Gator Mathematics Competition 2013

Mitchell Harris
Salim Hyder
Sitharthan Sekar
Endrit Fejzullahu
Jon Claus
Dominic Guzzo
Kurtis Lee
Sergei Shabanov
Mike Goodman
Eli Ross
January 26, 2013
1
Contents
1 Individual Test 3
2 Individual Solutions 5
3 Mathathon 8
4 Mathathon Solutions 11
5 Relay 18
6 Relay Solutions 21
7 Tiebreaker 23
8 Tiebreaker Solutions 24
2
1 Individual Test
Individual Round One GaMaCo 2013
1. Compute the area of the triangle with vertices at the coordinates (1337, 1337), (1337, 1344), and
(1349, 1337).
2. Three points are selected randomly (and uniformly) along the circumference of a circle with radius 1.
Compute the probability that they are the vertices of an acute triangle.
Individual Round Two GaMaCo 2013
3. Circle O (with positive area) has diameter AB, and C lies on O. Compute the maximum possible
ratio of the area of ABC to the area of circle O.
4. Compute the numerical value of
V
x
3
for some nonzero V in the system of equations:
y + 2z = yz
x + 2z = xz
2x + 2y = xy
xyz = V
Individual Round Three GaMaCo 2013
5. Compute the largest real x such that
x 3

x 3 =
1

x 3
.
6. The sum
7
12
+
9360
d
is an integer. Compute the smallest positive integral value for d.
3
Individual Round Four GaMaCo 2013
7. An ant is at the origin of a coordinate plane. The rst day, the ant decides to move 4 units in some
direction parallel to the x axis, chosen at random. The next day, the ant randomly chooses to turn right
or left and then walk 4 units in that direction (now moving parallel to the y axis). Every day, the ant
continues moving in this fashion turning left or right from the direction of the previous day and then
moving 4 units. The probability he returns to the origin at the end of the 16th day is
k
2
15
. Compute k.
8. A spy-aircraft is ying at constant altitude along a circle of radius 12 miles with center at a point A.
The speed of the aircraft is v. At some moment in time, a missile is red at the aircfraft from the point
A, which has speed v and is guided so that it always points towards the aircraft. How far does the missile
travel before colliding with the aircraft?
Individual Round Five GaMaCo 2013
9. Compute the minimum value of f(x) =

x
2
8x + 21.
10. Compute the sum of the solutions to the equation sin(x) + 8 cos
2
(x) sin(x) + 3

3 cos(x) = 0 on the
interval 0 < x < 2.
4
2 Individual Solutions
Individual Round One GaMaCo 2013
1. Compute the area of the triangle with vertices at the coordinates (1337, 1337), (1337, 1344), and
(1349, 1337).
Answer: 42
Solution: The triangle is right and has side lengths of 12 and 7. So A =
1
2
(12)(7) = 42.
2. Three points are selected randomly (and uniformly) along the circumference of a circle with radius 1.
Compute the probability that they are the vertices of an acute triangle.
Answer:
1
4
Solution: We calculate the complementary probability that the triangle is obtuse. Note that the
probability of a right triangle is zero. The triangle will be obtuse if and only if all three points lie on the
same side of some diameter. Let the random variable X
k
be associated with the point on the circle P
k
,
for k = 1, 2, 3, and dene it as 1 if the other two points are within clockwise from it and 0 otherwise.
We are looking for P(X
1
+X
2
+X
3
= 1) = E(X
1
+X
2
+X
3
) since at most one of these variables can be
1. Because the points are chosen uniformly, their probability distributions are identical. So the above
equals 3E(X
1
) =
3
4
because the probability that each of the other two points lie in the semicircle starting
at X
1
is
1
2

1
2
. Our desired probability is then 1
3
4
.
Individual Round Two GaMaCo 2013
3. Circle O (with positive area) has diameter AB, and C lies on O. Compute the maximum possible
ratio of the area of ABC to the area of circle O.
Answer:
1

Solution: Let the legs of the right triangle be p and q. Then

(p q)
2
0 p
2
+q
2
2pq
p
2
+q
2
4

pq
2

(p
2
+q
2
)/4
pq/2
1
(p
2
+q
2
)/4
pq/2
, where the left hand side of
the inequality is precisely the inverse of the ratio in question. So the answer is
1

.
4. Compute the numerical value of
V
x
3
for some nonzero V in the system of equations:
y + 2z = yz
x + 2z = xz
2x + 2y = xy
xyz = V
Answer:
1
2
Solution: Multiply each of the equations by x, y, and z respectively. Noting that xyz = V , the system is
5
transformed into
xy + 2xz = V
xy + 2yz = V
2xz + 2yz = V
xyz = V
Subtracting the rst two equations gives that either z = 0 (which is impossible if V is nonzero) or y = x.
Using the latter in the next two equations gives that x = 2z (since x = 0). By the last equation
(2z) (2z) z = V 4z
3
= V . But x = 2z, so
V
x
3
=
4z
3
8z
3
=
1
2
.
Individual Round Three GaMaCo 2013
5. Compute the largest real x such that
x 3

x 3 =
1

x 3
.
Answer: 4
Solution: Add and subtract 3 to the left hand side:
(x3)3

x 3+3 =
1

x3
(x3)
3
2
3(x3)
2
2
+3(x3)
1
2
1 = 0 ((x3)
1
2
1)
3
= 0 (x3) = 1.
Therefore x = 4 is the only real solution.
6. The sum
7
12
+
9360
d
is an integer. Compute the smallest positive integral value for d.
Answer: 1728
Solution: Write the second fraction as
cm
cn
where the greatest common divisor of m and n is 1. If
7
12
+
m
n
is to be some integer k, then 7n + 12m = 12nk 12m = 12nk 7n m = nk 7
n
12
. Therefore 12
divides n. We also have that 7n = 12nk 12m 7 = 12k 12
m
n
. But since m and n are relatively
prime, we have that n divides 12. So n = 12. Therefore our goal is to have that when the fraction is
reduced the denominator is 12. We need to nd the smallest c so that the numerator 9360 has no factors
of 12. Dividing 9360 by 12 two times shows that 9360 = 12
2
65. So c = 12
2
for the smallest value of d,
and d = 12
2
12 = 1728. We must check that this is indeed an integer, and it is because
7
12
+
65
12
=
72
12
= 6.
So d = 1728.
Individual Round Four GaMaCo 2013
7. An ant is at the origin of a coordinate plane. The rst day, the ant decides to move 4 units in some
direction parallel to the x axis, chosen at random. The next day, the ant randomly chooses to turn right
or left and then walk 4 units in that direction (now moving parallel to the y axis). Every day, the ant
continues moving in this fashion turning left or right from the direction of the previous day and then
moving 4 units. The probability he returns to the origin at the end of the 16th day is
k
2
15
. Compute k.
Answer: 2450
Solution: On odd days he moves in the East/West direction and on even days in the North/South
direction. The even days and odd days are independent of each other, and so for all the even days he
6
must move up as many times as he moves down (and similarly for the odd days). Therefore the
probability is
_
8
4
_
2

1
2
16
=
_
8765
4321
_
2

1
2
16
=
4900
2
16
=
2450
2
15
.
8. A spy-aircraft is ying at constant altitude along a circle of radius 12 miles with center at a point A.
The speed of the aircraft is v. At some moment in time, a missile is red at the aircfraft from the point
A, which has speed v and is guided so that its velocity vector always points towards the aircraft. How far
does the missile travel before colliding with the aircraft?
Answer: 6
Solution: Call the point B the point on the original circle at which the aircraft is positioned when the
missile is red. We claim that the path of the missile is a circle with radius 6 that has AB tangent to it.
Let P be some arbitrary point along the path of the aircraft. Call the intersection of PA with the new
circle be point M. Then PAB is half the measure of the arc MA. Since the missile and aircraft is the
same speed, they should each travel equal distances in equal times, so PB = AM. Since the measure of
PB is the measure of PAB, the radius of the smaller circle is half the radius of the larger. Hence the
missile travels half the circumference of the circle, or 6.
Individual Round Five GaMaCo 2013
9. Compute the minimum value of f(x) =

x
2
8x + 21.
Answer:

5
Solution: Note that completing the square inside the radical yields f(x) =
_
(x 4)
2
+ 5. Notice that
(x 4)
2
has a minimum value at x = 4, leaving 0. Hence, the minimum value of f(x) is

5.
10. Compute the sum of the solutions to the equation sin(x) + 8 cos
2
(x) sin(x) + 3

3 cos(x) = 0 on the
interval 0 < x < 2.
Answer:
7
3
Solution: Our motivation for the solutions comes from factoring the rst two terms and trying to write
the summation as (close to) symmetric with both sin
3
(x) and cos
3
(x) terms. Making use of the identity
sin
2
(x) + cos
2
(x) = 1 we see that
sin(x) + 8 cos
2
(x) sin(x) + 3

3 cos(x) = sin(x)(1 + 8 cos

2
(x)) + 3

3 cos(x)
= sin(x)((sin
2
(x) + cos
2
(x)) + 8 cos
2
(x)) + 3

3 cos(x) 1
= sin(x)(sin
2
(x) + 9 cos
2
(x)) + 3

3 cos(x)(cos
2
(x) + sin
2
(x))
= sin
3
(x) + 9 sin(x) cos
2
(x) + 3

3 cos
3
(x) + 3

3 sin
2
(x) cos(x)
= sin
3
(x) + 3

3 sin
2
(x) cos(x) + 9 sin(x) cos
2
(x) + 3

3 cos
3
(x)
= (sin(x) +

3 cos(x))
3
This is only zero when sin(x) +

3 cos(x) = 0 tan(x) =

3, which happens when x =

2
3
or
5
3
. The
sum is
7
3
.
7
3 Mathathon
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 1 2 pts each
1. What is the largest distance between any two points on a regular hexagon with a side length of one?
2. If z = 2 + 3i nd the magnitude of:
_
2z 1
z 3
_
+ 2
3
_
2z 1
z 3
_
1
3. For how many integers n 1 is
10
n
1
9
the square of an integer?
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 2 3 pts each
4. Two sides of a triangle have lengths 8 and 13. Given that the triangle is acute, how many integers may
be the length of the third side?
5. The sum of two positive integers is 2431. What is the greatest possible value of their greatest common
divisor?
6. Set S contains the rst n positive integers. When one element is removed, the average of the
remaining terms is 46
10
13
. What number was removed?
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 3 4 pts each
7. Megan is ipping 17 coins to decide whether she should bake cookies and bring puppies for her class.
If a majority of the coins are heads she will bake cookies and bring in puppies. The probability that she
bakes cookies and brings in puppies, given that at least one coin is heads, is
m
n
for relatively prime
positive integers m and n. What is log
4
(m+n)?
8. A vector in 3D space that in standard position in the rst octant makes an angle of

3
with the x axis
and

4
with the y axis. What angle does it make with the z axis?
9. Compute

2012
2
+ 2012
2
2013
2
+ 2013
2
2012
2
.
8
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 4 5 pts each
10. Let f(x) = x
3
+ 6x
2
+ 11x + 6, and S = {1, 2, 3, ..., 99, 100}. For how many s S is it true that f(s)
is divisible by 12?
11. Find a closed form for 1 + 11 + 111 + + 111 111
. .
n 1s
in terms of n (not using sigma notation).
12. Find the area of the region enclosed by the graph of |3x + 12| +|5y + 10| = 45.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 5 6 pts each
13. For how many real numbers a does the quadratic equation x
2
+ax + 5a = 0 have only integer roots?
14. Find the sum of the absolute values of the real roots of the equation x
4
4x 1 = 0.
15. Round log
2
_
32

k=0
_
32
k
_
3
k
5
k
_
to the nearest integer.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 6 8 pts each
16. Let P be a point inside a ball. Consider three mutually perpendicular planes through P. These
planes intersect the ball along three disks. If the radius of the ball is 2 and
1
2
is the distance between the
center of the ball and P, compute the sum of the areas of the three disks of intersection.
17. Let v be an n-dimensional vector such that the nth compononent, v
n
, is given by v
n
=

_
1
_
n + 1
n 1
_.
Compute the real number that the magnitude of v approaches as n grows without bound.
18. The numbers 1, 2, 3, ..., 2013 are written on a board. A student erases three numbers a, b, c and
instead writes the number
1
2
(a +b +c)
_
(a b)
2
+ (b c)
2
+ (c a)
2
_
She repeats this process until there is only one number left on the board. List all possible values of the
remainder when the last number is divided by 3.
9
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 7 9 pts each
19. Let x, y, z be positive real numbers such that x +y +z + 2 = xyz. Find the maximum value of
1

xy
+
1

yz
+
1

zx
20. Let f(n) be the sum of digits of the natural number n, e.g. f(35) = 3 + 5 = 8. Find f
_
f(f(555
55
))
_
21. The sequences {a
n
} and {b
n
} both satisfy the same recurrence relation,
a
k
= k
k
a
k1
+a
k2
,
and
b
k
= k
k
b
k1
+b
k2
.
The initial conditions are, however, a
1
= b
2
= 0 and a
2
= b
1
= 1. Compute a
2013
b
2012
a
2012
b
2013
.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 8 10 pts each
22. Let a be a vector in R
3
. Let , and be the angles that a forms with the x, y and z axis,
respectively. Find the minimum value of
1
sin
2

+
1
sin
2

+
1
sin
2

23. How many ordered triples of integers (a, b, c), where 1 a, b, c 10, are such that for every natural
number n, the equation (a +n)x
2
+ (b + 2n)x +c +n = 0 has at least one real root?
24. Compute 10
10

e. If the rst n digits of your answer are correct, your score for this question will
be
_
n(n + 1)
4
_
.
10
4 Mathathon Solutions
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 1 2 pts each
1. What is the largest distance between any two points on a regular hexagon with a side length of one?
Answer: 2
Solution: Note that the vertices of a regular hexagon all lie on the circumcircle of the hexagon. Then
the furthest distance from one vertex is to another point on the circle, or the opposite vertex. Since a
radius of the circle is the length of a side, the total distance is 2.
2. If z = 2 + 3i nd the magnitude of:
_
2z 1
z 3
_
+ 2
3
_
2z 1
z 3
_
1
Answer:
1

13
Solution: While the result can be computed directly it is interesting to consider the composition of
transformations of the complex plane. Writing these transformations as matrices and multiplying gives
_
1 2
3 1
_

_
2 1
1 3
_
=
1
7
_
0 1
1 0
_
, which is eectively the inversion f(z) =
1
z
. And
|
1
2+3i
| =
1
|2+3i|
=
1

13
.
3. For how many integers n 1 is
10
n
1
9
the square of an integer?
Answer: 1
Solution: Since
10
n
1
10 1
is the sum of a geometric series with rst term 1 and common ratio 10, the
numbers of this form are exactly the numbers 1, 11, 111, etc. Clearly 1 is a square (corresponding to
n = 1). But modulo 8, this sequence is 1, 3, 7, 7, 7, . . . , and it will remaind a constant of 7 because every
power of 10 that is added from then on is divisible by 8. On the other hand, the squares modulo 8 are 0,
1, and 4. So there are no other perfect squares mod 8, which means there are no other perfect squares in
the original sequence.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 2 3 pts each
4. Two sides of a triangle have lengths 8 and 13. Given that the triangle is acute, how many integers may
be the length of the third side?
Answer: 5
Solution: Let x be the length of the third side. By triangle inequality, 5 < x < 21. Because the triangle
is acute, the sum of the squares of any two sides must be greater than the square of the third side. So,
11
64 +x
2
> 169 x 11. Further, 64 + 169 > x
2
x 15. So, the integers 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 work,
for a total of 5 possible values.
5. The sum of two positive integers is 2431. What is the greatest possible value of their greatest common
divisor?
Answer: 221
Solution: Recall that by denition, the greatest common divisor divides both integers, and thus divides
their sum, 2431. Prime factorizing, 2431 = 11 13 17. It cannot be the case that the greatest common
divisor is 2431 itself, so it is the second largest factor of 2431 which is 17 13 = 221
6. Set S contains the rst n positive integers. When one element is removed, the average of the
remaining terms is 46
10
13
. What number was removed?
Answer: 22
Solution: We can create a range for the possible averages. The smallest possible average would be when
the largest term, n, is removed, in which case the average is
n
2
. The greatest possible average is when the
smallest term, 1, is removed, in which case the average is
n + 2
2
. So,
n
2
46
10
13

n + 2
2
, and multiplying
by two yields n 93
7
13
n + 2. We see that n must either be 92 or 93, and also that13 | n 1, so
n = 92. Thus, letting x be the number that was removed,
1
2
(92)(93) x
91
= 46
10
13
x = 22
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 3 4 pts each
7. Megan is ipping 17 coins to decide whether she should bake cookies and bring puppies for her class.
If a majority of the coins are heads she will bake cookies and bring in puppies. The probability that she
bakes cookies and brings in puppies, given that at least one coin is heads, is
m
n
for relatively prime
positive integers m and n. What is log
4
(m+n)?
Answer: 8
Solution: First nd the general formula for the case of n coins where n is odd. The number of dierent
combinations is 2
n
normally, however with the condition imposed it becomes 2
n
1 the number of
possiblities for heads to be a majority is 2
(
n 1) and the condition does not aect this. So the general
case is
2
n1
2
n
1
. Plugging in 17 gives
2
16
2
17
1
. This become log
4
2
16
+ 2
17
1 we can ignore the 1 and then
factor out a 2
16
giving us log
4
2
16
(1 + 2) which then becomes log
4
2
16
+ log
4
3. The rst part is equal to 8
and the second part is some positive number less than 1. Thus the nal answer is 8 .
8. A vector in 3D space that in standard position in the rst octant makes an angle of

3
with the x axis
and

4
with the y axis. What angle does it make with the z axis?
Answer:

3
12
Solution: Note that for an axis e
i
and a vector x, where
i
is the angle between them, then
cos(
i
) =
1
|x|
(0, 0, 0, . . . , 1, . . . 0) x. Summing the squares of these must give 1. So
cos
2
(

3
) + cos
2
(

4
) + cos
2
() = 1 =

3
.
9. Compute

2012
2
+ 2012
2
2013
2
+ 2013
2
2012
2
.
Answer: 2013
Solution: Set a = 2012 so the radicand is a
2
+a
2
(a + 1)
2
+ (a + 1)
2
= (a
2
+a + 1)
2
. So were looking
for 2012
2
2012
2
+ 2013 = 2013.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 4 5 pts each
10. Let f(x) = x
3
+ 6x
2
+ 11x + 6, and S = {1, 2, 3, ..., 99, 100}. For how many s S is it true that f(s)
is divisible by 12?
Answer: 75
Solution: Finding the zeros and factoring, we see f(x) = (x + 1)(x + 2)(x + 3). For a number to be
divisible by 12, it must be divisible by both 3 and 4. Because f(x) is the product of three consecutive
integers, it will always be divisible by 3. We also see that f(x) will always be divisible by 4 except when
4 | s. Hence, there are
3
4
(100) = 75 elements in the set that work.
11. Find a closed form for the sum 1 + 11 + 111 + + 111 111
. .
n 1s
in terms of n.
Answer:
1
81
(10
n+1
9n 10)
Solution: Note that 1 =
101
9
, 11 =
10
2
1
9
, etc. Therefore we are looking for
1
9
_
10 1 + 10
2
1 + 10
3
1 + + 10
n
1
_
=
1
9
_
10 + 10
2
+ 10
3
+ + 10
n
n
_
. The geometric
progression has sum 10
10
n
1
101
. So the nal sum is
1
81
(10
n+1
9n 10).
12. Find the area of the region enclosed by the graph of |3x + 12| +|5y + 10| = 45.
Answer: 270
Solution: By properties of the absolute value, we may write this as 3|x + 4| 5|y + 2| = 45. Now, lets
use a transformation u = x + 4, v = y + 2, so that the graph is now centered at the origin and symmetric
around all four quadrants. Then
u
15
+
v
9
= 1 is the area in the rst quadrant, and represents a right
triangle with legs of length 15 and 9. Thus, the total area of the graph is 4
_
1
2
_
_
15)(9) = 270 .
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 5 6 pts each
13. For how many real numbers a does the quadratic equation x
2
+ax + 5a = 0 have only integer roots?
Answer: 4
13
Solution: Let the roots of the quadratic be m andn. Then m+n = a, and mn = 5a. So,
mn + 5m+ 5n = 0. This is almost factorable; in fact, adding 25 to both sides makes it so.
(m+ 5)(n + 5) = 25. There are four pairs of factors of 25, (5, 5), and (1, 25). Each of these pairs
corresponds to a unique real value of a, and hence there are 4 such a
14. Find the sum of the absolute values of the real roots of the equation x
4
4x 1 = 0.
Answer:
_
4

2 2
Solution: Note that x
4
4x 1 = (x
2
+ 1)
2
2(x + 1)
2
= 0 x
2
+ 1 =

2(x + 1). Hence,

x =
1

21

2
. By Descartes rule of signs, these are the only two roots.
15. Round log
2
_
32

k=0
_
32
k
_
3
k
5
k
_
to the nearest integer.
Answer: 128
Solution: We can write the summation as
_
32
k
_
15
k
, which counts, for every value of k, the number of
ways to choose k balls out of our starting 32 balls in one bucket and place them into 15 other buckets.
Summing over all k counts the total number of ways to distribute the 32 balls among 16 buckets, which is
equal to 16
32
= 2
128
. (Note that this expression is also the expansion of (1 + 15)
32
).
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 6 8 pts each
16. Let P be a point inside a ball. Consider three mutually perpendicular planes through P. These
planes intersect the ball along three disks. If the radius of the ball is 2 and
1
2
is the distance between the
center of the ball and P, compute the sum of the areas of the three disks of intersection.
Answer:
47
4
Solution: Let d
1
, d
2
, d
3
be coordinates of P in some rectangular coordinate system with the origin at the
center of the ball and whose coordinates are parallel to the three mutually orthogonal planes through P.
Then d
2
= d
2
1
+d
2
2
+d
2
3
. Moreover, the radii of the disks of intersection are
_
R
2
d
2
1
,
_
R
2
d
2
2
, and
_
R
2
d
2
3
. Hence the sum of their areas are (2
2
d
2
1
+ 2
2
d
2
2
+ 2
2
d
2
3
) = (12
1
4
) =
47
4
.
Remark: The result does not depend on the choice of mutually perpendicular planes through P.
17. Let v be an n-dimensional vector such that the nth compononent, v
n
, is given by v
n
=

_
1
_
n + 1
n 1
_.
Compute the real number that the magnitude of v approaches as n grows without bound.
Answer:

2
Solution: Note that |v| =

n=1
1
_
n + 1
n 1
_. Also,
_
n + 1
n 1
_
=
n(n + 1)
2
, so

n=1
1
_
n + 1
n 1
_ =

n=1
2
n(n + 1)
.
Using partial fraction decomposition, we determine that the sum telescopes and converges to 2. Hence,
|v| =

2
14
18. The numbers 1, 2, 3, ..., 2013 are written on a board. A student erases three numbers a, b, c and
instead writes the number
1
2
(a +b +c)
_
(a b)
2
+ (b c)
2
+ (c a)
2
_
She repeats this process until there is only one number left on the board. List all possible values of the
remainder when the last number is divided by 3.
Answer: 0
Solution: Observe that
1
2
(a +b +c)
_
(a b)
2
+ (b c)
2
+ (c a)
2
_
= a
3
+b
3
+c
3
3abc a +b +c (mod 3)
So the sum of the numbers on the board is constant viewed modulo 3. The initial sum is
20132014
2
0
(mod 3), so the remaining number in the end must be divisible by 3.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 7 9 pts each
19. Let x, y, z be positive real numbers such that x +y +z + 2 = xyz. Find the maximum value of
1

xy
+
1

yz
+
1

zx
Answer:
3
2
Solution:
We will prove that
1

xy
+
1

yz
+
1

zx

3
2
. Observe that x +y +z + 2 = xyz
1
x+1
+
1
y+1
+
1
z+1
= 1.
Now substitute a =
1
x+1
, b =
1
y+1
and c =
1
z+1
, from where x =
1a
a
, y =
1b
b
and c =
1c
c
.
2
_
ab
(1 a)(1 b)
+

bc
(1 b)(1 c)
+
_
ca
(1 c)(1 a)
_
3
Since 1 a = b +c, 1 b = c +a and 1 c = a +b, by the AM GM inequality we have (2AB A
2
+B
2
)
2
_
ab
(b +c)(c +a)
+

bc
(c +a)(a +b)
+
_
ca
(a +b)(b +c)
_

cyc
a
c +a
+

cyc
a
a +b
= 3
20. Let f(n) be the sum of digits of the natural number n, e.g. f(35) = 3 + 5 = 8. Find f
_
f(f(555
55
))
_
Answer: 9
Solution: Observe that f(555
55
) 9(log 555
55
+ 1) = 9 55 log 555 + 9 < 9 55 3 + 9 = 1494. Therefore
f
_
f
_
555
55
__
27. Then f
_
f
_
f
_
555
55
___
10. However f
_
f
_
f
_
555
55
___
555
55
(3)
55
0
(mod 9). Hence f
_
f
_
f
_
555
55
___
= 9.
21. The sequences {a
n
} and {b
n
} both satisfy the same recurrence relation,
a
k
= k
k
a
k1
+a
k2
,
15
and
b
k
= k
k
b
k1
+b
k2
.
The initial conditions are, however, a
1
= b
2
= 0 and a
2
= b
1
= 1. Compute a
2013
b
2012
a
2012
b
2013
.
Answer: 1
Solution: Dene M
k2
as =
_
a
k2
a
k1
b
k2
b
k1
_
. Then matrix
M
k1
=
_
a
k2
a
k1
b
k2
b
k1
_

_
0 1
1 k
k
_
=
_
a
k1
a
k
b
k1
b
k
_
.
Our goal is to nd det(M
2012
), where
M
2012
=
_
0 1
1 0
_

2013

k=3
_
0 1
1 k
k
_
.
Note that the determinant of all of these matrices are 1, and the determinant is multiplicative. Since
there are (2013 3 + 1) + 1 = 2012 matrices including the original matrix, the determinant will be
(1)
2012
= 1. But we want the opposite of this for the expression, so the answer is1.
GaMaCo Mathathon Round 8 10 pts each
22. Let a be a vector in R
3
. Let , and be the angles that a forms with the x, y and z axis,
respectively. Find the minimum value of
1
sin
2

+
1
sin
2

+
1
sin
2

Answer:
9
2
Solution: We begin with a lemma.
Lemma(Nesbitts inequality) Let x, y, z be positive real numbers. Then the following inequality is true
x
y +z
+
y
z +x
+
z
x +y

3
2
Proof. Observe that
x
y+z
=
x
2
xy+xz
. Then using Cauchy-Schwarz inequality we have
x
2
xy +yz
+
y
2
zy +xy
+
z
2
xz +yz

(x +y +z)
2
2(xy +yz +zx)
Now it is enough to show that (x +y +z)
2
3(xy +yz +zx). Notice that
(x +y +z)
2
3(xy +yz +zx) =
1
2
_
(x y)
2
+ (y z)
2
+ (z x)
2
_
0. This nishes the proof of the
lemma.
Now let a = (p, q, r). Then cos =
p

p
2
+q
2
+r
2
and other similar expressions for cos and cos . Therefore
using the lemma above we have
1
sin
2

+
1
sin
2

+
1
sin
2

= 3 +
p
2
q
2
+r
2
+
q
2
p
2
+r
2
+
r
2
p
2
+q
2

9
2
16
23. How many ordered triples of integers (a, b, c), where 1 a, b, c 10, are such that for every natural
number n, the equation (a +n)x
2
+ (b + 2n)x +c +n = 0 has at least one real root?
Answer: 165
Solution: In order for the equation (a +n)x
2
+ (b + 2n)x + (c +n) = 0 to have a real root, we need that
(b + 2n)
2
4(a +n)(c +n) 0, which is equivalent with b
2
4ac + 4n(b a c) 0. It is enough that
b a c 0 because b
2
4ac 0 follows from the fact that b a +c because b
2
(a +c)
2
4ac. The
case b
2
4ac 0 and b < a +c is not possible because when we let n become large enough the number
4n(b a c) is very small (i.e. a very negative number), whilst b
2
4ac is a nite positive number and in
this case we would have b
2
4ac + 4n(b a c) < 0 for all n large enough, a contradiction. Therefore it
is enought to nd those triples so that b a +c.
For b = 1 there is no pair (a, c) so that b a +c. If b = 2 the only pair is (1, 1). If b = 3 then
3 1 + 2 = 2 + 1 and 3 > 1 + 1. In general, if x
1
, x
2
, ..., x
m
are natural numbers and m n then the
equation x
1
+x
2
+... +x
m
= n has
_
n1
m1
_
solutions. In our case m = 2. So we nd all those cases when
b = a +c, b 1 = a +c, b 2 = a +c etc. Also
_
n1
1
_
= n1, therefore we nd that the desired number is:
10

i=2
i(i 1)
2
= 165
24. Compute 10
10

e. If the rst n digits of your answer are correct, your score for this question will
be
_
n(n + 1)
4
_
.
Answer: 16487212707
Solution: While there are many methods to do this question, using the taylor series for e and then a
taylor series for

x would be a possible one.
17
5 Relay
1-1. Compute the largest integral value of k so that exactly one of the roots of the cubic equation
x
3
+ 8x
2
+ 7x +k = 0 is real and positive.
1-2. Let T = TNY WR. Compute the minimum value of the function
(x |T|)
2
+ (x |T| 1)
2
+ (x |T| 2)
2
.
1-3. Let T = TNY WR. Two externally tangent circles have radii T + 2. Point A is on one circle and B
is on the other. What is largest possible length of AB?
2-1. Mitchell and Sitharthan decide to meet at the Reitz for lunch at some time between 10 a.m. and 11
a.m. They both forgot what time precisely they decided on meeting and randomly arrive (uniformly)
during that interval. Mitchell will wait for 10 minutes after he arrives, and Sitharthan will wait for 10
minutes also. Let the probability that meet each other be
m
n
for relatively prime positive integers m and
n. What is m+n?
2-2. Let T = TNY WR. The smallest integral value of a strictly greater than 31 such that the equation
6Tx +a y = 1 has solutions (x, y) in the integers is Q. Compute Q27.
2-3. Let T = TNY WR. Three circles with radii 3, 4, and (T 3) are all mutually externally tangent.
What is the area of the triangle with vertices at their centers?
18
3-1. Find the sum of the solutions for x in the following equation where 0 < x 2
cot(x) + tan(x) = 4
3-2. Let T = TNY WR. Given z = cos(
2T
9
) +i sin(
2T
9
), compute
2
1+z
and express in the form a +ib.
3-3. Let T = TNY WR. An innite number of pitches are thrown to Tony during batting practice. The
probability that Tony hits exactly n of these pitches is P
n
(for n = 0, 1, 2, . . .), where P
n+1
=
1
3
P
n
for
n 0. What is the probability that Tony hits exactly |T|
2
pitches?
4-1. Find the tens digit of 7
2014
.
4-2. Let T = TNY WR. Find the number of zeros at the end of the decimal expansion of ((T + 1)!)!.
4-3. Let T = TNY WR. Compute the sum of the coecients of all the terms in the expansion of
(Tx (T 1)y)
3
(Tx (T 2)y)
3
(Tx (T 3)y)
2
(Tx (T 4)y)
1
+Tx
19
5-1. How many 3-digit (base-10) positive integers are odd and do not contain the digit 4?
5-2. Let T = TNY WR. Joanna, the party animal, invited
T
60
of her friends to go to a show about
growing old with cats (so, in total,
T
60
+ 1 people are going). If they randomly sit in a row, then the
probability that Joanna is in the middle is
m
n
for relatively prime positive integers m and n. Find m+n.
5-3. Let T = TNY WR. How many (base-10) positive integers greater than 50 T can be formed using
only the digits in the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, where the digits in any given number are all distinct?
5-4. Find the value of q in the following system of equations
(log
3
p)
2
= log
3
p
2
and log
3
(p +q) = log
3
p + log
3
q
5-5. Let T = TNY WR. Find the area of the triangle in the complex plane with vertices at the complex
cube roots of T.
5-6. Let the larger of the two numbers you receive be A and the smaller be B and let Z =
A
40
and
T =
(4B)
2
9
. How many ways can T balls be chosen from a bag with Z balls of distinct colors (no balls are
identical to each other all are distinct) with replacement if order does not matter?
20
6 Relay Solutions
1-1: By Descartes rule of signs, there will only be a positive, real root if there is at least one sign change.
So k must be negative. The largest integer that is negative is 1 .
1-2: The function is an uperwards facing parabola with symmetry along the line x = |T| + 1 thus
plugging in x = |T| + 1 gives 2 . (Note the value of T is irrelevant.)
1-3: The largest possible value for AB is when A is placed at a maximum from the point of tangency and
B is placed at the reection of A on the other circle. The length of AB then becomes 2 diameter or
4 radius = 4 (T + 2) = 4 4 = 16 .
2-1: Draw a square with side length 60 (for 60 minutes), then go up 10 units on the x and y axis on
opposing corners. Shade in the region contained by these points, this shaded region is the probability
that they will eat lunch together. To calculate that area nd the area of the two isoceles triangles that
are left over (50 50) and now subtract by the toal area 3600 2500 = 1100. The probability is
11
36
and
m+n equals 47 .
2-2: In order for the condition to be true 6T and a must be relatively prime 6T factorizes into 2 3 47
for a to be relatively prime it must be a multiple of 5, since 4 is a multiple of 2 it would not be relatively
prime. The smallest multiple of 5 greater than 30 is 35. So Q27 = 8 .
2-3: The legs of the triangle are 7, T, and T + 1. We use Herons formula to get the area. The
semiperimeter is T + 4. So A =
_
(T + 4)(T 3)(4)(3). Since T = 8, A =

12 5 12 = 12

5 .
3-1: The equation simlies to sin(x) cos(x) =
1
4
, which further simplies to sin(2x) =
1
2
Note that due to
the 2x you have to account for 4 solutions which are

12
,
5
12
,
13
12
,
17
12
. The solutions add up to 3 .
3-2: Let x =
T
9
, thus 1 +z = 1 +cos(2x) +i sin(2x) which equals 2 cos
2
(x) +i sin(2x) changing everything
into tan(x) gives
2
1+tan
2
(x)
+
2i tan(x)
1+tan
2
(x)
adding fractions gives
2[1+i tan(x)]
1+tan
2
(x)
which simplies to
2
1i tan(x)
plugging this into the original equation gives 1 i tan(
T
9
). Plugging in T = 3 gives 1 i

3 .
3-3: The probabilities follow the pattern P
0
,
1
3
P
0
,
1
9
P
0
, ... The sum of this series has to equal 1 because it
contains all the possible probabilities. Factoring out the P
0
and doing a geometric series on the sum
yields
3
2
thus
3
2
P
0
= 1 and P
0
equals 2/3. Thus P
4
is
2
243
.
4-1: The pattern for the tens digits is 0,4,4,0 which can be found from calculating 7
1
, 7
2
, 7
3
, and 7
4
The
remainder when you divide 2014 by 4 is 2 and thus the tens digit is 4 .
4-2: First calculate 5! as 120. To nd the number of zeros calculate 120/25 + 120/5 which comes out
to 28 .
4-3: To calculate the sum of the coecents plug in 1 for x and y doing this cancels the T in the product
and you get 1
3
2
3
3
2
4
1
which equals 288 + 28 = 316 .
21
5-1: For a number to be odd it must end in 1,3,5,7, or 9. Thus there is 5 possiblities for the last digit 9
for the second and 8 for the rst (cannot be 0). 9 8 5 = 360 .
5-2: There are 7! ways to arrange 7 people in a row with no restrictions. With the restriction that Joanna
has to be in the middle there are 6 other spots and 6! ways to arrange those spots. The probability is
6!
7!
whch reduces to
1
7
1 + 7 = 8 .
5-3: 50T=400. For 3 digit numbers greater than 400 the hundreds digit can be 4 or 5. The tens digit has
4 possiblities and the ones digit has 3. Thus for 3 digit numbers the number of possiblities is 2 4 3. For
4 digit and 5 digit numbers there are 5! numbers for each. The sum of possbilities is equal to
4! + 2 5! = 264 . 5-4: Let x = log
3
p. The rst equation then reduces to x=2, which makes p = 9.
Plugging p = 9 into the second equation gives log
3
(9 +q) = log
3
9 + log
3
q and using log rules that
simplies to log
3
(9 +q) = log
3
9q further simplifying gives 9 +q = 9q solving for q gives q = 9/8
5-5: To solve for the cube roots of 1, divide the unit circle into 3 sectors with the rst point at (1, 0), the
other two points will be at (
1
2
,

3
2
) and (
1
2
,

3
2
) these points are already on the complex plane so you
can just calculate the area of the triangle formed by the points using a variety of methods. The
calculated area is
3

3
4
5-6: The generalized solution to this problem is
_
n+r1
r
_
. The problem is the equivalent of asking how
many ways can you arrange r bugs on n leaves. To solve consider | as the border of a leaf and o as a bug
so if we had 4 leaves and 2 bugs one combination would be |o||o|| where the 1st and 3rd levaes have bugs
on them. To nd the number of combinations we need to see how many dierent way we can arrange the
inside because the outside must always remain bars (the border of the leaves). So on the inside we have
n +r 1 items which can be arranged in n +r 1! ways but since the bugs and leaves are
indistinguishable you have to divide this by r! and n 1! giving us the generalized solution of
_
n+r1
r
_
.
Plugging in the values given yields a nal answer of 56 .
22
7 Tiebreaker
Tiebreaker Round One GaMaCo 2013
1. Let P = (x, y) be a point in the plane, and dene f(P) = ax +by for constant real numbers a and b.
Two distinct points in the plane, A and B, satisfy that f(A) = f(B) = 2013. If C

is the reection of C
about the line connecting A and B, and f(C) = 1337, then compute f(C

).
Tiebreaker Round Two GaMaCo 2013
2. When the least common multiple of two positive integers is divided by their greatest common divisor,
the result is 21. One of the integers is 161. Compute the smallest possible value of the other integer.
Tiebreaker Round Three GaMaCo 2013
3. Compute the probability that if the letters in GAMACO are randomly arranged then the letters are in
alphabetical order.
23
8 Tiebreaker Solutions
Tiebreaker Round One GaMaCo 2013
1. Let P = (x, y) be a point in the plane, and dene f(P) = ax +by for constant real numbers a and b.
Two distinct points in the plane, A and B, satisfy that f(A) = f(B) = 2013. If C

is the reection of C
about the line connecting A and B, and f(C) = 1337, then compute f(C

).
Answer: 2689
Solution: Points A and B satisfy that ax +by = 2013. So the distance between f(C) = ax +by and this
line is 676. Since C

is the reection about this line, it is located on the line with constant term
2013 + 676 = 2689.
Tiebreaker Round Two GaMaCo 2013
2. When the least common multiple of two positive integers is divided by their greatest common divisor,
the result is 21. One of the integers is 161. Compute the smallest possible value of the other integer.
Answer: 69
Solution: Let the other number be n. Then
lcm(161, n)
gcd(161, n)
= 21, and we also know that
lcm(161, n) gcd(161, n) = 161n. Dividing this equation by the previous, we obtain
(gcd(161, n))
2
=
161n
21
=
23n
3
. Thus, 3(gcd(161, n))
2
= 23n. As gcd(3, 23) = 1, we see that it must be the
case that both 3 | n and 23 | n, so the smallest possible value is 23 3 = 69 .
Tiebreaker Round Three GaMaCo 2013
3. Compute the probability that if the letters in GAMACO are randomly arranged then the letters are in
alphabetical order.
Answer:
1
360
Solution: The only way for the letters to be in alphabetical orer is AACMG, which can only be done in
one distinct way. The number of distinct permutations of the letters is
6!
2!
= 360. So the answer is
1
360
.
24