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2023 Fermat Contest
Solutions
(Grade 11)

Wednesday, February 22, 2023
(in North America and South America)

Thursday, February 23, 2023
(outside of North American and South America)

©2022 University of Waterloo


  1. Evaluating, 0.3+0.03=0.33.

    Answer: (D)

  2. Since 3+x=5, then x=2.
    Since 3+y=5, then y=8.
    Thus, x+y=10.
    Alternatively, we could have added the original two equations to obtain (3+x)+(3+y)=5+5 which simplifies to x+y=10.

    Answer: (E)

  3. When x=2, we obtain 2x2+3x2=5x2=522=54=20.

    Answer: (E)

  4. There are 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day.
    Thus, there are 6024=1440 minutes in a day.
    Since there are 7 days in a week, the number of minutes in a week is 71440=10080.
    Of the given choices, this is closest to (C) 10 000.

    Answer: (C)

  5. Using the given rule, the output of the machine is 2×0+2×3=0+6=6.

    Answer: (D)

  6. Since there are 3 doors and 2 colour choices for each door, there are 23=8 ways of painting the three doors.
    Using “B” to represent black and “G” to represent gold, these ways are BBB, BBG, BGB, BGG, GBB, GBG, GGB, and GGG.

    Answer: (A)

  7. Since juice boxes come in packs of 3, Danny needs to buy at least 6 packs for the 17 players. (If Danny bought 5 packs, he would have 15 juice boxes which is not enough; with 6 packs, he would have 18 juice boxes.)
    Since apples come in bags of 5, Danny needs to buy at least 4 bags. (We note that 35=15 is too small, and 45=20, which is enough.)
    Therefore, the minimum amount that Danny can spend is 6$2.00+4$4.00=$28.00.

    Answer: (B)

  8. Riding at 15 km/h, Bri finishes the 30 km in 30 km15 km/h=2 h.
    Riding at 20 km/h, Ari finishes the 30 km in 30 km20 km/h=1.5 h.

    Therefore, Bri finishes 0.5 h after Ari, which is 30 minutes.

    Answer: (C)

  9. In total, the three tanks contain 3600 L+1600 L+3800 L=9000 L.
    If the water is divided equally between the three tanks, each will contain 139000 L=3000 L.
    Therefore, 3600 L3000 L=600 L needs to be moved from Tank A to Tank B.
    (We note that 800 L would also need to be moved from Tank C to Tank B, and at this point, the three tanks will contain 3000 L.)

    Answer: (B)

  10. Suppose that AB=x for some x>0.
    Since AB:AC=1:5, then AC=5x.
    This means that BC=ACAB=5xx=4x.
    Since BC:CD=2:1 and BC=4x, then CD=2x.

    A line segment with endpoints A and D. Points B and C are on AD with B closer to A.

    Therefore, AB:CD=x:2x=1:2.

    Answer: (B)

  11. Suppose that Mathilde had m coins at the start of last month and Salah and s coins at the start of last month.
    From the given information, 100 is 25% more than m, so 100=1.25m which means that m=1001.25=80.

    From the given information, 100 is 20% less than s, so 100=0.80s which means that s=1000.80=125.

    Therefore, at the beginning of last month, they had a total of m+s=80+125=205 coins.

    Answer: (E)

  12. A rectangle with length 8 cm and width π cm has area 8π cm2.
    Suppose that the radius of the semi-circle is r cm.
    The area of a circle with radius r cm is πr2 cm2 and so the area of the semi-circle is 12πr2 cm2.
    Since the rectangle and the semi-circle have the same area, then 12πr2=8π and so πr2=16π or r2=16.
    Since r>0, then r=4 and so the radius of the semi-circle is 4 cm.

    Answer: (B)

  13. The equation a(x+2)+b(x+2)=60 has a common factor of x+2 on the left side.
    Thus, we can re-write the equation as (a+b)(x+2)=60.
    When a+b=12, we obtain 12(x+2)=60 and so x+2=5 which gives x=3.

    Answer: (A)

  14. The line with a slope of 2 and y-intercept 6 has equation y=2x+6.
    To find its x-intercept, we set y=0 to obtain 0=2x+6 or 2x=6, which gives x=3.
    The line with a slope of 4 and y-intercept 6 has equation y=4x+6.
    To find its x-intercept, we set y=0 to obtain 0=4x+6 or 4x=6, which gives x=64=32.

    The distance between the points on the x-axis with coordinates (3,0) and (32,0) is 3+32 which equals 62+32 or 92.

    Answer: (E)

  15. The 1st term is 16.

    Since 16 is even, the 2nd term is 1216+1=9.

    Since 9 is odd, the 3rd term is 12(9+1)=5.

    Since 5 is odd, the 4th term is 12(5+1)=3.

    Since 3 is odd, the 5th term is 12(3+1)=2.

    Since 2 is even, the 6th term is 122+1=2.

    This previous step shows us that when one term is 2, the next term will also be 2.
    Thus, the remaining terms in this sequence are all 2.
    In particular, the 101st term is 2.

    Answer: (B)

  16. The given arrangement has 14 zeroes and 11 ones showing.
    Loron can pick any row or column in which to flip the 5 cards over. Furthermore, the row or column that Loron chooses can contain between 0 and 5 of the cards with different numbers on their two sides.
    Of the 5 rows and 5 columns, 3 have 4 zeroes and 1 one, 2 have 3 zeroes and 2 ones, and 5 have 2 zeroes and 3 ones.
    This means that the number of zeroes cannot decrease by more than 4 when the cards in a row or column are flipped, since the only way that the zeroes could decrease by 5 is if all five cards in the row or column had 0 on the top face and 1 on the bottom face.
    Therefore, there cannot be as few as 145=9 zeroes after Loron flips the cards, which means that the ratio cannot be 9:16, or (C). This means that the answer to the given problem is (C).

    For completeness, we will show that the other ratios are indeed achievable.
    If Loron chooses the first column and if this column includes 3 cards with ones on both sides, and 2 cards with zeroes on one side (facing up) and ones on the reverse side, then flipping the cards in this column yields 142=12 zeroes and 11+2=13 ones.
    Thus, the ratio 12:13 (choice (A)) is possible.
    If Loron chooses the fifth column and if this column includes 1 card with a one on both sides and 4 cards with zeroes on one side (facing up) and ones on the reverse side, then flipping the cards in this column yields 144=10 zeroes and 11+4=15 ones.
    Thus, the ratio 10:15=2:3 (choice (B)) is possible.
    If Loron chooses the first column and if the top 4 cards in this column have the same numbers on both sides and the bottom card has a one on the top side and a zero on the reverse side, then flipping the cards in this column yields 14+1=15 zeroes and 111=10 ones.
    Thus, the ratio 15:10=3:2 (choice (D)) is possible.
    If Loron chooses the first column and if the first, fourth and fifth cards in this column have the same numbers on both sides and the second and third cards each has a one on the top side and a zero on the reverse side, then flipping the cards in this column yields 14+2=16 zeroes and 112=9 ones.
    Thus, the ratio 16:9 (choice (E)) is possible.
    Therefore, the only ratio of the five that are given that is not possible is 9:16, or (C).

    Answer: (C)

  17. We start by finding the prime factors of 1184: 1184=2592=22296=23148=2474=2537 The positive divisors of 1184 cannot contain prime factors other than 2 and 37, and cannot contain more than 5 factors of 2 or 1 factor of 37.
    Thus, the positive divisors are 1,2,4,8,16,32,37,74,148,296,592,1184 (The first five of these divisors have 0 factors of 37 and 0 through 5 factors of 2, while the last five have 1 factor 37 and 0 through 5 factors of 2.)
    The sum, S, of these divisors is S=1+2+4+8+16+32+37+74+148+296+592+1184=(1+2+4+8+16+32)+37(1+2+4+8+16+32)=(1+2+4+8+16+32)(1+37)=6338=2394

    Answer: (A)

  18. Each group of four jumps takes the grasshopper 1 cm to the east and 3 cm to the west, which is a net movement of 2 cm to the west, and 2 cm to the north and 4 cm to the south, which is a net movement of 2 cm to the south.
    In other words, we can consider each group of four jumps, starting with the first, as resulting in a net movement of 2 cm to the west and 2 cm to the south.
    We note that 158=2×79.
    Thus, after 79 groups of four jumps, the grasshopper is 79×2=158 cm to the west and 158 cm to the south of its original position. (We need at least 79 groups of these because the grasshopper cannot be 158 cm to the south of its original position before the end of 79 such groups.)
    The grasshopper has made 4×79=316 jumps so far.
    After the 317th jump (1 cm to the east), the grasshopper is 157 cm west and 158 cm south of its original position.
    After the 318th jump (2 cm to the north), the grasshopper is 157 cm west and 156 cm south of its original position.
    After the 319th jump (3 cm to the west), the grasshopper is 160 cm west and 156 cm south of its original position.
    After the 320th jump (4 cm to the south), the grasshopper is 160 cm west and 160 cm south of its original position.
    After the 321st jump (1 cm to the east), the grasshopper is 159 cm west and 160 cm south of its original position.
    After the 322nd jump (2 cm to the north), the grasshopper is 159 cm west and 158 cm south of its original position.
    After the 323rd jump (3 cm to the west), the grasshopper is 162 cm west and 158 cm south of its original position, which is the desired position.
    As the grasshopper continues jumping, each of its positions will always be at least 160 cm south of its original position, so this is the only time that it is at this position.
    Therefore, n=323. The sum of the squares of the digits of n is 32+22+32=9+4+9=22.

    Answer: (A)

  19. If x and y satisfy 2x2+8y=26, then x2+4y=13 and so 4y=13x2.
    Since x and y are integers, then 4y is even and so 13x2 is even, which means that x is odd.
    Since x is odd, we can write x=2q+1 for some integer q.
    Thus, 4y=13x2=13(2q+1)2=13(4q2+4q+1)=124q24q.
    Since 4y=124q24q, then y=3q2q.
    Thus, xy=(2q+1)(3q2q)=q2+3q2.
    When q=4, we obtain xy=q2+3q2=42+342=26.
    We note also that, when q=4, x=2q+1=9 and y=3q2q=17 which satisfy x2+4y=13.
    We can also check that there is no integer q for which q2+3q2 is equal to any of 8, 16, 22, or 30. (For example, if q2+3q2=16, then q2+3q+14=0, and this quadratic equation has no integer solutions.)

    Answer: (B)

  20. If n! ends with exactly m zeroes, then n! is divisible by 10m but not divisible by 10m+1. (If n! were divisible by 10m+1, it would end with at least m+1 zeroes.)
    In this case, we can write n!=10mq where q is not divisible by 10. This in turn means that either q is not divisible by 2 or not divisible by 5 or both.
    Since 2<5, when n2, the product n!=123(n1)n includes more multiples of 2 than of 5 among the n integers in its product, so n! includes more factors of 2 than of 5.
    This in turn means that, if n! ends in exactly m zeroes, then n!=10mq where q is not divisible by 5, and so the number of zeroes at the end of n! is exactly equal to the number of prime factors of 5 in the prime factorization of n!.
    We note also that as n increases, the number of zeroes at the end of n! never decreases since the number of factors of 5 either stays the same or increases as n increases.
    For n=1 to n=4, the product n! includes 0 multiples of 5, so n! ends in 0 zeroes.
    For n=5 to n=9, the product n! includes 1 multiple of 5 (namely 5), so n! ends in 1 zero.
    For n=10 to n=14, the product n! includes 2 multiples of 5 (namely 5 and 10), so n! ends in 2 zeroes.
    For n=15 to n=19, the product n! includes 3 multiples of 5 (namely 5, 10 and 15), so n! ends in 3 zeroes.
    For n=20 to n=24, the product n! includes 4 multiples of 5 (namely 5, 10, 15, and 20), so n! ends in 4 zeroes.
    For n=25 to n=29, the product n! includes 5 multiples of 5 (namely 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25) and includes 6 factors of 5 (since 25 contributes 2 factors of 5), so n! ends in 6 zeroes.
    For n=30 to n=34, n! ends in 7 zeroes. For n=35 to n=39, n! ends in 8 zeroes.
    For n=40 to n=44, n! ends in 9 zeroes. For n=45 to n=49, n! ends in 10 zeroes.
    For n=50 to n=54, n! ends in 12 zeroes, since the product n! includes 10 multiples of 5, two of which include 2 factors of 5.
    For n=55 to n=74, n! will end in 13, 14, 15, 16 zeroes as n increases.
    For n=75 to n=79, n! ends in 18 zeroes.
    For n=80 to n=99, n! ends in 19, 20, 21, 22 zeroes as n increases.
    For n=100 to n=104, n! ends in 24 zeroes.
    For n=105 to n=124, n! ends in 25, 26, 27, 28 zeroes.
    For n=125, n! ends in 31 zeroes since 125 includes 3 factors of 5, so 125! ends in 3 more zeroes than 124!.
    Of the integers m with 1m30, there is no value of n for which n! ends in m zeroes when m=5,11,17,23,29,30, which means that 306=24 of the values of m are possible.

    Answer: (D)

  21. From the given information, if a and b are in two consecutive squares, then a+b goes in the circle between them.
    Since all of the numbers that we can use are positive, then a+b is larger than both a and b.
    This means that the largest integer in the list, which is 13, cannot be either x or y (and in fact cannot be placed in any square). This is because the number in the circle next to it must be smaller than 13 (because 13 is the largest number in the list) and so cannot be the sum of 13 and another positive number from the list.
    Thus, for x+y to be as large as possible, we would have x and y equal to 10 and 11 in some order. But here we have the same problem: there is only one larger number from the list (namely 13) that can go in the circles next to 10 and 11, and so we could not fill in the circle next to both 10 and 11.
    Therefore, the next largest possible value for x+y is when x=9 and y=11. (We could also swap x and y.)
    Here, we could have 13=11+2 and 10=9+1, giving the following partial list:

    From left to right the alternating squares and circles contain: 11, 13, 2, empty, empty, empty, 1, 10, 9.

    The remaining integers (4, 5 and 6) can be put in the shapes in the following way that satisfies the requirements.

    From left to right the alternating squares and circles contain: 11, 13, 2, 6, 4, 5, 1, 10, 9.

    This tells us that the largest possible value of x+y is 20.

    Answer: 20

  22. Solution 1

    Starting with the given relationship between x and y and manipulating algebraically, we obtain successively 1x+y=1x1yxy=(x+y)y(x+y)x(multiplying by xy(x+y))xy=xy+y2x2xyx2+xyy2=0x2y2+xy1=0(dividing by y2 which is non-zero)t2+t1=0 where t=xy.

    Since x>0 and y>0, then t>0. Using the quadratic formula t=1±124(1)(1)2=1±52 Since t>0, then xy=t=512.
    Therefore, (xy+yx)2=(512+251)2=(512+2(5+1)(51)(5+1))2=(512+2(5+1)4)2=(512+5+12)2=(5)2=5

    Solution 2

    Since x,y>0, the following equations are equivalent: 1x+y=1x1y1=x+yxx+yy1=xx+yxxyyy1=1+yxxy11=yxxy1=xyyx Therefore, (xy+yx)2=x2y2+2xyyx+y2x2=x2y2+2+y2x2=x2y22+y2x2+4=x2y22xyyx+y2x2+4=(xyyx)2+4=(1)2+4=5

    Answer: 05

  23. We write an integer n with 100n999 as n=100a+10b+c for some digits a, b and c.
    That is, n has hundreds digit a, tens digit b, and ones digit c.
    For each such integer n, we have s(n)=a+b+c.
    We want to count the number of such integers n with 7a+b+c11.
    When 100n999, we know that 1a9 and 0b9 and 0c9.

    First, we count the number of n with a+b+c=7.
    If a=1, then b+c=6 and there are 7 possible pairs of values for b and c. These pairs are (b,c)=(0,6),(1,5),(2,4),(3,3),(4,2),(5,1),(6,0).
    If a=2, then b+c=5 and there are 6 possible pairs of values for b and c.
    Similarly, when a=3,4,5,6,7, there are 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 pairs of values, respectively, for b and c.
    In other words, the number of integers n with a+b+c=7 is equal to 7+6+5+4+3+2+1=28.

    Using a similar process, we can determine that the number of such integers n with s(n)=8 is 8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=36 and the number of such integers n with s(n)=9 is 9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=45.

    We have to be more careful counting the number of integers n with s(n)=10 and s(n)=11, because none of the digits can be greater than 9.
    Consider the integers n with a+b+c=10.
    If a=1, then b+c=9 and there are 10 possible pairs of values for b and c. These pairs are (b,c)=(0,9),(1,8),,(8,1),(9,0).
    If a=2, then b+c=8 and there are 9 possible pairs of values for b and c.
    As a increases from 1 to 9, we find that there are 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2=54 such integers n.
    (Note that when a=9, we have b+c=1 and there are 2 pairs of values for b and c.)
    Finally, we consider the integers n with a+b+c=11.
    If a=1, then b+c=10 and there are 9 possible pairs of values for b and c. These pairs are (b,c)=(1,9),(2,8),,(8,2),(9,1).
    If a=2, then b+c=9 and there are 10 possible pairs of values for b and c.
    If a=3, then b+c=8 and there are 9 possible pairs of values for b and c.
    Continuing in this way, we find that there are 9+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3=61 such integers n.

    Having considered all cases, we see that the number of such integers n is S=28+36+45+54+61=224 The rightmost two digits of S are 24.

    Answer: 24

  24. Solution 1

    Suppose that AB=x, BC=y, CD=z, and DA=7. (It does not matter to which side length we assign the fixed length of 7.)
    We are told that x, y and z are integers.
    Since the perimeter of ABCD is 224, we have x+y+z+7=224 or x+y+z=217.
    Join B to D.

    The area of ABCD is equal to the sum of the areas of DAB and BCD.
    Since these triangles are right-angled, then 2205=12DAAB+12BCCD.
    Multiplying by 2, we obtain 4410=7x+yz.
    Finally, we also note that, using the Pythagorean Theorem twice, we obtain DA2+AB2=DB2=BC2+CD2 and so 49+x2=y2+z2.
    We need to determine the value of S=x2+y2+z2+72.
    Since x+y+z=217, then x=217yz.
    Substituting into 4410=7x+yz and proceeding algebraically, we obtain successively 4410=7x+yz4410=7(217yz)+yz4410=15197y7z+yz2891=yz7y7z2891=y(z7)7z2891=y(z7)7z+49492940=y(z7)7(z7)2940=(y7)(z7) Therefore, y7 and z7 form a positive divisor pair of 2940. (Since their product is positive, they are either both positive or both negative. Since y and z are positive, if both of y7 and z7 are negative, we would have 0<y<7 and 0<z<7 which could not be large enough to allow for a feasible value of x.)
    We note that y+z=217x and so y+z<217 which means that (y7)+(z7)<203.
    Since 2940=20147=225372 then the divisors of 2940 are the positive integers of the form 2r3s5t7u where 0r2 and 0s1 and 0t1 and 0u2.
    Thus, these divisors are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,12,14,15,20,21,28,30,35,42,49, 60,70,84,98,105,140,147,196,210,245,294,420,490,588,735,980,1470,2940 We can remove divisor pairs from this list whose sum is greater than 203. This gets us to the shorter list 20,21,28,30,35,42,49,60,70,84,98,105,140,147 This means that there are 7 divisor pairs remaining to consider. We can assume that y<z. Using the fact that x+y+z=217, we can solve for x in each case. These values of x, y and z will satisfy the perimeter and area conditions, but we need to check the Pythaogrean condition. We make a table:

    y7 z7 y z x=217yz y2+z2x2
    20 147 27 154 36 23149
    21 140 28 147 42 20629
    28 105 35 112 70 8869
    30 98 37 105 75 6769
    35 84 42 91 84 2989
    42 70 49 77 91 49
    49 60 56 67 94 1211

    Since we need y2+z2x2=49, then we must have y=49 and z=77 and x=91.
    This means that S=x2+y2+z2+72=912+492+772+72=16660.
    The rightmost two digits of S are 60.

    Solution 2

    As in Solution 1, we have x+y+z=217 and 4410=7x+yz and x2+49=y2+z2.
    Re-arranging and squaring the first equation and using the second and third equations, we obtain y+z=217xy2+z2+2yz=x2434x+2172(x2+49)+2(44107x)=x2434x+217249+882014x=434x+2172420x=2172882049420x=38220x=91 Thus, y+z=21791=126 and yz=4410791=3773.
    This gives, y(126y)=3773 and so y2126y+3773=0 or (y49)(y77)=0.
    Therefore, y=49 (which means z=77) or y=77 (which means z=49).
    We note that y2+z2=492+772=8330=912+72=x2+72 which verifies the remaining equation.
    This means that S=x2+y2+z2+72=912+492+772+72=16660.
    The rightmost two digits of S are 60.

    Answer: 60

  25. Throughout this solution, we will not explicitly include units, but will assume that all lengths are in metres and all areas are in square metres.
    The top face of the cube is a square, which we label ABCD, and we call its centre O.
    Since the cube has edge length 4, then the side length of square ABCD is 4.
    This means that O is a perpendicular distance of 2 from each of the sides of square ABCD, and thus is a distance of 22+22=8 from each of the vertices of ABCD.

    These vertices are the farthest points on ABCD from O.
    Since 82.8, then the loose end of the rope of length 5 can reach every point on ABCD, which has area 16.

    Next, the rope cannot reach to the bottom face of the cube because the shortest distance along the surface of the cube from O to the bottom face is 6 and the rope has length 5. We will confirm this in another way shortly.
    Also, since the rope is anchored to the centre of the top face and all of the faces are square, the rope can reach the same area on each of the four side faces.
    Suppose that the area of one of the side faces that can be reached is a. Since the rope can reach the entire area of the top face, then the total area that can be reached is 16+4a.
    We thus need to determine the value of a.

    Suppose that one of the side faces is square ABEF, which has side length 4. Consider the figure created by square ABCD and square ABEF together. We can think of this as an “unfolding” of part of the cube.

    When the rope is stretched tight, its loose end traces across square ABEF an arc of a circle centred at O and with radius 5.
    Notice that the farthest that the rope can reach down square ABEF is a distance of 3, since its anchor is a distance of 2 from AB. This confirms that the rope cannot reach the bottom face of the cube since it would have to cross FE to do so.
    Suppose that this arc cuts AF at P and cuts BE at Q.
    We want to determine the area of square ABEF above arc PQ (the shaded area); the area of this region is a.

    We will calculate the value of a by determining the area of rectangle ABQP and adding the area of the region between the circular arc and line segment PQ.
    We will calculate this latter area by determining the area of sector OPQ and subtracting the area of OPQ.
    We note that PQ=4. Let M be the midpoint of PQ; thus PM=MQ=2.
    Since OPQ is isosceles with OP=OQ=5, then OM is perpendicular to PQ.
    By the Pythagorean Theorem, OM=OP2PM2=5222=21.
    Thus, the area of OPQ is 12PQOM=12421=221.
    Furthermore, since O is a distance of 2 from AB and OM=21, then the height of rectangle ABQP is 212.
    Thus, the area of rectangle ABQP is 4(212)=4218.
    To find the area of sector OPQ, we note that the area of a circle with radius 5 is π52, and so the area of the sector is POQ360°25π.

    Now, POQ=2POM=2sin1(2/5), since POM is right-angled at M which means that sin(POM)=PMOP.
    Thus, the area of the sector is 2sin1(2/5)360°25π.

    Putting this all together, we obtain 100A=100(16+4a)=1600+400a=1600+400((4218)+2sin1(2/5)360°25π221)=1600+400(2218+2sin1(2/5)360°25π)=800211600+800sin1(2/5)25π360°6181.229 (Note that we have not switched to decimal approximations until the very last step in order to avoid any possible rounding error.)
    Therefore, the integer closest to 100A is 6181, whose rightmost two digits are 81.

    Answer: 81