AMC Club Holiday Review 2019-2020

Compiled by Arjun Vikram

- Mr. Newton

How to use this review

This review contains several problems from various areas of math tested on the AMC exam.

Before beginning the problems in a section, look back at any notes you may have on that subject.
Check our website (sem-amc-club.tk) to view old notes packets. For geometry, you may want to
skim your notes from your actual geometry class last year.

Try out the warm-up in each section before starting the exercises, and make sure to check your
answers. The warm-up contains some important formulas that you should either memorize or be
able to derive in a few seconds. These are not the only formulas you will need to know however.

Attempt to solve each problem before looking at the solution. If you are stumped on a problem,
take a break and look at it again. Don't jump to reading the solution.

Solve each problem on scratch paper, and be organized with your work, so you can stay
organized on the real test.

Quick tips about the AMC 10

The Test: The AMC is made of 25 multiple-choice (5-answer) questions covering a range of topics
from algebra, combinatorics, geometry, and number theory. You do not get a calculator on the
exam.

Timing: You get 75 minutes for 25 questions, however it is unlikely that you will answer all 25
questions. Budget your time based on your ability (look at last year's scores to see how many
questions you answered).

Scoring: You earn

points for each correct answer

points for each skipped question
points for each incorrect answer

This means you should only guess if you have eliminated at least two answers.
Algebra Warm-up
1. What are the formulas for
i. Sum of an arithmetic series with terms, with first term and last term ?

 
ii. Sum of a geometric series with terms, with first term and ratio ?

iii. Sum of a geometric series with terms, with first term and ratio ?

 
2. What are Vieta's formulas for:

a quadratic with roots :

i. Sum of roots

 
ii. Product of roots

 
a cubic with roots :

iii. Sum of roots

 

iv. Sum of pairwise products of roots (aka taken two at a time)

v. Product of roots
 

a general polynomial :
vi. Sum of roots =

vii. Product of roots =

 
vii. Sum of roots taken at a time =

 
Algebra Exercises
1. If men can do a job in days, then men can do the job in how many days?

Solution
 

2. From a group of boys and girls, girls leave. There are then left two boys for each girl. After
this boys leave. There are then girls for each boy. The number of girls at the start was

Solution

3. What is the sum of the reciprocals of the roots of the equation

Solution
 

4. Let . What is ?

Solution
 

5. Find the value of that satisfies

Solution
 

6. There are players in a single-elimination tennis tournament. Single-elimination means

that a player who loses a match is eliminated. In the first round, the strongest players are
given a bye, and the remaining 72 players are paired off to play. After each round, the
remaining players play in the next round. The tournament continues until only one player
remains unbeaten. The total number of matches played is:

Solution
 

7. Two non-zero real numbers satisfy . What is the value of ?

Solution
  

8. Al, Betty, and Claire split among them to be invested in different ways. Each begins
with a different amount. After one year, they have a total of . Betty and Claire have
both doubled their money, whereas Al has managed to lose . What was Al's original
portion?

Solution

 
9. Brenda and Sally run in opposite directions on a circular track, starting at diametrically
opposite points. They first meet after Brenda has run 100 meters. They next meet after Sally
has run 150 meters past their first meeting point. Each girl runs at a constant speed. What is
the length of the track in meters?

Solution

 
10. The first four terms in an arithmetic sequence are , , , and in that order.
What is the fifth term?

Solution
Algebra Answer Key
Warm-up:

1. Series Formulas:

a.

b.

c.

2. Vieta's Formulas:

i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

vi.

vii.

viii.

Exercises:

1. C
2. A
3. B
4. B
5. B
6. E
7. E
8. C
9. C
10. E
Combinatorics Warm-up
1. What are the formulas for ( items, slots)
i. Permutations with reputation

 
ii. Permutations without reputation

iii. Combinations without repetition

 
iv. Combinations with repetition (you may have to derive this one, remember the ice
cream shop analogy with robots)

2. Define a one-is-to-one correspondence (aka bijection) and describe how it is used in AMC
problems
Combinatorics Exercises
1. A fair die is rolled six times. The probability of rolling at least a five at least five times is

Solution
 

2. Pat is to select six cookies from a tray containing only chocolate chip, oatmeal, and peanut
butter cookies. There are at least six of each of these three kinds of cookies on the tray. How
many different assortments of six cookies can be selected?

Official Solution My Solution (please read)

 

3. A point is randomly picked from inside the rectangle with vertices , , ,

and . What is the probability that ?

Solution

4. Two cubical dice each have removable numbers through . The twelve numbers on the
two dice are removed, put into a bag, then drawn one at a time and randomly reattached to
the faces of the cubes, one number to each face. The dice are then rolled and the numbers
on the two top faces are added. What is the probability that the sum is ?

Solution
 

5. Three distinct vertices of a cube are chosen at random. What is the probability that the
plane determined by these three vertices contains points inside the cube?

Solution

 
6. A list of positive integers has a unique mode, which occurs exactly times. What is
the least number of distinct values that can occur in the list?

Solution
 

7. A license plate in a certain state consists of 4 digits, not necessarily distinct, and 2 letters,
also not necessarily distinct. These six characters may appear in any order, except that the
two letters must appear next to each other. How many distinct license plates are possible?

Solution
  

8. Henry's Hamburger Haven offers its hamburgers with the following condiments: ketchup,
mustard, mayonnaise, tomato, lettuce, pickles, cheese, and onions. A customer can choose
one, two, or three meat patties and any collection of condiments. How many different kinds
of hamburgers can be ordered?

Solution

 
9. A parking lot has 16 spaces in a row. Twelve cars arrive, each of which requires one parking
space, and their drivers chose spaces at random from among the available spaces. Auntie
Em then arrives in her SUV, which requires 2 adjacent spaces. What is the probability that
she is able to park?

Solution

 
10. Compute the number of -digit positive integers that start or end (or both) with a digit that
is a (nonzero) composite number.

Solution

11. Each of 2010 boxes in a line contains a single red marble, and for , the box in
the th position also contains white marbles. Isabella begins at the first box and
successively draws a single marble at random from each box, in order. She stops when she
first draws a red marble. Let be the probability that Isabella stops after drawing exactly
marbles. What is the smallest value of for which ?

Solution

 
Combinatorics Answer Key
Warm-up:

1. Permutations/Combinations formulas:

i.
ii.

iii.

iv.

2. A one-is-to-one correspondence is a mapping between two sets such that every element
from the first set is mapped to exactly one element from the second set, and vice versa. For
instance, you can form a one-is-to-one correspondence between the sets
and using the mapping function which takes a
day and outputs where it is in the week. Another example of a one-is-to-one
correspondence is used in the derivation of the combinations with repetitions formula,
where we form a correspondence between combinations of ice cream in a bowl allowing
repetitions and permutations of arrows and stars in a line.

If there is a one is to one correspondence between and , then the size of and
the size of are equal ( ). This means that we can make a one-is-to-one
correspondence between a set that is more difficult to count and a set which is easier to
count, and then simplify a counting problem.

Exercises:

1. D
2. D
3. A
4. D
5. C
6. D
7. C
8. C
9. E
10. B
11. A
Geometry Warm-up
1. List all the area formulas you know for a triangle.
For brevity and lack of a better variable, use to represent the area
Use the variables for side lengths
Use the variables for angles
Use the variable for the semiperimeter ( )
Use the variable for the inradius
Use the variable for the circumradius

2. What are the law of sines and cosines?

 
3. List all similarity and congruence conditions (sometimes called theorems)
Geometry Exercises
1. All of the triangles in the diagram below are similar to isosceles triangle , in which
. Each of the 7 smallest triangles has area 1, and has area 40. What is the
area of trapezoid ?

Solution

2. A closed box with a square base is to be wrapped with a square sheet of wrapping paper.
The box is centered on the wrapping paper with the vertices of the base lying on the
midlines of the square sheet of paper, as shown in the figure on the left. The four corners of
the wrapping paper are to be folded up over the sides and brought together to meet at the
center of the top of the box, point in the figure on the right. The box has base length
and height . What is the area of the sheet of wrapping paper?

Solution
 

 
 

 
 

 
  

 
 

3. A circle has a chord of length 10, and the distance from the center of the circle to the chord
is 5. What is the area of the circle?

Solution
 

4. Let be the origin. Points and are selected on the graph of so that
triangle is equilateral. Find .

Solution
 

5. The lengths of the sides of a triangle with positive area are , , and ,
where is a positive integer. Find the number of possible values for .
Hint: you will need to use Triangle Inequality and some Log Properties

Solution
 

6. Side of has length . The angle bisector of meets at , and . The

set of all possible values of is an open interval . What is ?

Hint: you will need to use Triangle Inequality and Angle Bisector Theorem

Solution

 
 

 
 

 
 
 7. In the rectangular parallelepiped shown, . Point is the
midpoint of . What is the volume of the rectangular pyramid with base and apex
?

Solution
 

8. Right triangle has leg lengths and . Including and , how

many line segments with integer length can be drawn from vertex to a point on
hypotenuse ?

Solution
 

9. Triangle has a right angle at and . Triangle has a right angle

at and . Points and are on opposite sides of . The line through parallel
to meets extended at . If where and are relatively prime positive
integers, then

Solution (look at Solution 2, especially note the author!)

 

10. Six spheres of radius are positioned so that their centers are at the vertices of a regular
hexagon of side length . The six spheres are internally tangent to a larger sphere whose
center is the center of the hexagon. An eighth sphere is externally tangent to the six smaller
spheres and internally tangent to the larger sphere. What is the radius of this eighth sphere?

Solution
Geometry Answer Key
Warm-up:

1. Triangle formulas:

Standard formula (half times base times height):

SAS area: (and cyclic permutations)
Heron's formula:
Inradius formula:
Circumradius formula:

Equilateral Triangle formula:

...and several more advanced formulas
2. Law of Sines/Cosines:

(Extended) Law of Sines:

Law of Cosines: (and cyclic variants)
3. Similarity and Congruence:

Similarity: AA, ASA, SSS

Congruence: SSS, SAA, ASA, Not ASS

Exercises:

1. E
2. A
3. B
4. D
5. C
6. C
7. E
8. D
9. B
10. B
Number Theory Warm-up
1. What is SFFT (Simon's Favorite Factoring Trick)? Use it to find all non-negative integer
solutions to .

2. What does it mean for two numbers to be coprime? Tell if the following numbers are
coprime:
i.
ii.
iii.
iiii.

3. What is the euclidean algorithm for finding the GCD of two numbers? How can you use this
to find the LCM?
Number Theory Exercises
1. A six place number is formed by repeating a three place number; for example, or
. Any number of this form is always divisible by

Solution

2. The largest number by which the expression is divisible for all possible integral values
of , is:

Solution

 
3. In the base ten number system the number means . In the Land of
Mathesis, however, numbers are written in the base . Jones purchases an automobile there
for monetary units (abbreviated m.u). He gives the salesman a m.u bill, and
receives, in change, m.u. The base is:

Solution
 

4. The number of solutions in positive integers of is:

Solution
 

5. The number of positive integers less than divisible by neither nor is:

Solution

 
6. A rectangular floor measures by feet, where and are positive integers and . An
artist paints a rectangle on the floor with the sides of the rectangle parallel to the floor. The
unpainted part of the floor forms a border of width foot around the painted rectangle and
occupies half the area of the whole floor. How many possibilities are there for the ordered
pair ?

Solution
 

7. Prove that the fraction is irreducible for every natural number .

Note: this is an IMO problem, but is is widely regarded as the easiest IMO problem ever. Try
it, you will be pleasantly surprised to see that you can sovle an IMO problem!

Solution
Number Theory Answer Key
Warm-up:

1. See our notes on SFFT (Lesson 4) at sem-amc-club.tk/Week4.pdf

Solutions are
2. Two numbers are coprime if they share no factors other than 1. A good rule of thumb is that
and are coprime if and only if there exist integers and such that (Bezout's
Lemma)

Coprime ( and )
Not coprime ( )
Coprime ( and )
Not coprime ( )
3. See Euclidean Algorithm on AoPS.
Note that .

Exercises:

1. E
2. E
3. D
4. D
5. B
6. B
7. See solution at https://bit.ly/2sA J3V5
Questions
Please contact Arjun Vikram if you have any questions about this problemset.

If you do not already have my number, text me at 912-999-0219.

Acknowledgements
Problems compiled by Arjun Vikram from SEM AMC Club

Copywright for most problems belongs to MAA (AMC exams, AHSME, etc). Other problems belong
to their respective authors and/or olympiads.

Thanks to Kenneth and Mahesh for finding some typos

Dedication
This problemset is dedicated to Mr. Newton.

It was inspired by his quote "Students, warm-up!".

Revision 2 - minor edits and typo fixes