probability 10 and to pad
N
N + 1 with probability 1 − 10 . Each jump is independent of the previous jumps. If the frog reaches pad
0 it will be eaten by a patiently waiting snake. If the frog reaches pad 10 it will exit the pond, never to
return. What is the probability that the frog will escape being eaten by the snake? (2015 AMC 12B)

3.16 Splitting up complicated stuff

• A 3 × 3 square is partitioned into 9 unit squares. Each unit square is painted either white or black with
each color being equally likely, chosen independently and at random. The square is then rotated 90 ◦
clockwise about its center, and every white square in a position formerly occupied by a black square is
painted black. The colors of all other squares are left unchanged. What is the probability the grid is
now entirely black? (2012 AMC 10A)
• A bug travels from A to B along the segments in the hexagonal lattice pictured below. The segments
marked with an arrow can be traveled only in the direction of the arrow, and the bug never travels the
same segment more than once. How many different paths are there?

A B

• How many paths are there from A to B through the network shown if you may only move up, down,
right, and up-right? A path also may not traverse any portion of the network more than once. A
sample path is highlighted. (Mandelbrot)

66
 • A ”regular icosahedron” is a 20-faced solid where each face is an equilateral triangle and five triangles
meet at every vertex. The regular icosahedron shown below has one vertex at the top, one vertex
at the bottom, an upper pentagon of five vertices all adjacent to the top vertex and all in the same
horizontal plane, and a lower pentagon of five vertices all adjacent to the bottom vertex and all in
another horizontal plane. Find the number of paths from the top vertex to the bottom vertex such that
each part of a path goes downward or horizontally along an edge of the icosahedron, and no vertex is
repeated. (2016 AIME I)

3.17 WLOG/Modeling Problems

• Central High School is competing against Northern High School in a backgammon match. Each school
has three players, and the contest rules require that each player play two games against each of the
other school’s players. The match takes place in six rounds, with three games played simultaneously in
each round. In how many different ways can the match be scheduled? (2013 AMC 10A)

3.18 Complementary Counting

• Each card in a particular deck of cards contains a number denoting its value from 2 to 6, inclusive. The
deck is made up of four cards of each value for a total of 20 cards. If two of these cards are chosen at
random and without replacement, what is the probability that the sum of their values is less than 10?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2016 State Target)
• Points X, Y , and Z lie on the sides of triangle ABC so that segments AX, BY , and CZ, if drawn,
would intersect at one interior point P . Using 3 of these 7 points at a time as vertices, how many
triangles can be formed? (2009 State Sprint)
• An o-Pod MP3 player stores and plays entire songs. Celeste has 10 songs stored on her o-Pod. The
time length of each song is different. When the songs are ordered by length, the shortest song is only
30 seconds long and each subsequent song is 30 seconds longer than the previous song. Her favorite
song is 3 minutes, 30 seconds long. The o-Pod will play all the songs in random order before repeating
any song. What is the probability that she hears the first 4 minutes, 30 seconds of music-there are no
pauses between songs- without hearing every second of her favorite song? Express your answer as a
common fraction. (2008 State Sprint)
• My three-digit code is 023. Reckha can’t choose a code that is the same as mine in two or more of the
three digit-positions, nor that is the same as mine except for switching the positions of two digits (so
320 and 203, for example, are forbidden, but 302 is fine). Reckha can otherwise choose any three-digit
code where each digit is in the set {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}. How many codes are available for Reckha?
(2006 State Target)

67
 • A set of teams held a round-robin tournament in which every team played every other team exactly
once. Every team won 10 games and lost 10 games; there were no ties. How many sets of three teams
{A, B, C} were there in which A beat B, B beat C, and C beat A?
• Two different numbers are selected at random from (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and multiplied together. What is the
probability that the product is even? (2016 AMC 10A)
• How many four-digit positive integers have at least one digit that is a 2 or a 3? (2006 AMC 10A)
• A convex polyhedron P has 26 vertices, 60 edges, and 36 faces, 24 of which are triangular and 12 of
which are quadrilaterals. A space diagonal is a line segment connecting two non-adjacent vertices that
do not belong to the same face. How many space diagonals does P have? (2004 AIME I)
• How many subsets of the set {M, A, T, H, C, O, U, R, S, E} contain at least one vowel? (2010 State
Target)
• The four faces of a fair tetrahedral die are numbered one, two, three and four. Each time the die is
rolled, three numbers are visible. If the die is rolled three times, what is the probability that the sum
of all nine of the numbers showing is 21? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011 National
Target)
• How many of the divisors of 8! are larger than 7! ? (2002 National Sprint)

3.19 Symmetries

• Find the number of sets {a, b, c} of three distinct positive integers with the property that the product
of a, b, and c is equal to the product of 11, 21, 31, 41, 51, 61. (2016 AIME II)
• Bernardo randomly picks 3 distinct numbers from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9} and arranges them in
descending order to form a 3-digit number. Silvia randomly picks 3 distinct numbers from the set
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8} and also arranges them in descending order to form a 3-digit number. What is the
probability that Bernardo’s number is larger than Silvia’s number? (2010 AMC 10A)
• The entries in a 3 × 3 array include all the digits from 1 through 9, arranged so that the entries in every
row and column are in increasing order. How many such arrays are there? (2010 AMC 10B)
• Adam, Benin, Chiang, Deshawn, Esther, and Fiona have internet accounts. Some, but not all, of them
are internet friends with each other, and none of them has an internet friend outside this group. Each
of them has the same number of internet friends. In how many different ways can this happen? (2012
AMC 10A)
• David, Kevin, and Michael each choose an integer from the set {1, 2, . . . , 100} randomly, uniformly, and
independently of each other. The probability that the positive difference between David’s and Kevin’s
numbers is strictly less than that of Kevin’s and Michael’s numbers is m n , for coprime positive integers
m and n. Find 100m + n. (NIMO 25)
• Tina randomly selects two distinct numbers from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, and Sergio randomly selects a
number from the set {1, 2, ..., 10}. What is the probability that Sergio’s number is larger than the sum
of the two numbers chosen by Tina? (2002 AMC 12A)
• A cube is painted so that one side is blue, two sides are red, and three sides are green. How many
different such cubes can be painted? Two cubes are considered the same if one cube can be rotated in
any way to match the second cube. (2002 National Sprint)

3.20 Geometric Probability

• Two numbers between 0 and 1 on a number line are to be chosen at random. What is the probability
that the second number chosen will exceed the first number chosen by a distance greater than 14 unit

68
 on the number line? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2010 State Team)
• Chlo chooses a real number uniformly at random from the interval [0, 2017]. Independently, Laurent
chooses a real number uniformly at random from the interval [0, 4034]. What is the probability that
Laurent’s number is greater than Chloe’s number? (2017 AMC 12A)
• Two points are picked on a circular ring and the ring is cut at these two points. What is the probability
that one of the resulting pieces is more than twice as long as the other? (2012 FSE)
• Suppose a circle ω has radius 5 and center O. Pick a point P uniformly at random inside ω. Consider
the chord perpendicular to OP at P . The probability that this chord has length greater than 8 can be
written as ab where gcd(a, b) = 1. Find a · b. (2016 ZIML)
• Real numbers x, y, and z are chosen independently and at random from the interval [0, n] for some
positive integer n. The probability that no two of x, y, and z are within 1 unit of each other is greater
than 21 . What is the smallest possible value of n? (2012 AMC 10A)
• Two concentric circles have radii 1 and 2. Two points on the outer circle are chosen independently and
uniformly at random. What is the probability that the chord joining the two points intersects the inner
circle? (2014 AMC 10B)
• Three numbers in the interval [0, 1] are chosen independently and at random. What is the probability
that the chosen numbers are the side lengths of a triangle with positive area? (2016 AMC 12A)
• A traffic light runs repeatedly through the following cycle: green for 30 seconds, then yellow for 3
seconds, and then red for 30 seconds. Leah picks a random three-second time interval to watch the
light. What is the probability that the color changes while she is watching? (2007 AMC 12B)
• (2011 AMC 10A) Two points on the circumference of a circle of radius r are selected independently
and at random. From each point a chord of length r is drawn in a clockwise direction. What is the
probability that the two chords intersect?
1 1 1 1 1
(A) 6 (B) 5 (C) 4 (D) 3 (E) 2

• (2003 AMC 10A) A point (x, y) is randomly picked from inside the rectangle with vertices (0, 0), (4, 0),
(4, 1), and (0, 1). What is the probability that x < y?
1 1 3 1 3
(A) 8 (B) 4 (C) 8 (D) 2 (E) 4

• (2004 AIME I) A circle of radius 1 is randomly placed in a 15-by-36 rectangle ABCD so that the circle
lies completely within the rectangle. Given that the probability that the circle will not touch diagonal
AC is m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers, find m + n.
• Two mathematicians take a morning coffee break each day. They arrive at the cafeteria independently,
at random times between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., and stay for exactly m minutes. √ The probability that
either one arrives while the other is in the cafeteria is 40%, and m = a − b c, where a, b, and c are
positive integers, and c is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find a + b + c. (1998 AIME)
• (2001 National Sprint) A point (x, y) is randomly selected such that 0 ≤ x ≤ 8 and 0 ≤ y ≤ 4. What
is the probability that x + y ≤ 4? Express your answer as a common fraction.
• (2002 AMC 12B) Four distinct circles are drawn in a plane. What is the maximum number of points
where at least two of the circles intersect?
(A) 8 (B) 9 (C) 10 (D) 12 (E) 16
• Avi and Hari agree to meet at their favorite restaurant between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. They have
agreed that the person who arrives first will wait for the other only 15 minutes before leaving. What
is the probability that the two of them will actually meet at the restaurant, assuming that the arrival
times are random within the hour? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2013 Chapter Sprint)

69
3.21 Casework

• Using the figures of 15 circles show, how many sets of three distinct circle A, B, and C are there such
that circle A encloses circle B, and circle B encloses circle C? (2015 State Team)

• Eight blue and five orange tiles are arranged in an ordered line such that the tile on the left must be blue
and every tile must be adjacent to at least one tile of the same color. For example, if an arrangement of
four tiles was made, the only possibilities would be BBBB or BBOO. How many different arrangements
are possible if allt hirteen tiles must be used? (2016 State Team)
• Six-digit integers will be written using each of the digits 1 through 6 exactly once per six-digit integer.
How many different positive integers can be written such that all pairs of consecutive digits of each
integer are relatively prime? (Note: 1 is relatively prime to all integers.) (2010 State Team)
• Kendra has an unlimited supply of unbreakable sticks of length 2, 4, and 6 inches. Using these sticks,
how many non-congruent triangles can she make? Two sticks can be joined only at a vertex of the
triangle. (A triangle with sides of length 4, 6, 6 is an example of one such triangle to be included.)
(2008 State Target)
• In how many ways can 36 be written as the product a × b × c × d, where a, b, c, and d are positive
integers such that a ≤ b ≤ c ≤ d? (2007 State Target)
• Alice refuses to sit next to either Bob or Carla. Derek refuses to sit next to Eric. How many ways are
there for the five of them to sit in a row of 5 chairs under these conditions? (2017 AMC 12A)
• In the list of numbers 1, 2, . . . , 9999, the digits 0 through 9 are replaced with the letters A through
J, respectively. For example, the number 501 is replaced by the string “FAB” and 8243 is replaced by
the string “ICED”. The resulting list of 9999 strings is sorted alphabetically. How many strings appear
before “CHAI” in this list? (2016 State Sprint)
• Each vertex of convex pentagon ABCDE is to be assigned a color. There are 6 colors to choose from,
and the ends of each diagonal must have different colors. How many different colorings are possible?
(2011 AMC 10A)
• How many different positive three-digit integers can be formed using only the digits in the set {2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6}
if no digit may be used more times than it appears in the given set of available digits? (2009 National
Sprint)
• How many positive four-digit integers contain the digit grouping “73” at least once? For instance, 2738
and 7344 are two such integers to include, but 2378 and 5703 do not meet the restrictions? (2010 State
Target)
• A circular tabletop is divided into four congruent sectors by two diameters that are perpendicular to
each other. Each sector is to be painted with one of four colors. How many distinct ways can the table

70
 be painted? (A color may be used on more than one sector, but paintings that are the same after a
rotation are not considered distinct.) (2008 State Team)
• Each of eight houses on a street is painted brown, yellow, or white. Each house is painted only one
color and each color is used on at least one house. No two colors are used to paint the same number
of houses. In how many ways could the eight houses on the street be painted? One such way is shown
here. (2005 State Team)

• The First National Bank of Zyzzlaria requires each customer to choose a code comprising four distinct
digits from 1 to 5, inclusive, where the positive difference between any two consecutive digits must be
at least 2. How many such codes are possible? (2014 State Sprint)
• A house with a square floor plan is to have each of its four outer walls finished with brick, stone, stucco,
or wood. If no two adjacent outer walls are to have the same finish, in how many ways can the house’s
walls be constructed? (One such way is brick on the front and back and stone on the left and right.)
(2006 Nats Sprint)
• A classroom has 10 desks in two rows. Anne and Ben, Charlie and Darla, Eddie and Fiona, Gina and
Hank, and Isabella and Jack are five boyfriend/girlfriend pairs. In how many ways can the 10 students
be seated if the two people in each boyfriend/girlfriend pair always sit in adjacent seats (side by side
or front and back)? The two arrangements below show two such ways. (2006 Nats Target)

• Eight people are sitting around a circular table, each holding a fair coin. All eight people flip their
coins and those who flip heads stand while those who flip tails remain seated. What is the probability
that no two adjacent people will stand? (2015 AMC 10A)

71
 • Jerry starts at 0 on the real number line. He tosses a fair coin 8 times. When he gets heads, he moves
1 unit in the positive direction; when he gets tails, he moves 1 unit in the negative direction. The
probability that he reaches 4 at some time during this process ab , where a and b are relatively prime
positive integers. What is a + b? (For example, he succeeds if his sequence of tosses is HT HHHHHH.)
(2016 AMC 12A)
• Seven sticks with lengths 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 inches are placed in a box. Three of the sticks are
randomly selected. What is the probability that a triangle can be formed by joining the endpoints of
the sticks? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2001 National Sprint)
• How many even integers between 4000 and 7000 have four different digits? (1993 AIME)
• Let set A be a 90-element subset of {1, 2, . . . , 100} and let S be the sum of the elements of A. Find the
number of possible values of S. (2006 AIME I)
• Bernardo randomly picks 3 distinct numbers from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9} and arranges them in
descending order to form a 3-digit number. Silva randomly picks 3 distinct numbers from the set
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8} and also arranges them in descending order to form a 3-digit number. What is the
probability that Bernardo’s number is larger than Silvia’s number? (2010 AMC 10A)
• How many three-digit numbers satisfy the property that the middle digit is the average of the first and
last digits? (2005 AMC 10A)

3.22 Nice Problems

• Four distinct points on line n (A, B, C, D) and five distinct points on line m (E, F, G, H, I) are chosen
to maximize the number of intersections in the shaded region among the 20 unique line segments
connecting one of the four points on n to one of the five points on m. What is the maximum number of
intersections in the shaded region, excluding the intersections at points on lines m or n? (2009 National
Target)

• 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? (2010 AMC 10A)
• Each of 2010 boxes in a line contains a single red marble, and for 1 ≤ k ≤ 2010, the box in the kth
position also contains k 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 P (n) be
the probability that Isabella stops after drawing exactly n marbles. What is the smallest value of n for
1
which P (n) < 2010 ? (2010 AMC 10A)
• Let (a1 , a2 , ... a10 ) be a list of the first 10 positive integers such that for each 2 ≤ i ≤ 10 either ai + 1
or ai − 1 or both appear somewhere before ai in the list. How many such lists are there? (2012 AMC
10B)
• All 20 diagonals are drawn in a regular octagon. At how many distinct points in the interior of the
octagon (not on the boundary) do two or more diagonals intersect? (2013 AMC 10A)

72
 • Rabbits Peter and Pauline have three offspringFlopsie, Mopsie, and Cotton-tail. These five rabbits are
to be distributed to four different pet stores so that no store gets both a parent and a child. It is not
required that every store gets a rabbit. In how many different ways can this be done? (2013 AMC 12A)
• Three fair six-sided dice are rolled. What is the probability that the values shown on two of the dice
sum to the value shown on the remaining die? (2014 AMC 10A)
• Amy, Beth, and Jo listen to four different songs and discuss which ones they like. No song is liked by
all three. Furthermore, for each of the three pairs of the girls, there is at least one song liked by those
two girls but disliked by the third. In how many different ways is this possible? (2012 AMC 10B)
• Robert has 4 indistinguishable gold coins and 4 indistinguishable silver coins. Each coin has an engrav-
ing of one face on one side, but not on the other. He wants to stack the eight coins on a table into a
single stack so that no two adjacent coins are face to face. Find the number of possible distinguishable
arrangements of the 8 coins. (2005 AIME I)
• A 2 by 2003 rectangle consists of unit squares as shown below. The middle unit square of each row is
shaded. If a rectangle from the figure is chosen at random, what is the probability that the rectangle
does not include a shaded square? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2004 National Sprint)

• Each of two boxes contains both black and white marbles, and the total number of marbles in the two
boxes is 25. One marble is taken out of each box randomly. The probability that both marbles are
black is 27/50, and the probability that both marbles are white is m/n, where m and n are relatively
prime positive integers. What is m + n? (2000 AIME I)

3.23 Pathwalking

• A frog is at the point (0, 0). Every second, he can jump one unit either up or right. He can only move
to points (x,y) where x and y are not both odd. How many ways can he get to the point (8, 14)? (2012
HMMT)
• How many paths are there from A to B through the network shown if you may only move up, down,
right, and up-right? A path also may not traverse any portion of the network more than once. A
sample path is highlighted. (Mandelbrot)

• Moving only south and east along the line segments, how many paths are there from A to B? (2001
Nats Sprint)

• (2000 National Sprint) Moves are only allowed one segment right or one segment up. How many paths
from A to B exist?

73
 • If a ladybug walks on the segments of the diagram from point A to point B moving only to the right
or downward, how many distinct paths are possible? (2009 State Team)

• Matt will arrange four identical, dotless dominoes (shaded 1 by 2 rectangles) on the 5 by 4 grid to
the right so that a path is formed from the upper left-hand corner A to the lower right-hand corner
B. In a path, consecutive dominoes must touch at their sides and not just their corners. No domino
may be placed diagonally; each domino covers exactly two of the unit squares shown on the grid. One
arrangement is shown. How many distinct arrangements are possible, including the one shown? (2006
State Sprint)

4 Number Theory

4.1 Divisibility Rules

• Let S(n) equal the sum of the digits of positive integer n. For example, S(1507) = 13. For a particular
positive integer n, S(n) = 1274. Which of the following could be the value of S(n + 1)? (2017 AMC
12A)
(A) 1 (B) 3 (C) 12 (D) 1239 (E) 1265
• What is the smallest prime number that divides some number of the form 424242 . . . 42 + 1 or of the
form 424242 . . . 42 − 1? (2014 Chapter Sprint)
• The integer n is the smallest positive multiple of 15 such that every digit of n is either 8 or 0. Compute
n
15 . (1984 AIME)

74
 • The 9-digit number abb, aba, ba3 is a multiple of 99 for some pair of digits a and b. What is b − a?
(2002 National Team)
• The digits of a four-digit positive integer add up to 14. The sum of the two middle digits is nine, and
the thousands digit minus the units digit is one. If the integer is divisible by 11, what is the integer?
(2006 State Sprint)
• How many positive integers divisible by 4 can be formed using the digits 1, 2, 3, and 4, each at most
once for each integer? (2006 State Sprint)
• The digits 2, 3, 4, 7, and 8 will be put in random order to make a positive five-digit integer. What is
the probability that the resulting integer will be divisible by 11? Express your answer as a common
fraction. (2007 State Sprint)
• Let T be a positive integer whose only digits are 0s and 1s. If X = T /12 and X is an integer, what is
the smallest possible value of X? (2007 National Target)
• The 2-digit integers from 19 to 92 are written consecutively to form the integer N = 192021 · · · 9192.
Suppose that 3k is the highest power of 3 that is a factor of N . What is k?
• For how many ordered pairs of digits (A, B) is 2AB8 a multiple of 12? (2005 Alabama ARML TST)
• What is the least positive integer that has only 1s and 0s as digits and is a multiple of 75? (2015
Chapter Target)

4.2 Modular Inverses

• There are finitely many primes p for which the congruence 8x ≡ 1 (mod p) has no solutions x. Deter-
mine the sum of all such p. (AoPS)
• Given that 33−1 ≡ 77 (mod 508) and 11−1 ≡ x (mod 508) where 0 ≤ x < 508. Find x (mod 189).
(AoPS)
• How many integers less than 4! are invertible mod 4! ? What is their product? (Alcumus)

4.3 Linear Congruences

• For positive integers N and k, define N to be k-nice if there exists a positive integer a such that ak has
exactly N positive divisors. Find the number of positive integers less than 1000 that are neither 7-nice
nor 8-nice. (2016 AIME II)
• Let m be the least positive integer divisible by 17 whose digits sum to 17. Find m. (2015 AIME II)
• Last year Isabella took 7 math tests and received 7 different scores, each an integer between 91 and
100, inclusive. After each test she noticed that the average of her test scores was an integer. Her score
on the seventh test was 95. What was her score on the sixth test? (2017 AMC 12B)
• Let N = 123456789101112 . . . 4344 be the 79-digit number that is formed by writing the integers from
1 to 44 in order, one after the other. What is the remainder when N is divided by 45? (2017 AMC
12B)
• Mrs. Jackson baked a batch of cookies. If she makes bags of cookies with 3 cookies in each bag, 2
cookies are left over. If she makes bags with 5 cookies in a bag, no cookies are left over. If she makes
bags with 8 cookies in each bag, 6 cookies are left over. What is the fewest number of cookies Mrs.
Jackson could have baked? (2011 State Team)
• The members of a band are arranged in a rectangular formation. When they are arranged in 8 rows,
there are 2 positions unoccupied in the formation. When they are arranged in 9 rows, there are 3

75
 positions unoccupied. How many members are in the band if the membership is between 100 and 200?
(2009 Chapter Sprint)
• For how many positive integers x less than 4032 is x2 − 20 divisible by 16 and x2 − 16 divisible by 20?
(2016 OMO)
• The number obtained from the last two nonzero digits of 90! is equal to n. What is n? (2010 AMC
10A)
• Compute the smallest positive integer base b for which 16b is prime and 97b is a perfect square. (ARML)
• An integer X is a multiple of 17, is one less than a multiple of 8, and is less than 1000. What is the
largest possible value of X? (2009 State Sprint)
• The arithmetic progressions {2, 5, 8, 11, . . .} and {3, 10, 17, 24, . . .} have some common values. What is
the largest value less than 500 that they have in common?
• When a positive integer is divided by 7, the remainder is 4. When the same integer is divided by 9, the
remainder is 3. What is the smallest possible value of this integer? (2008 State Sprint)
• Find the least n such that n ≡ 0 (mod 8), n ≡ 1 (mod 9), n ≡ 2 (mod 10). (AoPS)
• Find the least positive four-digit solution to the following system of congruences.

7x ≡ 21 (mod 14)

2x + 13 ≡ 16 (mod 9)
−2x + 1 ≡ x (mod 25)
(FTW)
• Let 1; 4; . . . and 9; 16; . . . be two arithmetic progressions. The set S is the union of the first 2004 terms
of each sequence. How many distinct numbers are in S? (2004 AMC 10B)
• What is the largest integer less than 2010 that has a remainder of 5 when divided by 7, a remainder of
10 when divided by 11, and a remainder of 10 when divided by 13? (2010 State Team)
• For each positive integer n, an = 9n + 2 and bn = 7n + 3. If the values common to both sequences are
written as a sequence, the nth term of that sequence can be expressed as pn + q. What is the value of
p − q? (2016 State Team)

4.4 Powers

• What is the remainder when 1112 is divided by 13? (2014 State Sprint)
• How many zeroes occur at the end of the number 19996 + 6 · 1999 + 5? (Mandelbrot)
• What is the greatest power of 2 that is a factor of 101002 − 4501 ? (2014 AMC 10B)
• Two random integers a and b are independently chosen, with replacement, from 1 to 1000 inclusive.
What is the probability that both 2a + 2b and 3a + 3b are multiples of 5? Express your answer as a
common fraction. (2014 National Sprint)
• What is the remainder when 20142014 is divided by 100?
• When the expression (21 )(22 ) . . . (299 )(2100 ) is written as an integer, what is the product of the tens
digit and the ones digit? (2007 State Target)

4.5 Legendre’s Thing

76
4.6 Mods Problem Solving

• For each positive integer n, an = 9n + 2 and bn = 7n + 3. If the values common to both sequences are
written as a sequence, the nth term of that sequence can be expressed as pn + q. What is the value of
p − q? (2016 State Team)
• What is the remainder when the sum of the squares of the first 2016 positive integers is divided by 17?
(2016 National Sprint)
• If 738 consecutive integers are added together, where the 178th number in the sequences is 4,256,815,
what is the remainder when this sum is divided by 6? (2016 State Sprint)
• In year N , the 300th day of the year is a Tuesday. In year N + 1, the 200th day is also a Tuesday. On
what day of the week did the 100th day of year N − 1 occur? (2000 AMC 10)
• The War of 1812 started with a declaration of war on Thursday, June 18, 1812. The peace treaty to
end the war was signed 919 days later, on December 24, 1814. On what day of the week was the treaty
signed? (2016 AMC 12B)
• Find the remainder when 9 × 99 × 999 × · · · × 99 · · · 9} is divided by 1000. (2010 AIME I)
| {z
999 9’s

• Among the integers 1, 2, . . . , 1997, what is the maximum number of integers that can be selected such
that the sum of any two selected numbers is not a multiple of 7? (1997 PMWC)
• Six distinct positive integers are randomly chosen between 1 and 2006, inclusive. What is the probability
that some pair of these integers has a difference that is a multiple of 5? (2006 AMC 10A)
• For how many primes p is 2p + p2 also prime? (2009 VHHS)
• A palindrome between 1000 and 10, 000 is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is divisible
by 7? (2010 AMC 10B)
• Positive integers a, b, and c are randomly and independently selected with replacement from the set
{1, 2, 3, . . . , 2010}. What is the probability that abc + ab + a is divisible by 3? (2010 AMC 10B)
• M and N are positive integers such that 10N mod 7 ≡ 10M mod 11. What is the least possible value
for M + N ? (AoPS)
• The Fibonacci sequence is the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, . . . where each term is the sum of the previous two
terms. What is the remainder when the 100th term of the sequence is divided by 4? (2005 State Sprint)
• Seven students count from 1 to 1000 as follows:
– Alice says all the numbers, except she skips the middle number in each consecutive group of three
numbers. That is, Alice says 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, . . . , 997, 999, 1000.
– 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? (AMC 2011 10A)
• (1967 AHSME) For every odd number p > 1 we have:

77
 1 1
(A) (p − 1) 2 (p−1) − 1 is divisible by p − 2 (B) (p − 1) 2 (p−1) + 1 is divisible by p
1 1
(p−1)
(C) (p − 1) 2 is divisible by p (D) (p − 1) 2 (p−1) + 1 is divisible by p + 1
1
(E) (p − 1) 2 (p−1) − 1 is divisible by p − 1
• (1999 AHSME) There are unique integers a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 , a6 , a7 such that

5 a2 a3 a4 a5 a6 a7
= + + + + +
7 2! 3! 4! 5! 6! 7!
where 0 ≤ ai < i for i = 2, 3, . . . , 7. Find a2 + a3 + a4 + a5 + a6 + a7 .

4.7 Euclidean Algorithm

• Compute gcd(2002+2, 20022 + 2, 20023 + 2, . . . ). (2002 HMMT)

• How many pairs of positive integers (a, b) are there such that gcd(a, b) = 1 and

a 14b
+
b 9a
is an integer? (2007 AMC 12B)
• Show that consecutive positive integers are always relatively prime. (Classic)
21n+4
• Prove that 14n+3 is irreducible for every natural number n. (IMO 1959)
• Prove that if a and b are relatively prime positive integers, then ab and a + b are relatively prime.
• The numbers in the sequence 101, 104, 109, 116, . . . are of the form an = 100 + n2 where n = 1, 2, 3, . . ..
For each n let dn be the greatest common divisor of an and an+1 . Find the maximum value of dn as n
ranges over the positive integers. (1985 AIME)
• Compute the greatest common divisor of A = 3300 − 1 and B = 3200 + 5. (MWMT)
• When does the inverse of x mod p exist? If it exists, how can it be found? (Classic)
n2 +4
• For how many integers n ∈ {1, 2, . . . , 2003} is the improper fraction n+5 not in simplest form? (AoPS)
• Prove that any two consecutive Fibonacci numbers Fn and Fn+1 are relatively prime.
• Two farmers agree that pigs are worth 300 dollars and that goats are worth 210 dollars. When one
farmer owes the other money, he pays the debt in pigs or goats, with ”change” received in the form of
goats or pigs as necessary. (For example, a 390 dollar debt could be paid with two pigs, with one goat
received in change.) What is the amount of the smallest positive debt that can be resolved in this way?
(2006 AMC 12A)
x2 +2x+5
• What is the greatest integer value of x such that x−3 is an integer? (2002 National Sprint)

4.8 Prime Factorization

200


• What is the largest 2-digit prime factor of the integer n = 100 ? (1983 AIME)
a1 !a2 !...am !
• The number 2013 is expressed in the form 2013 = where a1 ≥ a2 ≥ · · · ≥ am and b1 ≥ b2 ≥
b1 !b2 !...bn ! ,
· · · ≥ bn are positive integers and a1 + b1 is as small as possible. What is |a1 − b1 |? (2013 AMC 10B)
2014!
• What is the largest k such that 2014k
is an integer? (2014 Grissom Comprehensive)
• The letters A, B, C, D, E, and F represent digits and ABC, DEF represents a positive six-digit
integer. What is the number ABC, DEF if 4(ABC, DEF ) = 3(DEF, ABC)? (2009 National Sprint)
• What is the largest five-digit integer such that the product of the digits is 2,520? (2012 State Sprint)

78
 • A teenager is someone who is 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, or 19 years old. The product of the ages of a
particular group of teenagers is 705,600. What is the mean of their ages? Express your answer as a
decimal to the nearest tenth. (2007 State Target)
• How many ordered triples (x, y, z) of positive integers satisfy lcm(x, y) = 72, lcm(x, z) = 600 and
lcm(y, z) = 900? (2016 AMC 12A)
• What is the greatest prime factor of 12! + 14! ? (2002 National Sprint)
• For how many values of k is 1212 the least common multiple of 66 , 88 , and k? (1998 AIME)
• Find the least positive integer n such that no matter how 10n is expressed as the product of any two
positive integers, at least one of these two integers contains the digit 0. (2000 AIME I)
• Derek’s phone number, 336 − 7624, has the property that the three-digit prefix, 336, equals the product
of the last four digits, 7 × 6 × 2 × 4. How many seven digit phone numbers beginning with 336 have
this property? (2006 State Sprint)
• In how many ways can 36 be written as the product a × b × c × d, where a, b, c, and d are positive
integers such that a ≤ b ≤ c ≤ d? (2007 State Target)
• Call a 3-digit number geometric if it has 3 distinct digits which, when read from left to right, form a
geometric sequence. Find the difference between the largest and smallest geometric numbers. (2009
AIME I)
• Three clever monkeys divide a pile of bananas. The first monkey takes some bananas from the pile,
keeps three-fourths of them, and divides the rest equally between the other two. The second monkey
takes some bananas from the pile, keeps one-fourth of them, and divides the rest equally between the
other two. The third monkey takes the remaining bananas from the pile, keeps one-twelfth of them,
and divides the rest equally between the other two. Given that each monkey receives a whole number
of bananas whenever the bananas are divided, and the numbers of bananas the first, second, and third
monkeys have at the end of the process are in the ratio 3 : 2 : 1, what is the least possible total for the
number of bananas? (2004 AIME II)

4.9 Factor Tricks

• The number 21! = 51, 090, 942, 171, 709, 440, 000 has over 60,000 positive integer divisors. One of them
is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is odd? (2017 AMC 12B)
• How many positive whole-number divisors does 196 have? (2009 Chapter Sprint)
• How many positive integers less than or equal to 2000 have an odd number of factors? (2012 Chapter
Target)
• If n has 60 positive factors, compute the largest number of positive factors that n2 could have. (2008
ARML Team)
• What is the smallest positive integer with six positive odd integer divisors and twelve positive even
integer divisors? (2000 AIME II)
• Let m/n, in lowest terms, be the probability that a randomly chosen positive divisor of 1099 is an
integer multiple of 1088 . Find m + n. (1988 AIME)
• Let n be the smallest positive integer that is a multiple of 75 and has exactly 75 positive integral
divisors, including 1 and itself. Find n/75. (1990 AIME)
• Let A = the sum of the positive factors of 2009 and B = the product of the positive factors of 2009.
If Ax2 + Bx + C = 0 has one solution, find C, if A, B, and C are relatively prime and A is positive.
(2009 VHHS)
• Find the sum of the reciprocals of the positive divisors of 496. (2007 VHHS)

79
• A positive integer n is ”nice” if there is a positive integer m with exactly four positive divisors (in-
cluding 1 and m) such that the sum of the four divisors is equal to n. How many numbers in the set
{2010, 2011, 2012, . . . , 2019} are nice? (2013 AMC 10B)
• What is the sum of the three numbers less than 1000 that have exactly five positive integer divisors?
(2000 National Sprint)
• For some positive integer n, the number 110n3 has 110 positive integer divisors, including 1 and the
number 110n3 . How many positive integer divisors does the number 81n4 have? (2016 AMC 12A)
• For each positive integer k, let Sk denote the increasing arithmetic sequence of integers whose first term
is 1 and whose common difference is k. For example, S3 is the sequence 1, 4, 7, 10, . . . . For how many
value of k does Sk contain the term 2005? (2005 AIME I)
• How many positive integers have exactly three proper divisors (positive integral divisors excluding
itself), each of which is less than 50? (2005 AIME I)
• Find the number of positive integers that are divisors of at least one of 1010 , 157 , 1811 . (2005 AIME
II)
• Emma plays with her square unit tiles by arranging all of them into different shaped rectangular figures.
(For example, a 5 by 7 rectangle would use 35 tiles and would be considered the same rectangle as a 7
by 5 rectangle). Emma can form exactly ten different such rectangular figures that each use all of her
tiles. What is the least number of tiles Emma could have? (2006 State Team)
• The first term of an arithmetic sequence is 1, another term of the sequence is 91 and all of the terms of
the sequence are integers. How many distinct arithmetic sequences meet these three conditions? (2008
State Sprint)
• The integer 12 has five one-digit factors, 20 has four one-digit factors, and together 12 and 20 have nine
one-digit factors (some of which are repeats.) What is the total number of one-digit factors for all of
the integers from 1 to 100, inclusive? (2010 State Target)
• In base 10, the number 2013 ends in the digit 3. In base 9, on the other hand, the same number is written
as (2676)9 and ends in the digit 6. For how many positive integers b does the base-b-representation of
2013 end in the digit 3? (2013 AMC 10A)
• When all of the factors of 90 are multiplied together, the product can be expressed as 90k . What is the
value of k? (2011 National Target)
• The product of all the positive factors of 63 can be written in the form 6M , for some positive integer
M . What is the value of M ? (2010 National Target)
• A lattice point is a point in the plane with integer coordinates. How many lattice points are on the
line segment whose endpoints are (3, 17) and (48, 281)? (Include both endpoints of the segment in your
count.) (1989 AHSME)
• (1991 AHSME) If x is the cube of a positive integer and d is the number of positive integers that are
divisors of x, then d could be
(A) 200 (B) 201 (C) 202 (D) 203 (E) 204
• Cindy wishes to arrange her coins into X piles, each consisting of the same number of coins, Y . Each
pile will have more than one coin and no pile will have all the coins. If there are 13 possible values
for Y given all of the restrictions, what is the smallest number of coins she could have? (2009 State
Target)
• Given that n > 1, what is the smallest positive integer n whose divisors have a product of n6 ? (2009
National Target)
• Compute the smallest positive integer n such that 214 · n and 2014 · n have the same number of divisors.
(2014 ARML Individual)

80
 √
• Find the smallest integer n such that 200n is a perfect cube. (2016 ZIML)
• The product of all distinct positive divisors of 604 can be expressed as 60K for some K. Find K. (2016
ZIML)
• Compute the smallest positive integer with exactly 26 composite divisors, i.e., factors other than 1 or
a prime number. (2007 ARML Individual)

4.10 Base arithmetic

• In base b, 441b is equal to n2 in base 10, and 351b is equal to (n − 2)2 in base 10. What is the value of
b, expressed in base 10? (2014 National Sprint)
• In base 5, what is the value of 2710 × 3145 ? (2014 State Sprint)
• Hexadecimal (base-16) numbers are written using numeric digits 0 through 9 as well as the letters
A through F to represent 10 through 15. Among the first 1000 positive integers, there are n whose
hexadecimal representation contains only numeric digits. What is the sum of the digits of n? (2015
AMC 10A)
• Mady has an infinite number of balls and empty boxes available to her. The empty boxes, each capable
of holding four balls, are arranged in a row from left to right. At the first step, she places a ball in the
first box of the row. At each subsequent step, she places a ball in the first box of the row that still has
room for a ball and empties any previous boxes. How many balls in total are in the boxes as a result
of Mady’s 2010th step? (2010 National Sprint)
• In the base-three number system, a = 20123 and b = 2013 . What is the product ab expressed in the
base-three number system? (2009 National Target)
• The base-10 numbers 217 and 45 are multiplied. The product is then written in base-6. What is the
units digit of the base-6 representation? (2001 Nats Sprint)
• The base 9 representation of a positive integer is AB and its base 7 representation is BA. What is the
integer expressed in base 10? (2010 State Sprint)

4.11 Division Algorithm

• For natural numbers, when P is divided by D, the quotient is Q and the remainder is R. When Q
is divided by D0 , the quotient is Q0 and the remainder is R0 . Then what is the remainder when P is
divided by DD0 ? (1967 AHSME)
• (1969 AHSME) When the natural numbers P and P 0 , with P > P 0 , are divided by the natural number
D, the remainders are R and R0 , respectively. When P P 0 and RR0 are divided by D, the remainders
are r and r0 , respectively. Then:
(A) r > r0 always (B) r < r0 always
(C) r > r0 sometimes and r < r0 sometimes
(D) r > r0 sometimes and r = r0 sometimes
(E) r = r0 always

4.12 NT Factoring

• What is the largest number by which the expression n3 − n is divisible for all possible integral values
of n? (1951 AHSME)

81
 • A six place number is formed by repeating a three place number; for example, 256256 or 678678, etc.
Any number of this form is always exactly divisible by n. What is the largest possible value of n? (1951
AHSME)

5 Altering perspective?
• Three runners start running simultaneously from the same point on a 500-meter circular track. They
each run clockwise around the course maintaining constant speeds of 4.4, 4.8, and 5.0 meters per second.
The runners stop once they are all together again somewhere on the circular course. How many seconds
do the runners run? (2012 AMC 10A)

6 AMC Uncategorized
• A league with 12 teams holds a round-robin tournament, with each team playing every other team
exactly once. Games either end with one team victorious or else end in a draw. A team scores 2 points
for every game it wins and 1 point for every game it draws. Which of the following is NOT a true
statement about the list of 12 scores? (2015 AMC 12A)
(A) There must be an even number of odd scores.
(B) There must be an even number of even scores.
(C) There cannot be two scores of 0.
(D) The sum of the scores must be at least 100.
(E) The highest score must be at least 12.
• What is the minimum number of digits to the right of the decimal point needed to express the fraction
123456789
226 ·54 as a decimal? (2015 AMC 12A)
• Rectangle ABCD has AB = 6 and BC = 3. Point M is chosen on side AB so that 6 AM D = 6 CM D.
What is the degree measure of 6 AM D? (2011 AMC 12B)
a3 −b3 73
• Let a and b be relatively prime integers with a > b > 0 and (a−b)3 = 3 . What is a − b? (2012 AMC
10A)
(A) 1 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5
• A 3 × 3 square is partitioned into 9 unit squares. Each unit square is painted either white or black with
each color being equally likely, chosen independently and at random. The square is then rotated 90 ◦
clockwise about its center, and every white square in a position formerly occupied by a black square is
painted black. The colors of all other squares are left unchanged. What is the probability the grid is
now entirely black? (2012 AMC 10A)
• Jesse cuts a circular paper disk of radius 12 along two radii to form two sectors, the smaller having a
central angle of 120 degrees. He makes two circular cones, using each sector to form the lateral surface
of a cone. What is the ratio of the volume of the smaller cone to that of the larger? (2012 AMC 10B)
• A group of 12 pirates agree to divide a treasure chest of gold coins among themselves as follows. The
k th pirate to take a share takes 12
k
of the coins that remain in the chest. The number of coins initially in
the chest is the smallest number for which this arrangement will allow each pirate to receive a positive
whole number of coins. How many coins does the 12th pirate receive? (2013 AMC 10A)
• Let a, b, and c be digits with a 6= 0. The three-digit integer abc lies one third of the way from the
square of a positive integer to the square of the next larger integer. The integer acb lies two thirds of
the way between the same two squares. What is a + b + c? (2007 AMC 12B)
• The geometric series a + ar + ar2 . . . has a sum of 7, and the terms involving odd powers of r have a
sum of 3. What is a + r? (2007 AMC 12B)

82
6.1 Anshul 2/8

– A pyramid has a square base with side of length 1 and has lateral faces that are equilateral
triangles. A cube is placed within the pyramid so that one face is on the base of the pyramid and
its opposite face has all its edges on the lateral faces of the pyramid. What is the volume of this
cube? (2011 AMC 12B)
– How many points (a, b) satisfy both a2 + b2 = 25 and the area of the triangle with vertices (−5, 0),
(5, 0) and (a, b) is 10? (2002 National Sprint)
– In triangle ABC, AB = 2011 AC. The angle bisector of A intersects BC at point D, and point M
6
is the midpoint of AD. Let P be the point of the intersection of AC and BM . The ratio of CP to
P A can be expressed in the form mn , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find
m + n. (2011 AIME II)
– Triangle ABC has a right angle at B, AB = 1, and BC = 2. The bisector of 6 BAC meets BC at
D. What is BD?
A

B D C

– A triangle with side lengths in the ratio 3 : 4 : 5 is inscribed in a circle with radius 3. What is the
area of the triangle? (2007 AMC 12A)
– The four faces of a fair tetrahedral die are numbered one, two, three and four. Each time the die
is rolled, three numbers are visible. If the die is rolled three times, what is the probability that the
sum of all nine of the numbers showing is 21? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011
National Target)
– How many of the divisors of 8! are larger than 7! ? (2002 National Sprint)
– Jerry starts at 0 on the real number line. He tosses a fair coin 8 times. When he gets heads,
he moves 1 unit in the positive direction; when he gets tails, he moves 1 unit in the negative
direction. The probability that he reaches 4 at some time during this process ab , where a and b
are relatively prime positive integers. What is a + b? (For example, he succeeds if his sequence of
tosses is HT HHHHHH.) (2016 AMC 12A)
– (2005 AMC 10A) How many three-digit numbers satisfy the property that the middle digit is the
average of the first and last digits?

6.1.1 Speeeeed

– What is the product of the two smallest prime factors of 21024 − 1? (2006 National Sprint)
– Both x and y are positive real numbers, and the point (x, y) lies on or above both of the lines
having equations 2x + 5y = 10 and 3x + 4y = 12. What is the least possible value of 8x + 13y?
(2006 National Sprint)
– Seema measures the area of a square in square feet while Katy measures the same square’s perimeter
in inches. Amazingly, they get the same numerical answer; x square feet and x inches, respectively.
How many feet are in the side length of this square? (2006 National Sprint)
– When the single digit D is written at the end of the positive two-digit integer XY , with tens digit
X and ones digit Y , the resulting positive three-digit integer XY D is 619 more than the original
integer XY . What is the value of the three digit integer XY D? (2006 National Sprint)

83
– Traveling in the direction of Howgarts at a constant speed for the entire trip, Larry was one-eight
of the way to Howgarts at 5:00 a.m. At 8:00 a.m. on the same day he was three-fourths of the way
to Howgarts. Knowing Larry’s starting location and Howgarts are in the same time zone, what
time did Larry arrive at Howgarts? (2006 National Sprint)
– If 2x − 9y = 14 and 6x = 42 + y, what is the value of the product xy? (2005 National Sprint)
– The mean of five distinct positive integers is 8, and the median of the five integers is 8, too. What
is the greatest possible value of the largest integer? (2005 National Sprint)
– Jan is thinking of a positive integer. Her integer has exactly 16 positive factors, two of which are
12 and 15. What is Jan’s number? (2005 National Sprint)
– Let (a × b × c) ÷ (a + b + c) = 341 be an equation where a, b, and c are consecutive positive integers.
What is the value of a? (2005 National Sprint)
– How many triangles are in the figure? (2004 National Sprint)

13
– Suppose a and b are positive integers and a
4 + 3b = 12 . What is the value of a2 + b2 ? (2004 National
Sprint)
x
– The side lengths of a triangle are 15 units, 47 units, and 2 units. How many integer values of x
are possible? (2004 National Sprint)
– How many distinct, non-equilateral triangles with a perimeter of 60 units have integer side lengths
a, b, and c such that a, b, c is an arithmetic sequence. (2004 National Sprint)
– What is the sum of the seven smallest distinct positive integer multiples of 9? (2003 National
Sprint)
– A triangle has vertices at (−3, 2), (6, −2), and (3, 5). How many square units are in the area of
the triangle? Express your answer as a decimal to the nearest tenth. (2003 National Sprint)
– For what value of a is there a right triangle with sides a + 1, 6a, and 6a + 1? (2003 National
Sprint)
20
– What is the sum of all integer values of n such that 2n−1 is an integer? (2003 National Sprint)
– Pipe A will fill a tank in 6 hours. Pipe B will fill the same tank in 4 hours. Pipe C will fill the
tank in the same number of hours that it will take Pipes A and B working together to fill the
tank. What fraction of the tank will be filled if all three of the pipes work together for one hour?
Express your answer as a common fraction. (2003 National Sprint)
– Let 2x + 3y = 72. How many ordered pairs (x, y), where x and y are whole numbers, will satisfy
the equation? (2002 National Sprint)
– Three consecutive positive odd integers a, b and c satisfy b2 − a2 = 344 and c2 − b2 > 0. What is
the value of c2 − b2 ? (2002 National Sprint)
– What is the greatest prime factor of 12! + 14! ? (2002 National Sprint)

84
6.1.2 Speed Week 2

– Tom’s graduating class has 288 students. At the graduation ceremony, the students will sit in
rows with the same number of students in each row. If there must be at least 10 rows and at least
15 students in each row, then there can be x students in each row. What is the sum of all possible
values of x? (2007 National Sprint)
– Of the 10,000 participants in the Cooper Run/Walk, 42% were runners and one-third of the runners
were female. Sally, a female runner, finished faster than exactly 90% of the female runners. What
is the greatest number of female runners who could have finished faster than Sally? (2007 National
Sprint)

6.2 March 7 Q’s

– In the overlapping triangles 4ABC and 4ABE sharing common side AB, 6 EAB and 6 ABC are
right angles, AB = 4, BC = 6, AE = 8, and AC and BE intersect at D. What is the difference
between the areas of 4ADE and 4BDC? (2004 AMC 12A)
E

8 D
6

A 4 B
– In square units, what is the largest possible area a rectangle inscribed in a 10-17-21 triangle can
have? (2013 State Sprint)
– Triangle ABC has a right angle at B, AB = 1, and BC = 2. The bisector of 6 BAC meets BC at
D. What is BD?
A

B D C

– In 4ABC, AB = 6, BC = 7, and CA = 8. Point D lies on BC, and AD bisects 6 BAC. Point E

lies on AC, and BE bisects 6 ABC. The bisectors intersect at F . What is the ratio AF : F D?
(2016 AMC 12A)

85
 C

E D
F

A B
– A semicircle and a circle are placed inside a square with sides of length 4 cm, as shown. The circle
is tangent to two adjacent sides of the square and to the semicircle. The diameter of the semicircle
is a side of the square. In centimeters, what is the radius of the circle? Express your answer as a
decimal to the nearest hundredth. (2012 State Target)

– A circle of radius 1 is internally tangent to two circles of radius 2 at points A and B, where AB
is a diameter of the smaller circle. What is the area of the region, shaded in the picture, that is
outside the smaller circle and inside each of the two larger circles? (2004 AMC 10B)

2
A
1

B
2

– In the circle with center Q, radii AQ and BQ form a right angle. The two regions are tangent
semicircles, as shown. The radius of the circle with center Q is 14 inches. What is the radius of
the smaller semicircle? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2008 National Sprint)

86
 A Q

B
– In triangle ABC, AB = 2011 AC. The angle bisector of A intersects BC at point D, and point M
6
is the midpoint of AD. Let P be the point of the intersection of AC and BM . The ratio of CP to
P A can be expressed in the form mn , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find
m + n. (2011 AIME II)
– In 4ABC, points D and E lie on BC and AC, respectively. If AD and BE intersect at T so that
AT /DT = 3 and BT /ET = 4, what is CD/BD? (2004 AMC 10B)
B

D
T

A E C
– A piece of cheese is located at (12, 10) in a coordinate plane. A mouse is at (4, −2) and is running
up the line y = −5x + 18. At the point (a, b) the mouse starts getting farther from the cheese
rather than closer to it. What is a + b? (2007 AMC 12A)
– Let A = (0, 9) and B = (0, 12). Points A0 and B 0 are on the line y = x and AA0 and BB 0 intersect
at C = (2, 8). What is the length of A0 B 0 ? (2004 AMC 12A)
– Logan is constructing a scaled model of his town. The city’s water tower stands 40 meters high,
and the top portion is a sphere that holds 100,000 liters of water. Logan’s miniature water tower
holds 0.1 liters. How tall, in meters, should Logan make his tower? (2010 AMC 12A)
– A pyramid has a square base with side of length 1 and has lateral faces that are equilateral
triangles. A cube is placed within the pyramid so that one face is on the base of the pyramid and
its opposite face has all its edges on the lateral faces of the pyramid. What is the volume of this
cube? (2011 AMC 12B)

6.3 Pi day Problems!

– Ellen has five different jobs to be done. She assigns all five jobs to her four kids. Each kid will
have at least one job. How many ways can Ellen assign the jobs? (2000 National Sprint)
– What is the sum of the three numbers less than 1000 that have exactly five positive integer divisors?
(2000 National Sprint)

87
– The radius of the inscribed circle is 6 cm. What is the number of centimeters in the length of AB?
Express your answer in simplest radical form. (2001 National Sprint)
– The lengths of the perpendiculars drawn to the sides of a regular hexagon from an interior point
are 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, and 12 centimeters. What is the number of centimeters in the length of a side
of this hexagon? Express your answer as a common fraction in simplest radical form. (2001 Nats
Sprint)
– The base-10 numbers 217 and 45 are multiplied. The product is then written in base-6. What is
the units digit of the base-6 representation? (2001 Nats Sprint)
– Juan, Carlos, and Manu take turns flipping a coin in their respective order. The first to flip heads
wins. What is the probability that Manu will win? Express your answer as a common fraction.
(2002 Nats Sprint)
– If −5 ≤ a ≤ −1 and 1 ≤ b ≤ 3, what is the least possible value of a1 + 1b a1 − 1b ? Express your

answer as a common fraction. (2007 National Target)

– There is a prime number p such that 16p + 1 is the cube of a positive integer. Find p. (2015 AIME
I)
– Find x2 + y 2 if x and y are positive integers such that

xy + x + y = 71
x2 y + xy 2 = 880

– If a + b = 1 and a2 + b2 = 2, what is the value of a3 + b3 ? Express your answer as a common

fraction. (2001 Nats Sprint)
x2 +2x+5
– What is the greatest integer value of x such that x−3 is an integer? (2002 Nats Sprint)
– In the following equation, what is the sum of positive integers a and b? (2001 Nats Sprint)
7 1
= 1
22 a+ b

– The parabolas y = ax2 − 2 and y = 4 − bx2 intersect the coordinate axes in exactly four points,
and these four points are the vertices of a kite of area 12. What is a + b? (2015 AMC 12A)
2 1
– In how many different ways can 15 be represented as a + 1b , if a and b are positive integers with
a ≥ b? (2005 State Team)
– The four faces of a fair tetrahedral die are numbered one, two, three and four. Each time the die
is rolled, three numbers are visible. If the die is rolled three times, what is the probability that the
sum of all nine of the numbers showing is 21? Express your answer as a common fraction. (2011
National Target)
– Jerry starts at 0 on the real number line. He tosses a fair coin 8 times. When he gets heads,
he moves 1 unit in the positive direction; when he gets tails, he moves 1 unit in the negative
direction. The probability that he reaches 4 at some time during this process ab , where a and b
are relatively prime positive integers. What is a + b? (For example, he succeeds if his sequence of
tosses is HT HHHHHH.) (2016 AMC 12A)
1
– If a + b = 7 and a3 + b3 = 42, what is the value of the sum a + 1b ? Express your answer as a
common fraction. (2004 Nats Sprint)
– Three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy a · b · c = 8! and a < b < c. What is the smallest possible
value of c − a? (2004 Nats Sprint)

88
– Begin with the 200-digit number 987654321098765 . . . 543210 which repeats the digits 0-9 in reverse
order. From the left, choose every third digit to form a new number. Repeat the same process
with the new number. Continue the process repeatedly until the result is a two-digit number.
What is the resulting two-digit number? (2000 Nats Target)
2
– What is the sum of all real numbers x such that (x2 − 5x + 5)(x −7x+12)
= 1? (2000 Nats Target)
– The surface area of sphere A is 96% more than the surface area of sphere B. The volume of sphere
A is r% more than the volume of sphere B. What is the value of r? Express your answer to the
nearest whole number. (2001 Nats Target)
– The number m is a three-digit positive integer and is the product of the three distinct prime
factors x, y, and 10x + y, where x and y are each less than 10. What is the largest possible value
of m?
– The rules for a race require that all runners start at A, touch any part of the 1200-meter wall,
and stop at B. What is the number of meters in the minimum distance a participant must run?
Express your answer to the nearest meter. (2001 Nats Team)

– Point P lies on the line x = −3 and is 10 units from the point (5, 2). Find the product of all
possible y-coordinates that satisfy the given conditions. (2001 Nats Team)
√ √ √
– The numbers 2u − 1, 2u + 1, and 2 u are the side lengths of a triangle. How many degrees
are in the measure of the largest angle? (2001 Nats Team)
– A circle centered at (u, v) passes through the points (−2, 0), (0, 2), and (8, 0). What are the
coordinates of the center of the circle? Express your answer as a coordinate pair. (2002 Nats
Team)
– The 9-digit number abb, aba, ba3 is a multiple of 99 for some pair of digits a and b. What is b − a?
(2002 Nats Team)
– The sum of a list of positive integers is 20. What is the maximum possible product of the integers
in this list? (2002 Nats Target)
– What is the number of square units in the region satisfying |x| + |y| ≤ 9 and −5 ≤ x ≤ 4? (2002
Nats Target)
– A and B are positive integers such that A3 + B 2 = 1500. What is the value of the sum A + B?
(2003 Nats Target)

89