Hypatia Combined Contest
Hypatia Combined Contest
Hypatia Combined Contest
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
(in North America and South America)
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
Useful Fact:
It may be helpful to know that 2n ≥ n + 1 for all positive integers n.
1. A regular hexagon is a polygon that has six sides with equal length and six interior
angles with equal measure. In Figure 1, regular hexagon ABCDEF has side length 2x
and its vertices lie on the circle with centre O. The diagonals AD, BE and CF divide
ABCDEF into six congruent equilateral triangles.
(a) In terms of x, what is the radius of the circle?
(d) The region that lies inside the circle and outside hexagon ABCDEF is shaded,
as shown in Figure 3. The area of this shaded region is 123. Rounded to the
nearest tenth, determine the value of x.
A F A F A F
M
O O O
B E B E B E
C D C D C D
Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3
2. With 1 kg of muffin batter, exactly 24 mini muffins and 2 large muffins can be made.
With 2 kg of muffin batter, exactly 36 mini muffins and 6 large muffins can be made.
(a) With 2 kg of muffin batter, exactly 48 mini muffins and n large muffins can also
be made. What is the value of n?
(b) With x kg of muffin batter, exactly 84 mini muffins and 10 large muffins can be
made. What is the value of x?
(c) Determine how many mini muffins can be made using the same amount of batter
that is needed to make 7 large muffins.
3. A sequence is created in such a way that
For example, if the first number in a sequence is 1 and the following numbers are
generated by the function x2 − 5, then the first three numbers in the sequence are 1, −4
and 11 since 12 − 5 = −4 and (−4)2 − 5 = 11.
(a) The first number in a sequence is 3 and the sequence is generated by the function
x2 − 3x + 1. What are the first four numbers in the sequence?
(b) The number 7 is the third number in a sequence generated by the function
x2 − 4x + 7. What are all possible first numbers in the sequence?
(c) The first number in a sequence is c and the sequence is generated by the function
x2 − 7x − 48. If all numbers in the sequence are equal to c, determine all possible
values of c.
(d) A sequence generated by the function x2 − 12x + 39 alternates between two
different numbers. That is, the sequence is a, b, a, b, a, b, . . . , with a 6= b.
Determine all possible values of a.
4. Every integer N > 1 can be written as N = pa11 pa22 pa33 · · · pakk , where k is a positive
integer, p1 < p2 < p3 < · · · < pk are prime numbers, and a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . , ak are
positive integers. For example, 1400 = 23 52 71 .
The number of positive divisors of N is denoted by f (N ). It is known that
f (N ) = (1 + a1 )(1 + a2 )(1 + a3 ) · · · (1 + ak )
(a) How many positive divisors does 240 have? That is, what is the value of f (240)?
(d) Show that for every integer m > 1, there exists a refactorable number N such
that f (N ) = m.
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2022
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2022 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 260 000 students from more than 80 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
April 2021
(in North America and South America)
April 2021
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
1. A company rents out various sized passenger vehicles according to the following table. For
example, a group of 5, 6, 7, or 8 people would need to rent a sports utility vehicle (SUV),
which has a total cost of $200.00. Unfortunately, the total cost to rent a van is missing
from the table. In each case, the members of the group equally share the total cost to rent
the vehicle.
Vehicle Number of Passengers Required Total Cost
Car 1 to 4 $180.00
SUV 5 to 8 $200.00
Van 9 to 12
(a) If 4 people rent a car, what is the cost per person?
(b) If a group rents an SUV, what is the maximum possible cost per person?
(c) When a van is rented, the difference between the maximum cost per person and
the minimum cost per person is $6.00. Determine the total cost to rent a van.
2. Trapezoid ABCD has vertices A(0, 0), B(12, 0), C(11, 5), D(2, 5).
(a) What is the area of trapezoid ABCD?
(b) The line passing through B and D intersects the y-axis at the point E. What
are the coordinates of E?
(c) The sides AD and BC are extended to intersect at the point F . Determine the
coordinates of F .
(d) Determine all possible points P that lie on the line passing through B and D, so
that the area of 4P AB is 42.
3. The sequence A, with terms a1 , a2 , a3 , . . ., is defined by
an = 2n , for n ≥ 1.
The sequence B, with terms b1 , b2 , b3 , . . ., is defined by
b1 = 1, b2 = 1, and bn = bn−1 + 2bn−2 , for n ≥ 3.
For example, b3 = b2 + 2b1 = 1 + 2(1) = 3.
In this question, the following facts may be helpful:
• A geometric sequence is a sequence in which each term after the first is obtained
from the previous term by multiplying it by a non-zero constant called the common
ratio. For example, 3, 6, 12 is a geometric sequence with three terms and common
ratio 2.
• The sum of the first n terms of a geometric sequence with first term a, and common
1 − rn
ratio r 6= 1, equals a .
1−r
(a) What are the 5th terms for each sequence? That is, what are the values of a5
and b5 ?
(b) For some real numbers p and q, bn = p · (an ) + q · (−1)n for all n ≥ 1. (You do
not need to show this.) What are the values of p and q?
(c) Let Sn be the sum of the first n terms in sequence B. That is,
Sn = b1 + b2 + b3 + · · · + bn . Determine the smallest positive integer n that
satisfies Sn ≥ 162021 .
4. In 4XY Z, the measure of ∠XZY is 90◦ . Also, Y Z = x cm, XZ = y cm, and hypotenuse
XY has length z cm. Further, the perimeter of 4XY Z is P cm and the area of 4XY Z
is A cm2 .
(a) If x = 20 and y = 21, what are the values of A and P ?
(d) Suppose that x, y and z are integers, that P = 510, and that A = kP for some
prime number k. Determine all possible values of k.
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2021
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2021 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 260 000 students from more than 80 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, April 16, 2020
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
1. At a local grocery store, avocados are sold for $5.00 per bag and mangoes for $12.50 per
box. A bag contains 6 avocados and a box contains 15 mangoes. Only a whole number of
bags and a whole number of boxes can be purchased.
(a) On Friday, a chef purchased 12 bags of avocados and some boxes of mangoes. If
the total cost was $135.00, how many boxes of mangoes were purchased?
(b) On Saturdays only, there is a 10% discount on the price of a bag of avocados
and a 20% discount on the price of a box of mangoes. What is the total cost for
8 bags of avocados and 4 boxes of mangoes on Saturdays?
(c) On Monday, the chef needed 100 avocados and 70 mangoes. The chef purchased
just enough bags and boxes. Determine how much the purchase cost her.
(d) On Tuesday, the chef made special tarts that each required 1 avocado and
2 mangoes. If the chef spent exactly $75.00 on avocados and mangoes, determine
the greatest number of tarts that she could have made.
(c) Determine the areas of the two parabolic rectangles that have a side length of 36.
(d) Determine the area of the parabolic rectangle whose length and width are equal.
3. A triangulation of a regular polygon is a division of its interior into triangular regions. In
such a division, each vertex of each triangle is either a vertex of the polygon or an interior
point of the polygon. In a triangulation of a regular polygon with n ≥ 3 vertices and k ≥ 0
interior points with no three of these n + k points lying on the same line,
• no two line segments connecting pairs of these points cross anywhere except at their
endpoints, and
Every regular polygon has at least one triangulation. The number of triangles formed by
any triangulation of a regular polygon with n vertices and k interior points is constant
and is denoted T (n, k). For example, in every possible triangulation of a regular hexagon
and one interior point, there are exactly 6 triangles. That is, T (6, 1) = 6.
T (6, 0) = 4 T (6, 1) = 6
(b) Show that x2026 − x2020 is divisible by 10 for all possible values of x0 .
Hypatia
Contest
2020
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2020 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 260 000 students from more than 80 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 10, 2019
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, April 11, 2019
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
1. A rectangular piece of metal measures 91 cm by 16 cm. Four identical circular discs are
punched out of this piece of metal. The centres of the circular holes are on the midline of
the rectangle, AJ, as shown. These four holes are equally spaced along the piece of metal.
That is, AB = CD, for example.
91 cm
B 8 cm
C D
A J
8 cm
(a) If the radius of each hole is 2 cm, what is the distance along the midline between
adjacent holes (i.e. what is the length of CD)?
(b) If the distance along the midline between adjacent holes is equal to the radius of
each hole, what is the radius of each hole?
(c) Show why the fact that holes must be circles means that the distance between
adjacent holes cannot be 5 cm.
2. A bump can be added to any line segment through the following process:
1 1
3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
(a) A line segment has length 21. How long will the path be after a bump is added?
(b) A path with exactly one bump has length 240. How long was the original line
segment?
(c) Lin starts with a line segment that has length 36 and adds a bump to it. She
then adds bumps to each line segment of that path. The resulting figure is shown
below on the right. C C
36
A D A B D A B D
What is the total path length of the resulting figure?
(d) Ann starts with a line segment having length equal to some positive integer n
and adds a bump to it resulting in Path 1. Ann then adds bumps to each line
segment of Path 1 resulting in Path 2. She continues this process to create
Path 3, Path 4, and finally Path 5. If the length of Path 5 is an integer,
determine the smallest possible value of n.
3. The arithmetic mean of two positive real numbers x and y is half the sum of the two
x+y
numbers, or . The geometric mean of two positive real numbers x and y is the
2 √
square root of the product of the two numbers, or xy.
(a) What are the arithmetic and geometric means of 36 and 64?
(b) Determine a pair of positive real numbers whose arithmetic mean is 13 and
geometric mean is 12.
(c) For two positive integers x and y, the arithmetic mean minus the geometric
mean is equal to 1. Determine, with justification, all such pairs (x, y) where
x < y ≤ 50.
4. (a) Suppose that c is a real number. Solve the following system of equations for
x and y in terms of c:
3x + 4y = 10
5x + 6y = c
x + 2y = 3
4x + dy = 6
(c) Determine a positive integer k for which there are exactly 8 integers n for which
the system of equations
Hypatia
Contest
2019
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2019 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 260 000 students from more than 80 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Thursday, April 12, 2018
(in North America and South America)
Friday, April 13, 2018
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
(i) Determine the coordinates of the vertices V1 and V2 of these two parabolas.
(ii) Suppose that these two parabolas intersect at the points P and Q. Explain
why the quadrilateral V1 P V2 Q is a parallelogram.
(b) The two parabolas defined by the equations y = −x2 + bx + c and y = x2 have
vertices V3 and V4 , respectively. For some values of b and c, these parabolas
intersect at the points R and S.
(i) Determine all pairs (b, c) for which the points R and S exist and the points
V3 , V4 , R, S are distinct.
(ii) Determine all pairs (b, c) for which the points R and S exist, the points
V3 , V4 , R, S are distinct, and quadrilateral V3 RV4 S is a rectangle.
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2018
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2018 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 240 000 students from more than 75 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, April 13, 2017
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
C
(a) In Figure A below, ABCD is a cyclic quadrilateral. If ∠BAD = what is the 88◦ ,
value of u?
(b) In Figure B, P QRS and ST QR are cyclic quadrilaterals. If ∠ST Q = 58◦ , what
is the value of x and what is the value of y?
(c) In Figure C, JKLM is a cyclic quadrilateral with JK = KL and JL = LM .
If ∠KJL = 35◦ , what is the value of w?
(d) In Figure D, DEF G is a cyclic quadrilateral. F G is extended to H, as shown.
If ∠DEF = z ◦ , determine the measure of ∠DGH in terms of z.
A J
P S D
88º yº
35º
D K
M H
B 58º xº R wº zº
(2u)º T E G
L
C Q F
Figure A Figure B Figure C Figure D
2. A list of integers is written in a table, row after
row from left to right. Row 1 has the integer 1. Row 1 1
Row 2 has the integers 1, 2 and 3. Row n has the Row 2 1 2 3
consecutive integers beginning at 1 and ending at Row 3 1 2 3 4 5
the nth odd integer. In the table, the 9th integer to Row 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
be written is 5, and it appears at the end of Row 3. ..
In general, after having completed n rows, a total of .
n2 integers have been written.
(a) What is the 25th integer written in the table and in which row does the 25th
integer appear?
(b) What is the 100th integer written in the table?
(d) In how many of the first 200 rows does the integer 96 appear?
3. (a) The line y = −15 intersects the parabola with equation y = −x2 + 2x at two
points. What are the coordinates of these two points of intersection?
(b) A line intersects the parabola with equation y = −x2 − 3x at x = 4 and at x = a.
This line intersects the y-axis at (0, 8). Determine the value of a.
(c) A line intersects the parabola with equation y = −x2 + kx at x = p and at x = q
with p 6= q. Determine the y-intercept of this line.
1 1
(d) For all k 6= 0, the curve x = 3 y 2 + y intersects the parabola with equation
k k
y = −x2 + kx at (0, 0) and at a second point T whose coordinates depend on k.
All such points T lie on a parabola. Determine the equation of this parabola.
(b) Let G(n, k) be the number of n-digit zigzag numbers with first digit k and second
digit greater than k. Let L(n, k) be the number of n-digit zigzag numbers with
first digit k and second digit less than k.
Hypatia
Contest
2017
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2017 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 220 000 students from more than 60 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, April 14, 2016
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
1. Raisins are sold by the scoop, cup, jar, basket, or tub in the following proportions:
5 scoops of raisins fill 1 jar, 3 scoops of raisins fill 1 cup, 5 baskets of raisins fill 2 tubs,
and 30 jars of raisins fill 1 tub.
(a) How many tubs of raisins fill 30 baskets?
(b) In a circle with radius 25, a chord is drawn so that its perpendicular distance
from the centre of the circle is 7. What is the length of this chord?
(c) In the diagram, the radius of the circle is 65. T
Two parallel chords ST and U V are drawn M
so that the perpendicular distance between
S O
the chords is 72 (M N = 72). If M N passes V
through the centre of the circle O, and ST N
has length 112, determine the length of U V . U
3. For a positive integer n, f (n) is defined as the exponent of the largest power of 3 that
divides n.
For example, f (126) = 2 since 126 = 32 × 14 so 32 divides 126, but 33 does not.
(a) What is the value of f (405)?
4. Erin’s Pizza (EP) and Lino’s Pizza (LP) are located next door to each other. Each day,
each of 100 customers buys one whole pizza from one of the restaurants. The price of a
pizza at each restaurant is set each day and is always a multiple of 10 cents. If the two
restaurants charge the same price, half of the 100 customers will go to each restaurant.
For every 10 cents that one restaurant’s price is higher than the other restaurant’s price,
it loses one customer to the other restaurant. The cost for each restaurant to make a pizza
is $5.00.
As an example, if EP charges $8.00 per pizza and LP charges $9.00 per pizza, the number
of customers and the resulting profit for each restaurant is shown in the table below.
Hypatia
Contest
2016
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2016 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 220 000 students from more than 60 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Thursday, April 16, 2015
(in North America and South America)
Friday, April 17, 2015
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some
top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations for other recognition
opportunities.
NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the answer
booklet and show your work.
1. Each Hypatia Railway train has one engine car followed by some boxcars in a straight line.
The distance between consecutive boxcars is 2 m. The distance between the engine car
and the first boxcar is also 2 m. The engine car is 26 m in length and each boxcar is 15 m
in length. The total length of a train is the distance from the front of the engine car to
the end of the last boxcar.
(a) What is the total length of a train with 10 boxcars?
(b) A train has a total length of 2015 m. How many boxcars does the train have?
S
2. In the questions below, A, B, M, N, P, Q, and R are non-zero digits.
(a) A two-digit positive integer AB equals 10A + B. For example, 37 = 10 × 3 + 7.
If AB − BA = 72, what is the positive integer AB?
(b) A two-digit positive integer M N is given. Explain why it is not possible that
M N − N M = 80.
(c) A three-digit positive integer P QR equals 100P + 10Q + R. If P > R, determine
the number of possible values of P QR − RQP .
3. Consider n line segments, where each pair of line segments intersect at a different point,
and not at an endpoint of any of the n line segments. Let T (n) be the sum of the number
of intersection points and the number of endpoints of the line segments. For example,
T (1) = 2 and T (2) = 5. The diagram below illustrates that T (3) = 9.
4. Let gcd(a, b) represent the greatest common divisor of the two positive integers a and b.
For example, gcd(18, 45) = 9 since 9 is the largest positive integer that divides both 18
and 45.
The function P (n) is defined to equal the sum of the n greatest common divisors,
gcd(1, n), gcd(2, n), . . . , gcd(n, n). For example:
(b) If r and s are different prime numbers, prove that P (r2 s) = r(3r − 2)(2s − 1).
(c) If r and s are different prime numbers, prove that P (r2 s) can never be equal to
a power of a prime number (that is, can never equal tn for some prime number t
and positive integer n).
(d) Determine, with justification, two positive integers m for which P (m) = 243.
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2015
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2015 Hypatia Contest! Each year, more
than 200 000 students from more than 60 countries register to write
the CEMC’s Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, April 17, 2014
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
Web site, http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location,
and score of some top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations
for other recognition opportunities.
TIPS: 1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the
answer booklet and show your work.
2. Each week, the MathTunes Music Store releases a list of the Top 200 songs. A new
song “Recursive Case” is released in time to make it onto the Week 1 list. The song’s
position, P , on the list in a certain week, w, is given by the equation P = 3w2 − 36w + 110.
The week number w is always a positive integer.
(a) What position does the song have on week 1?
(b) Artists want their song to reach the best position possible. The closer that the
position of a song is to position #1, the better the position.
(i) What is the best position that the song “Recursive Case” reaches?
(ii) On what week does this song reach its best position?
(c) What is the last week that “Recursive Case” appears on the Top 200 list?
3. A pyramid ABCDE has a square base ABCD of side length 20. Vertex E lies on the
line perpendicular to the base that passes through F , the centre of the base ABCD. It is
given that EA = EB = EC = ED = 18. E
(a) Determine the surface area of the pyramid ABCDE
including its base. D
18
4. The triple of positive integers (x, y, z) is called an Almost Pythagorean Triple (or APT)
if x > 1 and y > 1 and x2 + y 2 = z 2 + 1. For example, (5, 5, 7) is an APT.
(a) Determine the values of y and z so that (4, y, z) is an APT.
(b) Prove that for any triangle whose side lengths form an APT, the area of the
triangle is not an integer.
(c) Determine two 5-tuples (b, c, p, q, r) of positive integers with p ≥ 100 for which
(5t + p, bt + q, ct + r) is an APT for all positive integers t.
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2014
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2014 Hypatia Contest!
In 2013, more than 15 000 students from around the world registered
to write the Fryer, Galois and Hypatia Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Thursday, April 18, 2013
(in North America and South America)
Friday, April 19, 2013
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on our
Web site, http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location,
and score of some top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations
for other recognition opportunities.
TIPS: 1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the
answer booklet and show your work.
1. At the JK Mall grand opening, some lucky shoppers are able to participate in a money
giveaway. A large box has been filled with many $5, $10, $20, and $50 bills. The lucky
shopper reaches into the box and is allowed to pull out one handful of bills.
(a) Rad pulls out at least two bills of each type and his total sum of money is $175.
What is the total number of bills that Rad pulled out?
(b) Sandy pulls out exactly five bills and notices that she has at least one bill of each
type. What are the possible sums of money that Sandy could have?
(c) Lino pulls out six or fewer bills and his total sum of money is $160. There are
exactly four possibilities for the number of each type of bill that Lino could have.
Determine these four possibilities.
2. A parabola has equation y = (x − 3)2 + 1.
(a) What are the coordinates of the vertex of the parabola?
(b) A new parabola is created by translating the original parabola 3 units to the left
and 3 units up. What is the equation of the translated parabola?
(c) Determine the coordinates of the point of intersection of these two parabolas.
(d) The parabola with equation y = ax2 + 4, a < 0, touches the parabola with
equation y = (x − 3)2 + 1 at exactly one point. Determine the value of a.
3. A sequence of m P’s and n Q’s with m > n is called non-predictive if there is some point
in the sequence where the number of Q’s counted from the left is greater than or equal to
the number of P’s counted from the left.
For example, if m = 5 and n = 2 the sequence PPQQPPP is non-predictive because in
counting the first four letters from the left, the number of Q’s is equal to the number of
P’s. Also, the sequence QPPPQPP is non-predictive because in counting the first letter
from the left, the number of Q’s is greater than the number of P’s.
(a) If m = 7 and n = 2, determine the number of non-predictive sequences that begin
with P.
(b) Suppose that n = 2. Show that for every m > 2, the number of non-predictive
sequences that begin with P is equal to the number of non-predictive sequences
that begin with Q.
(c) Determine the number of non-predictive sequences with m = 10 and n = 3.
(b) A number of cubes, each with edge length 1 cm, are arranged to form a rectangular
prism having height 1 cm and a surface area of 180 cm2 . Determine the number
of cubes in the rectangular prism.
(c) A number of cubes, each with edge length
1 cm, are arranged to form a rectangular
k cm
prism having length l cm, width w cm,
and thickness 1 cm. A frame is formed by
removing a rectangular prism with thickness k cm k cm l cm
1 cm located k cm from each of the sides
of the original rectangular prism, as shown.
Each of l, w and k is a positive integer. If the k cm
frame has surface area 532 cm2 , determine all 1 cm
possible values for l and w such that l ≥ w. w cm
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2013
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2013 Hypatia Contest!
In 2012, more than 13 000 students from around the world registered
to write the Fryer, Galois and Hypatia Contests.
Hypatia Contest
(Grade 11)
Thursday, April 12, 2012
(in North America and South America)
Friday, April 13, 2012
(outside of North America and South America)
Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published in the
FGH Results on our Web site, http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca.
TIPS: 1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write all answers in the answer booklet provided.
3. For questions marked , place your answer in the appropriate box in the
answer booklet and show your work.
Q
51
24
P R
32 T
N (n , n 2) 1 1
M( , )
2 4
x
O (0 , 0)
B (b , b2)
x
O (0 , 0)
R Q
x
4. The positive divisors of 21 are 1, 3, 7 and 21. Let S(n) be the sum of the positive
divisors of the positive integer n. For example, S(21) = 1 + 3 + 7 + 21 = 32.
(a) If p is an odd prime integer, find the value of p such that S(2p2 ) = 2613.
(b) The consecutive integers 14 and 15 have the property that S(14) = S(15).
Determine all pairs of consecutive integers m and n such that m = 2p and n = 9q
for prime integers p, q > 3, and S(m) = S(n).
(c) Determine the number of pairs of distinct prime integers p and q, each less than
30, with the property that S(p3 q) is not divisible by 24.
(English)
Hypatia
Contest
2012
The CENTRE for EDUCATION in
MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2012 Hypatia Contest!
In 2011, more than 13 000 students from around the world registered
to write the Fryer, Galois and Hypatia Contests.
www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca
2011 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
A (0, 6)
D
F
x
B (0, 0) E C (8, 0)
(a) Determine an equation of the line passing through the points C and D.
(b) Determine the coordinates of F , the point of intersection of AE and CD.
(c) Determine the area of 4DBC.
(d) Determine the area of quadrilateral DBEF .
4. Let F (n) represent the number of ways that a positive integer n can be written as the sum of
positive odd integers. For example,
• F (5) = 3 since
5 = 1+1+1+1+1
= 1+1+3
= 5
• F (6) = 4 since
6 = 1+1+1+1+1+1
= 1+1+1+3
= 3+3
= 1+5
(a) Find F (8) and list all the ways that 8 can be written as the sum of positive odd integers.
(b) Prove that F (n + 1) > F (n) for all integers n > 3.
(c) Prove that F (2n) > 2F (n) for all integers n > 3.
2010 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Friday, April 9, 2010
(a) To begin her trip she flew from A to B. Determine the cost to fly from A to B.
(b) Determine the distance she travels for her complete trip.
(c) Piravena chose the least expensive way to travel between cities and her total cost was
$1012.50. Given that she flew from A to B, determine her method of transportation from
B to C and her method of transportation from C to A.
1. Emma counts the number of students in her class with each eye and hair colour, and summarizes
the results in the following table:
Hair Colour
Brown Blonde Red
Blue 3 2 1
Eye Colour Green 2 4 2
Brown 2 3 1
(a) What percentage of the students have both green eyes and brown hair?
(b) What percentage of the students have green eyes or brown hair or both?
(c) Of the students who have green eyes, what percentage also have red hair?
(d) Determine how many students with red hair must join the class so that the percentage of
the students in the class with red hair becomes 36%.
2. An arithmetic sequence is a sequence in which each term after the first is obtained from the
previous term by adding a constant d, called the common difference. For example, the sequence
2, 11, 20, 29, 38 is an arithmetic sequence with five terms and a common difference of d = 9.
(a) An arithmetic sequence has three terms. The three terms add to 180. Determine the
middle term of this sequence.
(b) An arithmetic sequence has five terms. The five terms add to 180. Show that at least one
of the five terms equals 36.
(c) An arithmetic sequence has six terms. The six terms in the sequence add to 180. Determine
the sum of the first and sixth terms of the sequence.
3. Triangle ABC has vertices A(0, 8), B(2, 0), C(8, 0).
(a) Determine the equation of the line through B that cuts the area of 4ABC in half.
(b) A vertical line intersects AC at R and BC at S, forming 4RSC. If the area of 4RSC is
12.5, determine the coordinates of point R.
(c) A horizontal line intersects AB at T and AC at U , forming 4AT U . If the area of 4AT U
is 13.5, determine the equation of the horizontal line.
2009 Hypatia Contest Page 2
12
4. (a) A solid right prism ABCDEF has a height of 16, as A B
shown. Also, its bases are equilateral triangles with side
length 12. Points X, Y , and Z are the midpoints of edges X Y
AC, BC, and DC, respectively. Determine the lengths of
XY , Y Z and XZ. C
16
(b) A part of the prism above is sliced off with a straight cut
through points X, Y and Z. Determine the surface area Z
of solid CXY Z, the part that was sliced off.
E F
12
(c) The prism ABCDEF in part (a) is sliced with a straight A B
cut through points M , N , P , and Q on edges DE, DF , Q
CB, and CA, respectively. If DM = 4, DN = 2, and
P
CQ = 8, determine the volume of the solid QP CDM N .
C
16
E F
M
N
D
2008 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
2. (a) Determine the equation of the line through the points A(7, 8) and B(9, 0).
(b) Determine the coordinates of P , the point of intersection of the line y = 2x − 10 and the
line through A and B.
(c) Is P closer to A or to B? Explain how you obtained your answer.
(a) The peizi-sum of the sequence 2, 3, x, 2x is −7. Determine the possible values of x.
(b) A sequence has 100 terms. Of these terms, m are equal to 1 and n are equal to −1. The
rest of the terms are equal to 2. Determine, in terms of m and n, the number of pairs of
distinct terms that have a product of 1.
(c) A sequence has 100 terms, with each term equal to either 2 or −1. Determine, with
justification, the minimum possible peizi-sum of the sequence.
2007 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
1. The diagram shows four cities A, B, C, and D, with the distances between them in kilometres.
105 90 120
D
40 60
A
B
80
(a) Penny must travel from A through each of the other cities exactly once and then back
to A. An example of her route might be A → B → D → C → A.
List all routes that Penny could travel.
(b) Identify one route of the shortest possible length and one of the longest possible length.
Explain how you obtained your answer.
(c) Just before leaving A, Penny learns that
• she must visit a fifth city E,
• E is connected directly to each of A, B, C, and D, and
• E must be the third city she visits.
Therefore, the trip would be A → → →E→ → A.
How many different routes are now possible? Explain how you obtained your answer.
(d) The trip A → D → C → E → B → A is 600 km long.
The trip A → C → D → E → B → A is 700 km long.
The distance from D to E is 225 km.
What is the distance from C to E? Explain how you obtained your answer.
2. Olayuk has four pails labelled P, Q, R, and S, each containing some marbles. A “legal move”
is to take one marble from each of three of the pails and put the marbles into the fourth pail.
(a) Initially, the pails contain 9, 9, 1, and 5 marbles. Describe a sequence of legal moves that
results in 6 marbles in each pail.
(b) Suppose that the pails initially contain 31, 27, 27, and 7 marbles. After a number of legal
moves, each pail contains the same number of marbles.
i. Describe a sequence of legal moves to obtain the same number of marbles in each pail.
ii. Explain why at least 8 legal moves are needed to obtain the same number of marbles
in each pail.
(c) Beginning again, the pails contain 10, 8, 11, and 7 marbles. Explain why there is no
sequence of legal moves that results in an equal number of marbles in each pail.
2007 Hypatia Contest Page 2
(a) Determine all values of x for which f (x) = 0 (that is, x2 − 4x − 21 = 0).
(b) If s and t are different real numbers such that s2 − 4s − 21 = t2 − 4t − 21 (that is,
f (s) = f (t)), determine the possible values of s + t. Explain how you obtained your
answer.
(c) If a and b are different positive integers such that (a2 − 4a − 21) − (b2 − 4b − 21) = 4,
determine all possible values of a and b. Explain how you obtained your answer.
4. In the diagram, four circles of radius 1 with centres P , Q, R, and S are tangent to one another
and to the sides of 4ABC, as shown.
Q R S
B C
(a) Determine the size of each of the angles of 4P QS. Explain how you obtained your answer.
(b) Determine the length of each side of 4ABC. Explain how you obtained your answer.
(c) The radius of the circle with centre R is decreased so that
• the circle with centre R remains tangent to BC,
• the circle with centre R remains tangent to the other three circles, and
• the circle with centre P becomes tangent to the other three circles.
This changes the size and shape of 4ABC. Determine r, the new radius of the circle with
centre R.
2006 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
1. The odd positive integers are arranged in rows in the triangular pattern, as shown.
1
3 5
7 9 11
13 15 17 19
21 23 ···
(a) What is the 25th odd positive integer? In which row of the pattern will this integer
appear?
(b) What is the 19th integer that appears in the 21st row? Explain how you got your answer.
(c) Determine the row and the position in that row where the number 1001 occurs. Explain
how you got your answer.
B E
D
C
3. A line ` passes through the points B(7, −1) and C(−1, 7).
σ(n)
4. The abundancy index I(n) of a positive integer n is I(n) = , where σ(n) is the sum of all
n
of the positive divisors of n, including 1 and n itself.
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 12 7
For example, I(12) = = .
12 3
3
(a) Prove that I(p) ≤ 2
for every prime number p.
(b) For every odd prime number p and for all positive integers k, prove that I(pk ) < 2.
(c) If p and q are different prime numbers, determine I(p2 ), I(q) and I(p2 q), and prove
that I(p2 )I(q) = I(p2 q).
(d) Determine, with justification, the smallest odd positive integer n such that I(n) > 2.
2005 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
1. For numbers a and b, the notation a b means a2 − 4b. For example, 5 3 = 52 − 4(3) = 13.
(a) Evaluate 2 3.
(b) Find all values of k such that k 2 = 2 k.
(c) The numbers x and y are such that 3 x = y and 2 y = 8x.
Determine the values of x and y.
2. Gwen and Chris are playing a game. They begin with a pile of toothpicks, and use the following
rules:
For example, if the game begins with 8 toothpicks, the following moves could occur:
Gwen is now the winner, since Chris cannot remove 1 toothpick. (Gwen already removed
1 toothpick on one of her turns, and the third rule says that 1 toothpick cannot be removed on
another turn.)
(a) Suppose the game begins with 11 toothpicks. Gwen begins by removing 3 toothpicks.
Chris follows and removes 1. Then Gwen removes 4 toothpicks. Explain how Chris can
win the game.
(b) Suppose the game begins with 10 toothpicks. Gwen begins by removing 5 toothpicks.
Explain why Gwen can always win, regardless of what Chris removes on his turn.
(c) Suppose the game begins with 9 toothpicks. Gwen begins by removing 2 toothpicks.
Explain how Gwen can always win, regardless of how Chris plays.
2005 Hypatia Contest Page 2
3. In the diagram, 4ABC is equilateral with side length 4. Points P , Q and R are chosen on
sides AB, BC and CA, respectively, such that AP = BQ = CR = 1.
A R C
(a) Determine the exact area of 4ABC. Explain how you got your answer.
(b) Determine the exact areas of 4P BQ and 4P QR. Explain how you got your answers.
4. An arrangement of a set is an ordering of all of the numbers in the set, in which each number
appears exactly once. For example, 312 and 231 are two of the possible arrangements of {1, 2, 3}.
(a) Determine the number of triples (a, b, c) where a, b and c are three different numbers
chosen from {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} with a < b and b > c. Explain how you got your answer.
(b) How many arrangements of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} contain the digits 254 consecutively in that
order? Explain how you got your answer.
(c) A local peak in an arrangement occurs where there is a sequence of 3 numbers in the
arrangement for which the middle number is greater than both of its neighbours.
For example, the arrangement 35241 of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} contains 2 local peaks.
Determine, with justification, the average number of local peaks in all 40 320 possible
arrangements of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8}.
2004 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Thursday, April 15, 2004
____________________________________________________
2
1. (a) Find all values of x which are roots of the equation x + 5x + 6 = 0 .
2
(b) The roots of x + 5x + 6 = 0 are each increased by 7. Find a quadratic equation that has these
new numbers as roots.
( 2
)
(c) The roots of ( x − 4 ) 3x − x − 2 = 0 are each increased by 1. Find an equation that has these
new numbers as roots.
2. Two basketball players, Alan and Bobbie, are standing on level ground near a lamp-post which is
8 m tall. Each of the two players casts a shadow on the ground.
(b) Bobbie is 1.5 m tall and is standing on the opposite side of the lamp-post from Alan. How far
from the lamp-post should she stand so that she casts a shadow of length 3 m?
3. (a) In the diagram, triangle OMN has vertices O(0,0) , M (6,0) and
N (0,8) . Determine the coordinates of point P( a,b) inside the
triangle so that the areas of the triangles POM, PON and PMN
are all equal.
(b) 3 green, 4 yellow and 5 red balls are placed in a bag. If a procedure identical to that in part (a)
is carried out, what is the colour of the ball or balls that remain at the end?
(c) 3 green, 4 yellow and 5 red balls are placed in a bag. This time, two balls of different colours
are selected at random, removed, and replaced with two balls of the third colour. Show that it
is impossible for all of the remaining balls to be the same colour, no matter how many times
this process is repeated.
2003 Hypatia Contest (Grade 11)
Wednesday, April 16, 2003
1. (a) Quentin has a number of square tiles, each measuring 1 cm by 1 cm. He tries to put these small square tiles
together to form a larger square of side length n cm, but finds that he has 92 tiles left over. If he had
increased the side length of the larger square to ( n + 2 ) cm, he would have been 100 tiles short of complet-
ing the larger square. How many tiles does Quentin have?
(b) Quentin’s friend Rufus arrives with a big pile of identical blocks, each in the shape of a cube. Quentin takes
some of the blocks and Rufus takes the rest. Quentin uses his blocks to try to make a large cube with 8 blocks
along each edge, but finds that he is 24 blocks short. Rufus, on the other hand, manages to exactly make a
large cube using all of his blocks. If they use all of their blocks together, they are able to make a complete
cube which has a side length that is 2 blocks longer than Rufus’ cube. How many blocks are there in total?
2. Xavier and Yolanda are playing a game starting with some coins arranged in piles. Xavier always goes first,
and the two players take turns removing one or more coins from any one pile. The player who takes the last
coin wins.
(a) If there are two piles of coins with 3 coins in each pile, show that
Yolanda can guarantee that she always wins the game.
(b) If the game starts with piles of 1, 2 and 3 coins, explain how
Yolanda can guarantee that she always wins the game.
4. Square ABCD has vertices A(1, 4 ) , B(5, 4 ) , C (5, 8) , and D(1, 8) . From y
a point P outside the square, a vertex of the square is said to be visible
if it can be connected to P by a straight line that does not pass through D(1, 8) C(5, 8)
the square. Thus, from any point P outside the square, either two or
three of the vertices of the square are visible. The visible area of P is
the area of the one triangle or the sum of the areas of the two triangles A(1, 4) B(5, 4)
formed by joining P to the two or three visible vertices of the square.
(a) Show that the visible area of P (2,−6) is 20 square units. Visible Area
x
P(2, – 6)
over ...
(b) Show that the visible area of Q(11, 0 ) is also 20 square units. y
D(1, 8) C(5, 8)
Visible Area
A(1, 4) B(5, 4)
x
Q(11, 0)
(c) The set of points P for which the visible area equals 20 square units is called the 20/20 set, and is a polygon.
Determine the perimeter of the 20/20 set.
Extensions (Attempt these only when you have completed as much as possible of the four main
problems.)
Extension to Problem 1:
As in Question 1(a), Quentin tries to make a large square out of square tiles and has 92 tiles left over. In an attempt
to make a second square, he increases the side length of this first square by an unknown number of tiles and finds
that he is 100 tiles short of completing the square. How many different numbers of tiles is it possible for Quentin
to have?
Extension to Problem 2:
If the game starts with piles of 2, 4 and 5 coins, which player wins if both players always make their best possible
move? Explain the winning strategy.
Extension to Problem 3:
A sphere of diameter d and a right circular cone with a base of diameter d stand on a horizontal surface. In this case,
the height of the cone is equal to the radius of the sphere. Show that, for any horizontal plane that cuts both the cone
and the sphere, the sum of the areas of the circular cross-sections is always the same.
Extension to Problem 4:
From any point P outside a unit cube, 4, 6 or 7 vertices are visible in the same sense as in the case of the square.
Connecting point P to each of these vertices gives 1, 2 or 3 square-based pyramids, which make up the visible volume
of P. The 20/20 set is the set of all points P for which the visible volume is 20, and is a polyhedron. What is the
surface area of this 20/20 set?