Problem Solving Via the AMC

WJ ATKNIS
Problem Solving Via the AMC

WJ ATKNIS
 Published by

AMT PUBLISHING

Australian Maths Trust

170 Haydon Drive
Bruce ACT 2617
AUSTRALIA
Telephone: +61 2 6201 5136
www.amt.edu.au

Copyright ©1992 Australian Mathematics Trust

First Reprint 1996
Second Reprint 1999
Third Reprint 2003
Fourth Reprint 2007
Fifth Reprint 2013
PDF Edition 2019
PDF Edition 2020

AMTT Limited ACN 083 950 341

National Library of Australia Card Number and ISSN
Australian Mathematics Trust Enrichment Series ISSN 1326-0170
Problem Solving Via the AMC ISBN 978-1-876420-07-9
ENRICHMENT SERIES
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

EDITOR Mike Clapper, Melbourne AUSTRALIA

Warren J Atkins, Newcastle AUSTRALIA
Ed J Barbeau, Toronto CANADA
George Berzsenyi, Milwaukee, USA
Ron Dunkley, Waterloo CANADA
Nikolay Konstantinov, Moscow RUSSIA
Andy Liu, Edmonton CANADA
Jordan B Tabov, Sofia BULGARIA
Peter J Taylor, Canberra AUSTRALIA
John Webb, Cape Town SOUTH AFRICA

The books in this series are selected for their motivating, interesting and
stimulating sets of quality problems, with a lucid expository style in their
solutions. Typically, the problems have occurred in either national or
international contests at the secondary school level.
They are intended to be sufficiently detailed at an elementary level for
the mathematically inclined or interested to understand but, at the same
time, be interesting and sometimes challenging to the undergraduate and
the more advanced mathematician. It is believed that these mathematics
competition problems are a positive influence on the learning and
enrichment of mathematics.
BOOKS IN THE ENRICHMENT SERIES

1  Australian Mathematics Competition Book 1, 1978–1984

WJ Atkins, JD Edwards, DJ King, PJ O’Halloran & PJ Taylor
2  Mathematical Toolchest
AW Plank & NH Williams
3  Tournament of Towns Questions and Solutions Book 2, 1984–1989
PJ Taylor
4  Australian Mathematics Competition Book 2, 1985–1991
PJ O’Halloran, G Pollard & PJ Taylor
5  Problem Solving Via the AMC
W Atkins
6  Tournament of Towns Questions and Solutions Book 1, 1980–1984
PJ Taylor
7  Tournament of Towns Questions and Solutions Book 3, 1989–1993
PJ Taylor
8  Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad 1989–2000
H Lausch & C Bosch Giral
9  Methods Of Problem Solving Book 1
JB Tabov & PJ Taylor
10  Challenge! Book 1, 1991–1995
JB Henry, J Dowsey, AR Edwards, LJ Mottershead, A Nakos & G Vardaro
11  USSR Mathematical Olympiads 1989–1992
AM Slinko
12  Australian Mathematical Olympiads 1979–1995
H Lausch & PJ Taylor
13  Chinese Mathematics Competitions and Olympiads 1981–1993
A Liu
14  Polish & Austrian Mathematical Olympiads 1981–1995
ME Kuczma & E Windischbacher
15  International Mathematics Tournament of Towns Book 4, 1993–1997
PJ Taylor & AM Storozhev
16  Australian Mathematics Competition Book 3, 1992–1998
WJ Atkins, JE Munro & PJ Taylor
17  Seeking Solutions
JC Burns
18  101 Problems in Algebra
T Andreescu & Z Feng
19  Methods of Problem Solving Book 2
JB Tabov & PJ Taylor
20  Hungary-Israel Mathematics Competition: The First Twelve Years
S Gueron
21  Bulgarian Mathematics Competition 1992–2001
BJ Lazarov, JB Tabov, PJ Taylor & A Storozhev
22  Chinese Mathematics Competitions and Olympiads Book 2, 1993–2001
A Liu
23  International Mathematics Tournament of Towns Book 5, 1997–2002
AM Storozhev
24  Australian Mathematics Competition Book 4, 1999–2005
WJ Atkins & PJ Taylor
25  Challenge! Book 2, 1999–2006
JB Henry, J Dowsey, AR Edwards, LJ Mottershead, A Nakos, G Vardaro
& PJ Taylor
26  International Mathematics Tournament of Towns Book 6, 2002–2007
PJ Taylor
27  International Mathematical Talent Search Part 1
G Berzsenyi
28  International Mathematical Talent Search Part 2
G Berzsenyi
29  Australian Mathematical Olympiads Book 2, 1996–2011
H Lausch, A Di Pasquale, DC Hunt & PJ Taylor
30  Methods of Problem Solving Book 3
JB Tabov, EM Kolev & PJ Taylor
31  Australian Mathematics Competition Book 5, 2006–2012
WJ Atkins & PJ Taylor
32  Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiads 1999–2013
JB Henry & KL McAvaney
33  Problem Solving Tactics
A Di Pasquale, N Do & D Mathews
34  Chinese Mathematics Competitions and Olympiads Book 3, 2001–2009
Y Fu, Z Li & A Liu
35  Australian Mathematical Olympiads and AMOC Senior Contests
2012–2019
A Di Pasquale
FOREWORD

With over half a million 1992 entries, the Australian Mathematics

Competition for the Westpac Awards is one of the world’s great
mathematics competitions. There are many reasons for this. Certainly
a significant factor in its extraordinary success has been its annual
collection of motivating and exciting questions . . . an annual infusion of
rich ideas into thousands of schools in Australia, New Zealand and the
South West Pacific. “These questions are intelligent, well put and have
the property of being challenging and interesting . . . the questions come
as close to making the point as can be done.” said the eminent American
mathematician, Paul Halmos.
So with two important basic ingredients, a rich source of beautiful
questions and the world’s largest database of achievement in
mathematics, the author has taken up the challenge to counter the
claim that perhaps certain topics should not be included in the school
curriculum as sixteen year old students’ achievement is no better than
that of thirteen year old students. The author has the conviction that this
lack of improvement in achievement is mainly due to the lack of such
experiences in the present school curriculum.
As a result he has produced a book which will provide what I consider
will be a great resource for the enrichment of mathematics learning in
secondary schools everywhere. I congratulate the author, Warren Atkins,
for a splendid book and I wish him every success with its publication.

Peter J. O’Halloran,
Executive Director,
Australian Mathematics Competition,
September 1992.
CONTENTS

FOREWORD � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � vii
PREFACE � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � xi
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � xiii
Diophantine Equations� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 3
Solutions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 15

Counting Techniques � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 25
Solutions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 58

When Things Move � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 83

Solutions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 106

Geometry � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 123
Solutions � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 173

REFERENCES � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 207
PREFACE

This book consists of the discussion and the development of solutions

of approximately 150 problems set in the Australian Mathematics
Competition for the years 1978 to 1991. These problems have been
chosen from the topics of Diophantine Equations, Counting Techniques,
Motion and Rates of Change, and Geometry.
The Australian Mathematics Competition is an annual national
competition for students in years 7 to 12 from high schools and secondary
colleges. The Competition aims to stimulate the mathematical thinking of
students by the provision of a collection of stimulating and challenging
mathematical problems which can be used to enhance the teaching
and learning of mathematics. Most of the questions are appropriate
for the good average student and not just the top students, although
these are also well catered for. The Competition, whose origin was
due to the foresight, energy and administrative skills of my colleague
Peter O’Halloran of the University of Canberra, began in 1978 and has
expanded such that in 1992 it is one of the largest in the world with over
500,000 student entries, which represents approximately one third of
all Australian secondary students. The competition has three divisions,
Junior for years 7 and 8, Intermediate for years 9 and 10 and Senior for
years 11 and 12. Each paper consists of 30 multiple choice questions, in
three sections of 10 questions, arranged in increasing order of difficulty.
Some questions are common to two of the age division papers and some
are common to all three.
This book and the selection of topics for the chapters was a direct result
of some investigation done with Gilah Leder from Monash University. It
followed on her analysis of responses to questions in the Competition
which were common to more than one of the age division papers.
This analysis showed a range of problems where students achieved no
better in the later years than students in the earlier years. While there
is the occasional problem which is very difficult, it is my view that
the lack of improvement in most of these skill areas is not due to the
inappropriateness of the skill for the particular age or grade level, but
rather that the appropriate problem solving skills are not emphasised
and developed sufficiently in the typical school curriculum. Hence the
selection of the chapters, Geometry and When Things Move (i.e. speeds
and rates of change), as they were perceived to be difficult by most
students, Diophantine Equations and Counting Techniques as these
topics were also seen to be difficult and, in addition, are not often
covered in standard school texts.

Warren Atkins,
Newcastle NSW
February 2003
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank the Australian Mathematics Competition for

permission to use the questions from the Competition. In particular I
would like to thank Peter Taylor, Executive Director of the Australian
Mathematics Trust. I would also like to thank the many members of the
Problems Committee who contributed such a wide variety of interesting
questions over a period of time.
I must give special thanks to Kevin Friel, Peter O’Halloran, Robin
Thornely and John Carty, fellow members of the Problems Committee,
and Graham Pollard, Tanya Ford and Sally Bakker of the Australian
Mathematics Competition, for their help and suggestions in improving
the manuscript. For suggestions and corrections for the second printing
I must thank Richard Bollard, of the Australian Mathematics Trust, and
George Harvey.
For the cover design and illustrations for this edition I must thank Fiona
Wilson and Heather Sommariva of the Australian Mathematics Trust.
Finally I thank my wife Naida for tolerating my many hours at the
computer while I was typesetting the book.
The book was prepared in LaTeX with the diagrams designed in MacDraw
Pro.
Warren Atkins,
Newcastle NSW
February 2003
DIOPHANTINE EQUATIONS
 Diophantine Equations
Diophantine Equations
Chapter 1
Diophantine Equations

D iophantine equations are named after the prominent Greek math-

ematician Diophantus of Alexandria (c. 275) who published three
works, mainly pertaining to the areas we now call algebra and the so-
lution(s) of equations. The following is a story about his life, probably
dating from the 5th century: his boyhood lasted 16 of his life, his beard
grew after 121
more, after 17 more he married, 5 years later his son was
born, the son lived to half his father’s age, and the father died 4 years
after his son. This was posed as a Diophantine equation (see below),
and is generally thought to mean that he married at age 33 and died at
age 84.

The term Diophantine equation is used to refer to any equation, usually

in several variables, which arises in a problem where the solutions are
required to be integers (positive integers in many cases), or sometimes
more general rational numbers. Such an equation is

x + y = 5.

This equation has an infinite number of solutions when the set of real
numbers is considered. As a general rule however, in problem situations
that arise there are other constraints that help us narrow down the
possibilities to a small number of cases or even to a unique solution.
Consider the above equation. If we restrict the possible values of x and
y to non-negative integers (i.e. the positive integers and zero), we have
the six solutions for (x, y):

(0, 5); (1, 4); (2, 3); (3, 2); (4, 1) and (5, 0).

Note also that the pair of values x = 0 and y = 5, for example, represents
one solution to the equation.

The type of restriction where the solutions must be positive integers

readily arises in practical problems where the variables x and y represent
numbers of objects and such like. In such cases, the procedure is usually

9
4 Problem Solving via the AMC
Diophantine Equations

to systematically list the possible solutions of the equation and then

select the ones which satisfy any additional criteria.

For a Diophantine equation there is no formula such as, for example,

the formula for the roots of a quadratic. We can, however, develop a
method, and we will usually need to take into account other aspects of
the problem context in order to fully determine the result.

Consider D1 (1985 J 23):–

Find the smallest positive integer which, when divided by

6, gives a remainder of 1 and when divided by 11, gives a
remainder of 6.

Since the integer has a remainder of 1 when divided by 6, it is of the

form
6m + 1
for m a non-negative integer. This gives the possibilities

1, 7, 13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61, . . .

Similarly, the positive integers which have a remainder of 6 when divided

by 11 are
6, 17, 28, 39, 50, 61, . . .
The smallest number in common to both sets is 61.

Note: This corresponds to the solution of the Diophantine equation

6m + 1 = 11n + 6
i.e. 6m − 11n = 5

which has many solutions, with m = 10 and n = 5 corresponding to the

above solution of 61.
[1985 Percentage Correct:– Junior 26% ]

10