national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper

NATIONAL MATHEMATICS CONTEST

O-LEVEL PAPER.
SATURDAY 28TH MAY, 2022 9:00 AM - 12:15 PM

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES AND SUPERVISORS:

(a) This competition is conducted on the assumption that proper security is

maintained. UMS reserves the right, should there be evidence or suspicion of any
malpractice, to reject scripts from a particular school/institution.
(b) There are two sections and each carries 50 marks. Attempt all questions in exactly
three hours fifteen minutes (9 : 00am to 12 : 15pm).
(c) Indicate your names, birth date, gender, class, school and district on all your
answer sheets.
(d) Marks will be awarded for only answers for which a clear and logical layout of the
working is provided. A correct solution, poorly presented, will not earn full marks.
(e) Answer scripts of only registered students should be returned to the contest
coordinator, latest Monday 30th May, 2022.
(f ) ALL participants who score a pass mark are cordially invited to the certificate and
prize giving ceremony on Saturday 23rd July, 2022 at 8:00am at Makerere
University, Kampala.

SECTION A : 5 marks each

1. The sequence a1 , a2 , a3 , . . . starts with a1 = 60. To work out an+1 for n ≥ 1 you add 1 to the digit
sum of an and square the result e.g

a2 = (6 + 0 + 1)2 = 49.

Find the value of the term a2022 .

2. If
5
logx 64 + logy2 16 =
3
and
logy 64 + logx2 16 = 1
for all positive numbers x and y, what is the value of log2 (xy)?
f (x)
3. A function f satisfies f (xy) = for all positive real numbers x and y. Given that f (25) = 80,
y2
Find the value of f (2020).

4. Given that xy > 0 and that x − y = xy. Find the value of

120 120
− + 2022.
x y

5. John invested in a business and lost 20% during the first year of the business. The following year
he made a gain of 25%. What is his net gain over the two years?

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper
6. If f (sin x) = sin 3x. Evaluate f (cos x).

7. Find the length of a side of a square if a circle that passes through one corner of the square and
is tangent internally to two sides of the square has radius 10.

8. Suppose a bag contains six letters of the word “GOOGOO”. If you take one letter out of the bag
at a time and line them up from left to right. What is the probability that you will spell the word
“GOOGOO”?

9. What is the 2022nd term in the sequence?

1 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 5
, , , , , , , , , , , ...
1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1

10. Suppose it takes h minutes to fill a tank using inlet A and c minutes to fill the same tank using
inlet B. Starting with an empty tank, inlet A is turned on and after one minute inlet B is also
turned on. How long will it take to fill the tank.[Give your answer in terms of h and c]

SECTION B : 10 marks each

11. Opio and Peter ran a race, during which they both ran at constant speeds. Opio began the race
30m ahead of Peter. After 3 minutes, Peter was 18 m ahead of Opio. Peter won the race exactly
7 minutes after it began. How far from the finish line was Opio when Peter won?
 x  x−1
1 1
12. Given that the equation + + b = 0 has a positive solution. What is the interval in
4 2
which the real number b should be located?

13. A box contains colored balls, each marked with a positive integer. Half of the balls are blue and
the others are gold. One fifth of the balls are marked with prime numbers. Four dozen are marked
with numbers that are not prime. One third of the blue balls are marked with prime numbers.
How many;

(a) of the gold balls are marked with numbers that are not prime?
(b) balls are not blue or are marked with numbers that are not prime or are both not blue and
marked with a number that is not prime?

14. If the following pattern continues. Name the row on which the number 289 will appear. [Explain
your answer]

1
3 5
7 9 11
13 15 17 19

15. A goat is tied to the corner of a building whose base is 8f t by 10f t with a twelve feet rope. How
many square feet of grass can the goat reach to eat.[Ignore the dimensions of the goat].

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper solutions
NATIONAL MATHEMATICS CONTEST
O-LEVEL PAPER.
SATURDAY 28TH MAY, 2022 9:00 AM - 12:15 PM

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES AND SUPERVISORS:

(a) This competition is conducted on the assumption that proper security is

maintained. UMS reserves the right, should there be evidence or suspicion of any
malpractice, to reject scripts from a particular school/institution.
(b) There are two sections and each carries 50 marks. Attempt all questions in exactly
three hours fifteen minutes (9 : 00am to 12 : 15pm).
(c) Indicate your names, birth date, gender, class, school and district on all your
answer sheets.
(d) Marks will be awarded for only answers for which a clear and logical layout of the
working is provided. A correct solution, poorly presented, will not earn full marks.
(e) Answer scripts of only registered students should be returned to the contest
coordinator, latest Monday 30th May, 2022.
(f ) ALL participants who score a pass mark are cordially invited to the certificate and
prize giving ceremony on Saturday 23rd July, 2022 at 8:00am at Makerere
University, Kampala.

SECTION A : 5 marks each

1. Solution :

a2 = (6 + 0 + 1)2 = 49
a3 = (4 + 9 + 1)2 = (14)2 = 196
a4 = (1 + 9 + 6 + 1)2 = 289
a5 = (2 + 8 + 9 + 1)2 = 400
a6 = (4 + 0 + 0 + 1)2 = 25
a7 = (2 + 5 + 1)2 = 64
a8 = (6 + 4 + 1)2 = 121
a9 = (1 + 2 + 1 + 1)2 = 25

The process will repeat after three steps. This means that

a6 = a9 = a12 = 25.

Since 2022 is a multiple of 3 then a2022 = 25. 

2. Solution : Convert the logarithms to base two.

log2 64 log2 16 5
+ 2
=
log2 x log2 x 3
log2 64 log2 16
+ =1
log2 y log2 y 2

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper solutions
On reducing and evaluating the logarithms we get,
6 2 5
+ =
log2 x log2 y 3
6 2
+ =1
log2 y log2 x
Letting

log2 x = a
log2 y = b

and solving the above equation we have, a = 4, b = 12 and therefore

log2 (xy) = log2 x + log2 y = 16.

3. Solution :
f (x)
f (xy) =
y2
f (25) = 80

Therefore
xy = 25
25 f (x)
Substituting x = into 2 = 80 we get
y y
80 × 625
f (x) =
x2
2020 2020
For f (2020) we have xy = 2020 ⇒ x = and y = and
y x

f (x) 80 × 65 1 500 125

f (2020) = = × 2 = = = 0.012253.
y2 x2 (2020) 40804 10201
x2


4. Solution :
   
1 1 −(y − x)
120 − + 2022 = 120 + 2022 = −120 + 2022 = 1902.
x y xy

5. Solution : Let x be the original investment into the business in 2020, After the first
year (2020) the amount invested would be 0.8x, after the second year the investment will
be increased by 25% thus become 1.25 × 0.8x = x implying that the net gain is zero. 

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper solutions
6. Solution : Recall cos 30◦ = sin 60◦ so

f (cos 30◦ ) = f (sin 60◦ ) = sin(60◦ × 3) = sin 180◦ = 0.

7. Solution : Let ABCD be the square with A on the circle as shown.

Let O be the center of the circle, let BC be tangent to the circle at E, Draw the diagonal
AC passing through O. Draw OE, extend EO intersecting AD at F, we have OE = OA
=10. AFO is an isosceles right angle therefore
10 √
OF = √ = 5 2
2
Therefore,

EF = 10 + OF
√
= 10 + 5 2

8. Solution : There are 6! ways of lining up letters in the word “GOOGOO” without
regard of which letters are where. There are:
• 2 ways of choosing the first letter as G,
• 4 ways of choosing the second letter as “O”,
• 3 ways of choosing the 3rd letter as “O” and
• 1 way of choosing the fourth letter as G since one G is already taken for beginning,
• 2 ways of choosing an “O” since there are only two left and
• 1 way for the last letter “O”.
Therefore
2×4×3×1×2×1 1
P (GOOGOO) = =
6! 15


9. Solution : Given the sequence

1 2 1 3 2 1 4 3 2 1 5
, , , , , , , , , , , ...
1 1 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 1

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper solutions
We note that the first three terms have the numerator increasing from 1 to 2 and back
to 1 while denominator increases to 2, the next three terms have the numerator decrease
from 3 to 1 while denominator increase to 3, the next four terms have the numerator
decrease from 4 to 1 while denominator increase to 4, the next five terms have the
numerator decrease from 5 to 1 while denominator increase to 5, and so on.

We note that the number of terms will be in the format 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, . . . . Now given
that 3 + 3 = 1 + 2 + 3 then the number of terms of the sequence where the numerator of
the terms of n decreasing from n to 1 while denominator increasing from 1 to n will be
of the form
3 = 1 + 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, . . .
n(n + 1)
therefore the number n closest to 2022 such that = 2022 is 63 that is
2
63(64)
= 2016
2
and the next terms will be
64 63 62 61 60 59
, , , , , , ...
1 2 3 4 5 6
Thus the 2022nd term is
59
6

 
1
10. Solution : After 1 minute, there is only 1− of the total space in the tank left
h
to be filled.
Let t be the total time it takes to fill the tank when both inlets are open, then
1 1 1 hc
+ = ⇒ t=
h c t h+c
The total time it takes for the tank to fill is
     
1 hc 1 hc
1 minute + 1 − = 1+ 1−
h h+c n h+c
h + hc
=
h+c
h(1 + c)
=
h+c


11. Solution : Over the 3 min of the race, Peter ran 48 m further than Opio. Why?

We note that at 0 mins; Opio was at 30m mark. If Opio ran d m in the 3 minutes then
he will be at (d + 30)m mark after 3 minutes. Since Peter is 18m ahead of Opio after
3 mins then Peter is at
(d + 30 + 18) = d + 48
Therefore, In 3 minutes Peter ran (d + 48)m which is 48m further than Opio.

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper solutions
48
Since each runs at a constant speed then Peter runs = 16m/min faster than Opio.
3
As Peter finishes the race after 7 minutes then Peter runs for another 4 mins.

Over the 4 mins, he runs 4 × 16 = 64 m further than Opio. After 3 mins Peter runs
64 meters further than Opio. So Opio is 64 m from the finish line. 

12. Solution :
 x  x−1
1 1
+ +b = 0
4 2
 x 2  x
1 1
+2 +b = 0
2 2

Let  x
1
y=
2
such that
y 2 + 2y + b = 0
to have
 x
1 √
y = = −1 ± 1 − b
2
√

ln 1 − b − 1
x =
− ln 2
√

We need ln 1 − b − 1 < 0 for a positive solution.
√ √
0< 1−b−1<1 ⇒ 1< 1−b<2 ⇒ −3<b<0


1 4
13. Solution : Four dozen is 1 − = of the total no of balls. The total number of
5 5
balls is
4
48 ÷ = 60
5
• There are 60 − 48 = 12 balls marked with prime numbers and 48 balls marked with
non prime numbers.
• There are 30 blue balls and 30 gold balls
1
• Further there are × 30 = 10 blue balls marked with prime numbers.
3
• There are 12 − 10 = 2 gold balls marked with prime numbers
• Therefore there are 28 gold balls marked with non prime number

Blue Gold Total

Prime 10 2 12
Non-prime 20 28 48
Total 30 30 60

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 national mathematics contest, 2022, o-level paper solutions
60 − 10 = 50

14. Solution :
1
3 5
7 9 11
13 15 17 19
21 23 25 27 29
31 33 35 37 39 41
43 45 47 49 51 53 55

The number 289 = (17)2 ⇒ it appears in the 17th row and in the 9th element since the
1st row has 1, 3rd row has 32 = 9, 5th row has 52 = 25 in the middle, . . . 
15. Solution :

Total area that the goat reach is;

3
• of the circle whose radius is 12 f t; i.e
4
3 3
πr2 =



144 π
4 4
and
1
• of the circular part
4
1
A = (π · 22 ) = π
4
and
1
• of the circular part
4
1
B = (π · 42 ) = 4π
4
Total area reached is
3

144 π + π + 4π = 113π.
4


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