10

MATHEMATICAL ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

American mathematics competitions

11th Annual

Amc 10 A

American Mathematics Contest 10A

Solutions Pamphlet
Tuesday, February 9, 2010

This Pamphlet gives at least one solution for each problem on this years contest and shows
that all problems can be solved without the use of a calculator. When more than one
solution is provided, this is done to illustrate a significant contrast in methods, e.g., algebraic
vs geometric, computational vs conceptual, elementary vs advanced. These solutions are
by no means the only ones possible, nor are they superior to others the reader may devise.
We hope that teachers will inform their students about these solutions, both as illustrations
of the kinds of ingenuity needed to solve nonroutine problems and as examples of good
mathematical exposition. However, the publication, reproduction or communication of the
problems or solutions of the AMC 10 during the period when students are eligible to participate
seriously jeopardizes the integrity of the results. Dissemination via copier, telephone, e-mail, World
Wide Web or media of any type during this period is a violation of the competition rules.

After the contest period, permission to make copies of problems in paper or electronic form including posting on
web-pages for educational use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or
commercial advantage and that copies bear the copyright notice.

Correspondence about the problems/solutions for this AMC 10 and orders for any publications should be addressed to:

American Mathematics Competitions

University of Nebraska, P.O. Box 81606, Lincoln, NE 68501-1606
Phone: 402-472-2257; Fax: 402-472-6087; email: [email protected]

The problems and solutions for this AMC 10 were prepared by the MAAs Committee on the
AMC 10 and AMC 12 under the direction of AMC 10 Subcommittee Chair:

Dr. Leroy Wenstrom

[email protected]

2010 Mathematical Association of America

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Solutions
1. Answer (D):

2010 AMC 10 A

The average of the five values is

20
6 + 0.5 + 1 + 2.5 + 10
=
= 4.
5
5

2. Answer (B): Let s be the side length of the smaller square. Then the length
of the rectangle is 4s, and the width is 4s s = 3s. Hence the rectangle length
4
is 4s
3s = 3 times as large as its width.
3. Answer (D): Let x be the number of marbles that Tyrone gave to Eric. Then
97 x = 2(11 + x). Solving this equation yields x = 25.
4. Answer (B): Because 412 56 is between 7 and 8, the reading will need 8
discs. Therefore each disc will contain 412 8 = 51.5 minutes of reading.
5. Answer (E): Because the circumference is 2r = 24, the radius r is 12.
Therefore the area is r2 = 144, and k = 144.

6. Answer (C):

Note that (2, 2) = 2 12 = 32 . Therefore



3
4
2
(2, (2, 2)) = 2,
=2 = .
2
3
3

7. Answer (C): When Crystal travels one mile northeast she travels 22 miles

north and 22 miles east. Similarly, when she travels southeast for one mile she

travels 22 miles south and 22 miles east. Just before the last portion of her

run she has traveled a net of 1 + 22 22 = 1 miles north, and 22 + 22 = 2

miles east. By the Pythagorean Theorem, the last portion of her run is


12 + ( 2)2 = 1 + 2 = 3 miles.

8. Answer (D): Tony worked for 2 50 = 100 hours. His average earnings per
hour during this period is $630
100 = $6.30 . Hence his average age during this
period was $6.30
=
12.6,
and
so at the end of the six month period he was 13.
$0.50

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Solutions

2010 AMC 10 A

9. Answer (E): Let x + 32 be written in the form CDDC. Because x has three
digits, 1000 < x + 32 < 1032, and so C = 1 and D = 0. Hence x = 1001 32 =
969, and the sum of the digits of x is 9 + 6 + 9 = 24.

10. Answer (E): A non-leap year has 365 days, and 365 = 52 7 + 1, so there are
52 weeks and 1 day in a non-leap year. Because May 27 was after leap day in
2008, Marvins birthday fell on Wednesday in 2009, and will fall on Thursday
in 2010 and Friday in 2011. His birthday will be on Sunday in the leap year
2012, Monday in 2013, Tuesday in 2014, Wednesday in 2015, Friday in 2016,
and Saturday in 2017.

11. Answer (D):

The solution of the inequality is

b3
a3
x
.
2
2

If

b3
2

a3
2

= 10, then b a = 20.

12. Answer (C): The volume scale for Logans

model is 0.1 : 100,000 = 1 :

1,000,000. Therefore the linear scale is 1 : 3 1,000,000, which is 1 : 100. Logans

40
= 0.4 meters tall.
water tower should stand 100
13. Answer (A): Angelina drove 80t km before she stopped. After her stop, she
drove (3 13 t) hours at an average rate of 100 kph, so she covered 100( 83 t)
km in that time. Therefore 80t + 100( 83 t) = 250. Note that t = 56 .s

14. Answer (C): Let = BAE = ACD = ACF . Because CF E is

equilateral, it follows that CF A = 120 and then
F AC = 180 120 ACF = 60 .
Therefore

BAC = BAE + F AC = + (60 ) = 60 .

Because AB = 2 AC, it follows that BAC is a 30 60 90 triangle, and thus

ACB = 90 .

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Solutions

2010 AMC 10 A

A
D
F

B
E

15. Answer (D): LeRoy and Chris cannot both be frogs, because their statements
would be true and frogs lie. Also LeRoy and Chris cannot both be toads, because
then their statements would be false, and toads tell the truth. Hence between
LeRoy and Chris, exactly one must be a toad.
If Brian is a toad, then Mike must be a frog, but this is a contradiction as Mikes
statement would then be true. Hence Brian is a frog, so Brians statement must
be false, and Mike must be a frog. Altogether there are 3 frogs: Brian, Mike,
and either LeRoy or Chris.

16. Answer (B): By the Angle Bisector Theorem, 8 BA = 3 BC. Thus BA

must be a multiple of 3. If BA = 3, the triangle is degenerate. If BA = 6, then
BC = 16, and the perimeter is 6 + 16 + 11 = 33.

17. Answer (A): The volume of the solid cube is 27 in3 . The first hole to be
cut removes 2 2 3 = 12 in3 from the volume. The other holes remove
2 2 0.5 = 2 in3 from each of the four remaining faces. The volume of the
remaining solid is 27 12 4(2) = 7 in3 .
18. Answer (B): The probability that Bernardo picks a 9 is 39 = 13 . In this
case, his three-digit number will begin with a 9 and will be larger than Silvias
three-digit number.
If Bernardo does not pick a 9, then Bernardo and Silvia will form the same
number with probability
1
1
8 =
.
56
3
If they do not form the same number then Bernardos number will be larger
of the time.

2010-Solutions-AMC10A.indd 4

1
2

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Solutions

2010 AMC 10 A

Hence the probability is

1
111
37
1 2 1
+ (1 ) =
=
.
3 3 2
56
168
56

19. Answer (E): Triangles ABC, CDE and EF A are congruent, so ACE is
equilateral. Let X be the intersection of the lines AB and EF and define Y
and Z similarly as shown in the figure. Because ABCDEF is equiangular, it
follows that XAF = AF X = 60 . Thus XAF is equilateral. Let H be the
midpoint of XF . By the Pythagorean Theorem,

r
3 2
2
2
2
r) + ( + 1)2 = r2 + r + 1
AE = AH + HE = (
2
2
Thus, the area of ACE is

3
3 2
AE 2 =
(r + r + 1).
4
4
The area of hexagon ABCDEF is equal to


3
3 2
2
2
(2r + 1) 3r =
(r + 4r + 1)
[XY Z] [XAF ] [Y CB] [ZED] =
4
4
Because [ACE] =

7
10 [ABCDEF ],

it follows that

7 2
(r + 4r + 1)
10

from which r2 6r + 1 = 0 and r = 3 2 2. The sum of all possible values of

r is 6.
r2 + r + 1 =

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Solutions

2010 AMC 10 A

20. Answer (D): Each of the 8 lines segments on the flys path is an edge, a face
diagonal, or an interior
diagonal
of the cube. These three type of line segments

have lengths 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Because each vertex of the cube is

visited only once,
the two
line segments that meet at a vertex have a combined
length of at
most 2 + 3. Therefore the sum of the lengths of the 8 segments
is at most 4 2 + 4 3. This maximum is achieved by the path
A G B H C E D F A.
H
E

G
F

D
A

21. Answer (A): Let the polynomial be (x r)(x s)(x t) with 0 < r s t.
Then rst = 2010 = 2 3 5 67, and r + s + t = a. If t = 67, then rs = 30, and
r + s is minimized when r = 5 and s = 6. In that case a = 67 + 5 + 6 = 78. If
t = 67, then a > t 2 67 = 134, so the minimum value of a is 78.
22. Answer (A): Three chords create a triangle if and only if they intersect
pairwise inside the circle. Two chords intersect inside the circle if and only
if their endpoints alternate in order around the circle. Therefore, if points
A, B, C, D, E, and F are in order around the circle, then only the chords AD,
BE, CF all intersect pairwise inside the circle.
Thus every set of 6 points

determines a unique triangle, and there are 86 = 28 such triangles.
23. Answer (A): If Isabella reaches the k th box, she will draw a white marble
k
. For n 2, the probability that she will draw
from it with probability k+1
white marbles from each of the first n 1 boxes is
n1
1
1 2 3

= ,
2 3 4
n
n

so the probability that she will draw her first red marble from the nth box is
1
. The condition P (n) < 1/2010 is equivalent to n2 +n2010 > 0,
P (n) = n(n+1)

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Solutions
2010 AMC 10 A
7

from which n > 12 (1 + 8041) and (2n + 1)2 > 8041. The smallest positive
odd integer whose square exceeds 8041 is 91, and the corresponding value of n
is 45.

24. Answer (A): There are 18 factors of 90! that are multiples of 5, 3 factors
that are multiples of 25, and no factors that are multiples of higher powers of
5. Also, there are more than 45 factors of 2 in 90!. Thus 90! = 1021 N where N
is an integer not divisible by 10, and if N n (mod100) with 0 < n 99, then
n is a multiple of 4.
Let 90! = AB where A consists of the factors that are relativelyprime to 5 and
4
B consists of the factors that are divisible by 5. Note that j=1 (5k + j)
5k(1 + 2 + 3 + 4) + 1 2 3 4 24 (mod25), thus
A

= (1 2 3 4) (6 7 8 9) (86 87 88 89)
2418 (1)18 1 (mod25).

Similarly,
B = (5 10 15 20) (30 35 40 45) (55 60 65 70) (80 85 90) (25 50 75),
thus
B
521

= (1 2 3 4) (6 7 8 9) (11 12 13 14) (16 17 18) (1 2 3)

243 (9) (8) (7) 6 (1)3 1 1 (mod25).

Finally, 221 = 2 (210 )2 = 2 (1024)2 2 (1)2 2 (mod25), so 13 221

13 2 1 (mod25). Therefore
N

90!
B
= 13 A 21 13 1 (1) (mod25)
521
5
13 12 (mod25).

(13 221 )N = 13

Thus n is equal to 12, 37, 62, or 87, and because n is a multiple of 4, it follows
that n = 12.

25. Answer (B): Let the sequence be (a1 , a2 , . . . , a8 ). For j > 1, aj1 = aj + m2
for some m such that aj < (m + 1)2 m2 = 2m + 1. To minimize the value
of a1 , construct the sequence in reverse order and choose the smallest possible
value of m for each j, 2 j 8. The terms in reverse order are a8 = 0,
a7 = 1, a6 = 1 + 12 = 2, a5 = 2 + 12 = 3, a4 = 3 + 22 = 7, a3 = 7 + 42 = 23,
a2 = 23 + 122 = 167, and N = a1 = 167 + 842 = 7223, which has the unit digit
3.

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Solutions

2010 AMC 10 A

The problems and solutions in this contest were proposed by Bernardo Abrego,
Betsy Bennett, Steven Blasberg, Steven Davis, Sundeep Desai, Steven Dunbar, Sister
Josannae Furey, David Grabiner, Michelle Ghrist, Jerrold Grossman, Brian Hartwig,
Dan Kennedy, Joe Kennedy, Mike Korn, Leon La Spina, Glen Marr, Raymond Scacalossi,
David Wells, LeRoy Wenstrom, Woody Wenstrom, and Ron Yannone.

The

American Mathematics Competitions

are Sponsored by
The Mathematical Association of America
The Akamai Foundation
Contributors

Academy of Applied Sciences

American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges
American Mathematical Society
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Art of Problem Solving
Awesome Math
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MathPath
Math Zoom Academy
Mu Alpha Theta
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
Pi Mu Epsilon
Society of Actuaries
U.S.A. Math Talent Search
W. H. Freeman and Company
Wolfram Research Inc.

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