The CENTRE for EDUCATION

in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING

cemc.uwaterloo.ca

Gauss Contest
Grade 8
(The Grade 7 Contest is on the reverse side)
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, May 16, 2019
(outside of North America and South America)

Time: 1 hour ©2018 University of Waterloo

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.
Instructions
1. Do not open the contest booklet until you are told to do so.
2. You may use rulers, compasses and paper for rough work.
3. Be sure that you understand the coding system for your answer sheet. If you are not sure,
ask your teacher to explain it.
4. This is a multiple-choice test. Each question is followed by five possible answers marked
A, B, C, D, and E. Only one of these is correct. When you have made your choice, enter
the appropriate letter for that question on your answer sheet.
5. Scoring: Each correct answer is worth 5 in Part A, 6 in Part B, and 8 in Part C.
There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.
6. Diagrams are not drawn to scale. They are intended as aids only.
7. When your supervisor instructs you to start, you will have sixty minutes of working time.

The name, school and location of some top-scoring students will be published on the Web site,
cemc.uwaterloo.ca. You will also be able to find copies of past Contests and excellent resources
for enrichment, problem solving and contest preparation.
 Grade 8
Scoring: There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.

Part A: Each correct answer is worth 5.

1. Ali ate half of a muffin. What percentage of the muffin did Ali eat?
(A) 10% (B) 17% (C) 21% (D) 40% (E) 50%

2. In the triangle shown, the value of x is

x°
(A) 30 (B) 60 (C) 45
(D) 90 (E) 55 x° x°

3. Which of the following integers is closest to 0?

(A) −1 (B) 2 (C) −3 (D) 4 (E) −5

4. Which of these numbers gives a remainder of 3 when divided by 5?

(A) 51 (B) 64 (C) 76 (D) 88 (E) 99

5. How many integers between 10 and 20 are prime numbers?

(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 2 (D) 3 (E) 4
Average Vehicle Speed
6. Based on the graph shown, how many vehicles
Number of Vehicles

had an average speed of at least 80 km/h? 30

25
(A) 45 (B) 15 (C) 35 20

(D) 70 (E) 50 15
10
5
0
60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99 100-109
Speed (km/h)

7. How many positive integers less than 100 are divisible by both 3 and 7?
(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E) 6

8. The circumference of a circle is 100. The diameter of this circle is equal to

2π 100 π
(A) 100 × π (B) (C) (D) 2π × 100 (E)
100 π 100
y
9. In the diagram, point F has coordinates (6, 6). Points
C F (6, 6)
P and Q are two vertices of a triangle. Which of the A
following points can be joined to P and Q to create a D
triangle with an area of 6? E
(A) A (B) B (C) C B
(D) D (E) E
x
P Q
10. Canadian currency has coins with values $2.00, $1.00, $0.25, $0.10, and $0.05. Barry
has 12 coins including at least one of each of these coins. What is the smallest total
amount of money that Barry could have?
(A) $3.75 (B) $3.90 (C) $3.70 (D) $3.40 (E) $3.95
 Grade 8

Part B: Each correct answer is worth 6.

11. Two of the side lengths in an isosceles triangle are 6 and 8. The perimeter of the
triangle could be
(A) 18 (B) 14 (C) 22 (D) 16 (E) 24

12. Line segments P Q and RS intersect as shown. What is

the value of x + y? R (y + 5)° Q
(A) 145 (B) 70 (C) 130 60°
P (4x)°
(D) 85 (E) 240 S

13. The mean (average), the median and the mode of the five numbers 12, 9, 11, 16, x
are all equal. What is the value of x?
(A) 9 (B) 11 (C) 12 (D) 13 (E) 16

14. The two equal-arm scales shown are balanced. Of

the following, has the same mass as
(A)
(B)
(C)
(D)
(E)

15. A spinner is divided into 3 equal sections, as shown. An

arrow is attached to the centre of the spinner. The arrow
is spun twice. What is the probability that the arrow
blue red
lands on the same colour twice?
1 2 1
(A) (B) (C)
9 3 2
1 2 green
(D) (E)
3 9

16. A Gauss brand light bulb will work for 24 999 hours. If it is used for exactly 2 hours
every day starting on a Monday, on what day of the week will it stop working?
(A) Thursday (B) Friday (C) Saturday (D) Sunday (E) Monday

17. Each of w, x, y, and z is an integer. If w + x = 45, x + y = 51, and y + z = 28, what

is the value of w + z?
(A) 28 (B) 22 (C) 17 (D) 23 (E) 15

18. Kathy owns more cats than Alice and more dogs than Bruce. Alice owns more dogs
than Kathy and fewer cats than Bruce. Which of the statements must be true?
(A) Bruce owns the fewest cats.
(B) Bruce owns the most cats.
(C) Kathy owns the most cats.
(D) Alice owns the most dogs.
(E) Kathy owns the fewest dogs.
 Grade 8
19. A line segment joins the points P (−4, 1) and Q(1, −11). What is the length of P Q?
(A) 13 (B) 12 (C) 12.5 (D) 13.6 (E) 12.6

20. P QRS is a square with side length 60 and centre C. Z

P Q
Point W lies on P S so that W S = 53. Point X lies
on SR so that XR = 40. The midpoint of QR is Y . W
Point Z lies on P Q. What is the length of ZQ so that
the total area of the shaded regions is equal to the total Y
area of the non-shaded regions? C
(A) 21 (B) 15 (C) 23
(D) 19 (E) 17 S X R

Part C: Each correct answer is worth 8.

21. In Jen’s baseball league, each team plays exactly 6 games against each of the other
teams in the league. If a total of 396 games are played, how many teams are in the
league?
(A) 12 (B) 16 (C) 15 (D) 13 (E) 9

22. Rich chooses a 4-digit positive integer. He erases one of the digits of this integer. The
remaining digits, in their original order, form a 3-digit positive integer. When Rich
adds this 3-digit integer to the original 4-digit integer, the result is 6031. What is the
sum of the digits of the original 4-digit integer?
(A) 18 (B) 20 (C) 22 (D) 19 (E) 21

23. If n is a positive integer, the notation n! (read “n factorial”) is used to represent the
product of the integers from 1 to n inclusive. For example, 5! = 1×2×3×4×5 = 120.
Which of the following is equal to a perfect square?
(20!)(19!) (20!)(19!) (20!)(19!) (20!)(19!) (20!)(19!)
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
1 2 3 4 5
24. There are many ways in which the list 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 can be separated into
groups. For example, this list could be separated into the four groups 0, 3, 4, 8 and
1, 2, 7 and 6 and 5, 9. The sum of the numbers in each of these four groups is 15, 10, 6,
and 14, respectively. In how many ways can the list 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 be separated
into at least two groups so that the sum of the numbers in each group is the same?
(A) 26 (B) 29 (C) 24 (D) 27 (E) 32

25. In quadrilateral P QRS, diagonals P R and SQ intersect

at O inside P QRS, SP = SQ = SR = 1, and P
∠QSR = 2∠QSP . Marc determines the measure of Q
the twelve angles that are the interior angles of 4P OS,
4P OQ, 4ROS, and 4ROQ. The measure of each of O
these angles, in degrees, is a positive integer, and exactly
six of these integers are prime numbers. How many S
different quadrilaterals have these properties and are not
rotations or translations of each other?
R
(A) 7 (B) 5 (C) 9
(D) 6 (E) 8