2015 AMC 12/AHSME

AMC 12/AHSME 2015

– A

– February 3rd

1 What is the value of (20 − 1 + 52 + 0)−1 × 5?

1 5
(A) − 125 (B) − 120 (C) (D) (E) 25
5 24

2 Two of the three sides of a triangle are 20 and 15. Which of the following
numbers is not a possible perimeter of the triangle?
(A) 52 (B) 57 (C) 62 (D) 67 (E) 72

3 Mr. Patrick teaches math to 15 students. He was grading tests and found that
when he graded everyone’s test except Payton’s, the average grade for the class
was 80. After he graded Payton’s test, the class average became 81. What was
Payton’s score on the test?
(A) 81 (B) 85 (C) 91 (D) 94 (E) 95

4 The sum of two positive numbers is 5 times their difference. What is the ratio
of the larger number to the smaller?
5 3 9 5
(A) (B) (C) (D) 2 (E)
4 2 5 2

5 Amelia needs to estimate the quantity ab − c, where a, b, and c are large positive
integers. She rounds each of the integers so that the calculation will be easier to
do mentally. In which of these situations will her answer necessarily be greater
than the exact value of ab − c?
(A) She rounds all three numbers up.
(B) She rounds a and b up, and she rounds c down.
(C) She rounds a and c up, and she rounds b down.
(D) She rounds a up, and she rounds b and c down.
(E) She rounds c up, and she rounds a and b down.

6 Two years ago Pete was three times as old as his cousin Claire. Two years
before that, Pete was four times as old as Claire. In how many years will the
ratio of their ages be 2 : 1?

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(A) 2 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 8

7 Two right circular cylinders have the same volume. The radius of the second
cylinder is 10% more than the radius of the first. What is the relationship
between the heights of the two cylinders?
(A) The second height is 10% less than the first.
(B) The first height is 10% more than the second.
(C) The second height is 21% less than the first.
(D) The first height is 21% more than the second.
(E) The second height is 80% of the first.

8 The ratio of the length to the width of a rectangle is 4 : 3. If the rectangle has
diagonal of length d, then the area may be expressed as kd2 for some constant
k. What is k?
2 3 12 16 3
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
7 7 25 25 4

9 A box contains 2 red marbles, 2 green marbles, and 2 yellow marbles. Carol
takes 2 marbles from the box at random; then Claudia takes 2 of the remaining
marbles at random; and then Cheryl takes the last two marbles. What is the
probability that Cheryl gets 2 marbles of the same color?
1 1 1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
10 6 5 3 2

10 Integers x and y with x > y > 0 satisfy x + y + xy = 80. What is x?

(A) 8 (B) 10 (C) 15 (D) 18 (E) 26

11 On a sheet of paper, Isabella draws a circle of radius 2, a circle of radius 3, and

all possible lines simultaneously tangent to both circles. Isabella notices that
she has drawn exactly k ≥ 0 lines. How many different values of k are possible?
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E) 6

12 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?
(A) 1 (B) 1.5 (C) 2 (D) 2.5 (E) 3

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13 A league with 12 teams holds a round-robin tournament, with each team playing
every other team 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?
(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.

1 1 1
14 What is the value of a for which log2 a + log3 a + log4 a = 1?
(A) 9 (B) 12 (C) 18 (D) 24 (E) 36

15 What is the minimum number of digits to the right of the decimal point needed
123 456 789
to express the fraction as a decimal?
226 · 54
(A) 4 (B) 22 (C) 26 (D) 30 (E) 104

16 Tetrahedron
√ ABCD has AB = 5, AC = 3, BC = 4, BD = 4, AD = 3, and
CD = 125 2. What is the volume of the tetrahedron?
√ √ 24 √ 24 √
(A) 3 2 (B) 2 5 (C) (D) 3 3 (E) 2
5 5

17 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?
47 3 49 25 51
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
256 16 256 128 256

18 The zeroes of the function f (x) = x2 − ax + 2a are integers. What is the sum
of all possible values of a?
(A) 7 (B) 8 (C) 16 (D) 17 (E) 18

19 For some positive integers p, there is a quadrilateral ABCD with positive inte-
ger side lengths, perimeter p, right angles at B and C, AB = 2, and CD = AD.
How many different values of p < 2015 are possible?

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(A) 30 (B) 31 (C) 61 (D) 62 (E) 63

20 Isosceles triangles T and T ′ are not congruent but have the same area and the
same perimeter. The sides of T have lengths 5, 5, and 8, while those of T ′ have
lengths a, a, and b. Which of the following numbers is closest to b?
(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 8

21 A circle of radius r passes through both foci of, and exactly four points on, the
ellipse with equation x2 + 16y 2 = 16. The set of all possible values of r is an
interval [a, b). What is a + b?
√ √ √ √
(A) 5 2 + 4 (B) 17 + 7 (C) 6 2 + 3 (D) 15 + 8 (E) 12

22 For each positive integer n, let S(n) be the number of sequences of length n
consisting solely of the letters A and B, with no more than three As in a row
and no more than three Bs in a row. What is the remainder when S(2015) is
divided by 12?
(A) 0 (B) 4 (C) 6 (D) 8 (E) 10

23 Let S be a square of side length 1. Two points are chosen independently

at random on the sides of S. The probability that the straight-line distance
between the points is at least 12 is a−bπ
c , where a, b, and c are positive integers
and gcd(a, b, c) = 1. What is a + b + c?
(A) 59 (B) 60 (C) 61 (D) 62 (E) 63

24 Rational numbers a and b are chosen at random among all rational numbers in
the interval [0, 2) that can be written as fractions nd where n and d are integers
with 1 ≤ d ≤ 5. What is the probability that

(cos(aπ) + i sin(bπ))4

is a real number?
3 4 41 6 13
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
50 25 200 25 50

25 A collection of circles in the upper half-plane, all tangent to the x-axis, is

constructed in layers as follows. Layer L0 consists of two circles S of radii 702
and 73 that are externally tangent. For k ≥ 1, the circles in k−1
2
j=0 Lj are
ordered according to their points of tangency with the x-axis. For every pair of
consecutive circles in this order, a new circle is constructed externally tangent
to each of the two circles in the pair. Layer Lk consists of the 2k−1 circles

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constructed in this way. Let S = 6j=0 Lj , and for every circle C denote by
S
r(C) its radius. What is
X 1
p ?
C∈S
r(C)

286 583 715 143 1573

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
35 70 73 14 146

– B

– February 25th

1 What is the value of 2 − (−2)−2 ?

1 7 9
(A) − 2 (B) (C) (D) (E) 6
16 4 4

2 Marie does three equally time-consuming tasks in a row without taking breaks.
She begins the first task at 1:00 PM and finishes the second task at 2:40 PM.
When does she finish the third task?
(A) 3:10 PM (B) 3:30 PM (C) 4:00 PM (D) 4:10 PM (E) 4:30 PM

3 Isaac has written down one integer two times and another integer three times.
The sum of the five numbers is 100, and one of the numbers is 28. What is the
other number?
(A) 8 (B) 11 (C) 14 (D) 15 (E) 18

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4 David, Hikmet, Jack, Marta, Rand, and Todd were in a 12-person race with 6
other people. Rand finished 6 places ahead of Hikmet. Marta finished 1 place
behind Jack. David finished 2 places behind Hikmet. Jack finished 2 places
behind Todd. Todd finished 1 place behind Rand. Marta finished in 6th place.
Who finished in 8th place?
(A) David (B) Hikmet (C) Jack (D) Rand (E) Todd

5 The Tigers beat the Sharks 2 out of the first 3 times they played. They then
played N more times, and the Sharks ended up winning at least 95% of all the
games played. What is the minimum possible value for N ?
(A) 35 (B) 37 (C) 39 (D) 41 (E) 43

6 Back in 1930, Tillie had to memorize her multiplication tables from 0×0 through
12 × 12. The multiplication table she was given had rows and columns labeled
with the factors, and the products formed the body of the table. To the nearest
hundredth, what fraction of the numbers in the body of the table are odd?
(A) 0.21 (B) 0.25 (C) 0.46 (D) 0.50 (E) 0.75

7 A regular 15-gon has L lines of symmetry, and the smallest positive angle for
which it has rotational symmetry is R degrees. What is L + R?
(A) 24 (B) 27 (C) 32 (D) 39 (E) 54

1
8 What is the value of (625log5 2015 ) 4 ?
√ √
4
(A) 5 (B) 4 2015 (C) 625 (D) 2015 (E) 52015

9 Larry and Julius are playing a game, taking turns throwing a ball at a bottle
sitting on a ledge. Larry throws first. The winner is the first person to knock
the bottle off the ledge. At each turn the probability that a player knocks the
bottle off the ledge is 12 , independently of what has happened before. What is
the probability that Larry wins the game?
1 3 2 3 4
(A) 2 (B) 5 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5

10 How many noncongruent integer-sided triangles with positive area and perime-
ter less than 15 are neither equilateral, isosceles, nor right triangles?
(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 7

11 The line 12x + 5y = 60 forms a triangle with the coordinate axes. What is the
sum of the lengths of the altitudes of this triangle?
360 107 43 281
(A) 20 (B) (C) (D) (E)
17 5 2 13

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12 Let a, b, and c be three distinct one-digit numbers. What is the maximum

value of the sum of the roots of the equation (x − a)(x − b) + (x − b)(x − c) = 0?
(A) 15 (B) 15.5 (C) 16 (D) 16.5 (E) 17

13 Quadrilateral ABCD is inscribed inside a circle with ∠BAC = 70◦ , ∠ADB =

40◦ , AD = 4, and BC = 6. What is AC?
√ √ √
(A) 3 + 5 (B) 6 (C) 29 2 (D) 8 − 2 (E) 7

14 A circle of radius 2 is centered at A. An equilateral triangle with side 4 has

a vertex at A. What is the difference between the area of the region that lies
inside the circle but outside the triangle and the area of the region that lies
inside the triangle but outside the circle?
√ √ √
(A) 8 − π (B) π + 2 (C) 2π − 22 (D) 4(π − 3) (E) 2π + 23

15 At Rachelle’s school an A counts 4 points, a B 3 points, a C 2 points, and

a D 1 point. Her GPA on the four classes she is taking is computed as the
total sum of points divided by 4. She is certain that she will get As in both
Mathematics and Science, and at least a C in each of English and History. She
think she has a 16 chance of getting an A in English, and a 41 chance of getting
a B. In History, she has a 41 chance of getting an A, and a 13 chance of getting
a B, independently of what she gets in English. What is the probability that
Rachelle will get a GPA of at least 3.5?
11 1 3 11 1
(A) 72 (B) 6 (C) 16 (D) 24 (E) 2

16 A regular hexagon with sides of length 6 has an isosceles triangle attached to

each side. Each of these triangles has two sides of length 8. The isosceles
triangles are folded to make a pyramid with the hexagon as the base of the
pyramid. What is the volume of the pyramid?
√ √ √
(A) 18 (B) 162 (C) 36 21 (D) 18 138 (E) 54 21

17 An unfair coin lands on heads with a probability of 41 . When tossed n times,

the probability of exactly two heads is the same as the probability of exactly
three heads. What is the value of n?
(A) 5 (B) 8 (C) 10 (D) 11 (E) 13

18 For every composite positive integer n, define r(n) to be the sum of the factors
in the prime factorization of n. For example, r(50) = 12 because the prime

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factorization of 50 is 2 · 52 , and 2 + 5 + 5 = 12. What is the range of the

function r, {r(n) : n is a composite positive integer}?
(A) the set of positive integers
(B) the set of composite positive integers
(C) the set of even positive integers
(D) the set of integers greater than 3
(E) the set of integers greater than 4

19 In △ABC, ∠C = 90◦ and AB = 12. Squares ABXY and ACW Z are con-
structed outside of the triangle. The points X, Y, Z, and W lie on a circle.
What is the perimeter of the triangle?
√ √ √
(A) 12 + 9 3 (B) 18 + 6 3 (C) 12 + 12 2 (D) 30 (E) 32

20 For every positive integer n, let mod5 (n) be the remainder obtained when n is
divided by 5. Define a function f : {0, 1, 2, 3, . . . } × {0, 1, 2, 3, 4} → {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}
recursively as follows:

mod5 (j + 1)
 if i = 0 and 0 ≤ j ≤ 4
f (i, j) = f (i − 1, 1) if i ≥ 1 and j = 0, and

f (i − 1, f (i, j − 1)) if i ≥ 1 and 1 ≤ j ≤ 4


What is f (2015, 2)?

(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 2 (D) 3 (E) 4

21 Cozy the Cat and Dash the Dog are going up a staircase with a certain number
of steps. However, instead of walking up the steps one at a time, both Cozy and
Dash jump. Cozy goes two steps up with each jump (though if necessary, he
will just jump the last step). Dash goes five steps up with each jump (though
if necessary, he will just jump the last steps if there are fewer than 5 steps
left). Suppose the Dash takes 19 fewer jumps than Cozy to reach the top of the
staircase. Let s denote the sum of all possible numbers of steps this staircase
can have. What is the sum of the digits of s?
(A) 9 (B) 11 (C) 12 (D) 13 (E) 15

22 Six chairs are evenly spaced around a circular table. One person is seated in
each chair. Each person gets up and sits down in a chair that is not the same
chair and is not adjacent to the chair he or she originally occupied, so that
again one person is seated in each chair. In how many ways can this be done?
(A) 14 (B) 16 (C) 18 (D) 20 (E) 24

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23 A rectangular box measures a × b × c, where a, b, and c are integers and

1 ≤ a ≤ b ≤ c. The volume and surface area of the box are numerically equal.
How many ordered triples (a, b, c) are possible?
(A) 4 (B) 10 (C) 12 (D) 21 (E) 26

24 Four circles, no two of which are congruent, have centers at A, B, C, and D,

and points P and Q lie on all four circles. The radius of circle A is 58 times the
radius of circle B, and the radius of circle C is 85 times the radius of circle D.
Furthermore, AB = CD = 39 and P Q = 48. Let R be the midpoint of P Q.
What is AR + BR + CR + DR?
(A) 180 (B) 184 (C) 188 (D) 192 (E) 196

25 A bee starts flying from point P0 . She flies 1 inch due east to point P1 . For
j ≥ 1, once the bee reaches point Pj , she turns 30◦ counterclockwise and then
flies
√ j+1√inches straight to point Pj+1 . When the bee reaches P2015 she is exactly
a b + c d inches away from P0 , where a, b, c and d are positive integers and
b and d are not divisible by the square of any prime. What is a + b + c + d?
(A) 2016 (B) 2024 (C) 2032 (D) 2040 (E) 2048

–
c Mathematical Association of America (http:
These problems are copyright
//maa.org).

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