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2024 Canadian Senior
Mathematics Contest

Wednesday, November 13, 2024
(in North America and South America)

Thursday, November 14, 2024
(outside of North American and South America)

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©2024 University of Waterloo

Instructions

Time: 2 hours

Calculating devices are allowed, provided that they do not have any of the following features: (i) internet access, (ii) the ability to communicate with other devices, (iii) information previously stored by students (such as formulas, programs, notes, etc.), (iv) a computer algebra system, (v) dynamic geometry software.

Do not open this booklet until instructed to do so.
There are two parts to this paper. The questions in each part are arranged roughly in order of increasing difficulty. The early problems in Part B are likely easier than the later problems in Part A.

PART A

  1. This part consists of six questions, each worth 5 marks.
  2. Enter the answer in the appropriate box in the answer booklet. For these questions, full marks will be given for a correct answer which is placed in the box. Part marks will be awarded only if relevant work is shown in the space provided in the answer booklet.

PART B

  1. This part consists of three questions, each worth 10 marks.
  2. Finished solutions must be written in the appropriate location in the answer booklet. Rough work should be done separately. If you require extra pages for your finished solutions, they will be supplied by your supervising teacher. Insert these pages into your answer booklet. Write your name, school name, and question number on any inserted pages.
  3. Marks are awarded for completeness, clarity, and style of presentation. A correct solution, poorly presented, will not earn full marks.
At the completion of the contest, insert your student information form inside your answer booklet.


Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.
The name, grade, school and location, and score range of some top-scoring students will be published on the website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location, and score of some 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 solutions in the answer booklet provided.
  3. Express answers as simplified exact numbers except where otherwise indicated. For example, π+1 and 12 are simplified exact numbers.
  4. While calculators may be used for numerical calculations, other mathematical steps must be shown and justified in your written solutions and specific marks may be allocated for these steps. For example, while your calculator might be able to find the x-intercepts of the graph of an equation like y=x3x, you should show the algebraic steps that you used to find these numbers, rather than simply writing these numbers down.
  5. Diagrams are not drawn to scale. They are intended as aids only.
  6. No student may write both the Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest and the Canadian Intermediate Mathematics Contest in the same year.

PART A

For each question in Part A, full marks will be given for a correct answer which is placed in the box. Part marks will be awarded only if relevant work is shown in the space provided in the answer booklet.

  1. What integer is equal to 102+21011+112 ?

  2. Two vertical trees are 5 m and 15 m tall. The bases of the trees are 24 m apart along horizontal ground. A bird flies from the top of the shorter tree to the top of the taller tree along a straight path at a constant speed of 4 m/s. How long does it take the bird to complete the flight?

  3. At the end of yesterday’s soccer game between Team Why and Team Zed, Team Why had scored 3 goals and Team Zed had scored 2 goals. At half-time of the game, Team Why had scored y goals and Team Zed had scored z goals. If y0 and z0, how many possibilities are there for the ordered pair of integers (y,z)?

    (In soccer, each team’s score is always a non-negative integer that never decreases as the game proceeds.)

  4. For how many ordered quadruples (a,b,c,d) of positive integers with d8 is d equal to the product of a, b and c? (That is, for how many such ordered quadruples is abc=d?)

  5. In the diagram, ABCDEF is a hexagon with six equal interior angles (that is, ABC=BCD=CDE=DEF=EFA=FAB). Also, BC=EF=6 and AB=CD=DE=FA=2 . Line segments AC, BD, CE, DF, EA, FB create a smaller hexagon PQRSTU, as shown.

    AC intersects FB at P and BD at Q. CE intersects BD at R and DF at S. EA intersects DF at T and FB at U.

    If the area of hexagon PQRSTU is nt, where n and t are positive integers with t as small as possible, what is the ordered pair (n,t)?

  6. A Gleeson list is an increasing list of distinct positive integers with a sum of 2024. For example, 70, 700, 1254 is a Gleeson list of length 3 and 2, 4, 6, 10, 15, 987, 1000 is a Gleeson list of length 7. Let M be the maximum possible length of a Gleeson list. How many Gleeson lists of length M are there?

PART B

For each question in Part B, your solution must be well-organized and contain words of explanation or justification. Marks are awarded for completeness, clarity, and style of presentation. A correct solution, poorly presented, will not earn full marks.

    1. Determine the integer x for which 2x+1=64.

    2. Determine the values of t and u that satisfy the following system of equations: 2t+u=285u3=52

    3. Determine the integers m and r for which 22m+r53mr=2753.

    4. Show that there are no integers p and q for which 2p+q5pq=80.

    1. The quadratic equation x22x1=0 has solutions x=r and x=s. Determine integers b and c for which the quadratic equation x2+bx+c=0 has solutions x=2r+s and x=r+2s.

    2. Suppose that m and p are real numbers for which the polynomial f(x)=x2+mx+p has two distinct positive real roots. Prove that the polynomial g(x)=x2(m22p)x+p2 has two distinct positive real roots.

    3. Suppose that A1=6, B1=10 and C1=5. For each positive integer n2, let An=2Bn1(An1)2Bn=(Bn1)22An1Cn1Cn=(Cn1)2 Prove that the polynomial f100(x)=x3+A100x2+B100x+C100 has three distinct positive real roots.

  1. In the diagram, ABCD is a rectangle with AB>BC. Point P is on CD so that PD=PB.

    1. Suppose that PD=53 and BC=28. Determine the length of AB.

    2. Suppose that AB=101. If the length of BC is an integer, prove that the length of PD cannot be an integer.

    3. Suppose that BC=m for some positive integer m. Suppose further that, for this value of m, there are exactly 7 positive integers n so that when AB=n, the length of PD is an integer. Determine all possible values of m with 1m100.