Mock American Mathematics Competitions

(AMC 10) - Solutions

Author: scrabbler94
Test solved by: KenV, Z Math404

1. Answer: (D) The six for $5 is cheaper per bar, so she can buy six
6-packs and four additional bars, or 6 × 6 + 4 = 40 candy bars.
2. Answer: (B) They save the cost of one fare, minus $5.00 for the
additional passenger. The cost of the 6.4-mile fare is $3 for the first
mile, plus the cost of 54 additional tenths of a mile, or 3 + 54 × 0.2 =
13.80. They pay 5 additional dollars, so their savings is 13.80 − 5 =
$8.80 .
3. Answer: (D) There are 16 side lengths on the perimeter, so the side
48
length of one square is 16 = 3. The area of one square is 32 = 9 square
units, and the area of the figure is 9 × 7 = 63 square units.
4. Answer: (A) Either Alice sits immediately to the left or to the right
of Beth. In either case, the locations of the remaining four are uniquely
determined:

F E
E D C F

C B B D
A A

However the problem states that Alice and David do not sit next to
each other, ruling out the 2nd (right) seating. Then they are seated (in
clockwise order) Alice, Charlie, Ellie, Frank, David, Beth, and Alice
sits across from Frank.

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

3 327
5. Answer: (D) Note that 33 = 327 . The expression equals 33
= 324 .

6. Answer: (C) Let r denote the radius of the semicircle. Then we

have
πr2
= πr + 2r
2
Dividing by r and multiplying by 2 gives πr = 2π + 4. Dividing by π,
4
we obtain r = 2 + .
π
7. Answer: (D) Let p, q, r be the primes. We have pqr = n2 − 1 =
(n − 1)(n + 1) for some integer n. If n − 1 and n + 1 are even, then
4 divides p, q, r, a contradiction since at most one of the primes is
2. Then n − 1 and n + 1 are odd, so one of them is prime and the
other is a product of two different odd primes. The only possibility is
n − 1 = 13 and n + 1 = 15 giving 3, 5, 13 as the primes, and their sum
is 3 + 5 + 13 = 21 .

8. Answer: (C) There are 36 possible outcomes. Out of these, there are
seven for which the result is not composite ((1,2),(2,1),(1,3),(3,1),(1,5),(5,1)
29
and (1,1)). The probability is .
36
9. Answer: (D) Noting that 1 + 2 + 3 + . . . + 63 = 2016 < 2018, and
1 + 2 + 3 + . . . + 64 > 2018, the first 2016 characters end with a string
of 63 C’s, and the 2018th character is D .

10. Answer: (E) Note that the integer and the sum of the digits of the
integer leave the same remainder upon division by 9. That is, n ≡ s(n)
(mod 9), and since 835 ≡ 7 (mod 9), we have n + d(n) ≡ 2n ≡ 7
(mod 9), or n ≡ 8 (mod 9). Hence the remainder is 8 .
It turns out the only such value of n is n = 818.

11. Answer: (C) Since m n

is necessarily a positive integer, we have m =
kn for some positive integer k. Then kn + n + k = 19 ⇐⇒ (k + 1)(n +
1) = 20. The solutions are (k + 1, n + 1) = (2, 10), (4, 5), (5, 4), (10, 2).
Note that (k + 1, n + 1) = (20, 1) is not valid as this gives n = 0, and
(1, 20) is not valid as this gives k = 0 ⇒ m = 0. The other pairs each

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

give 1 solution (m, n), which are (9, 9), (12, 4), (12, 3), (9, 1). Altogether
there are 4 solutions.

12. Answer: (A) We express the lines using point-slope form:

y − 5 = m(x − 7)
1
y − 5 = − (x − 7)
m

We have m − m1 = 10. The y-intercepts of the lines are −7m + 5 and

7
m
+5 respectively. Their sum is −7m+ m7 +10 = −7(10)+10 = −60 .

13. Answer: (E) Since 365 ≡ 1 (mod 7), we can simply find the day
100 days after Monday. However there are an additional 24 leap days
(not 25), so January 1, 2118 will be on the same day as 124 days from
Monday, which is Saturday .

14. Answer: (A) Extend BC past C to point M such that 6 CM D = 90◦ .

√ √
Then CM D is a 30-60-90 triangle with area 21 × 6 × 6 3 = 18 3, and
√ √
ABM D is a trapezoid with area 12 × (3 + 6 3) × 10 = 15 + 30 3.
√ √
We have [ABCD] = [ABM D] − [CM D] = 15 + 30 3 − 18 3 =
√
15 + 12 3 .

15. Answer: (E) Without loss of generality let the side length of the
larger square be 1. Then the area of each rectangle and √the smaller
square is 1/5, so the side length of the smaller square is 55√. Let the
shorter√side length of each rectangle
√
be x.
√
We have 2x + 55 = 1 ⇒
x = 5−10 5 . The longer side is x + 55 = 5+10 5 .
√
5+√5
The ratio of longer side to shorter side is 5− 5
, which simplifies to
√
3+ 5
.
2
16. Answer: (B) Similar to the area formula A = rs for triangles, we
have V = 13 rS where S denotes the sum of the areas of the faces of the
pyramid.

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

The volume of the pyramid is 13 × 100 × 12 = 400. Each triangular face

has base 10 and height 13 (by Pythagorean thm.), so each triangular
face has area 65. Then S = 100 + 4 × 65 = 360, so 400 = 31 × r × 360 ⇒
10
r= .
3
Alternate solution: Consider a cross-section triangle of the pyramid
containing the sphere’s diameter. The cross section is a 10-13-13 isosce-
les triangle, and the radius of the sphere is equal to the inradius of the
triangle, which is 10
3
.

17. Answer: (A) Rewrite as (3x )2 = 9×3x −1 ⇐⇒ (3x )2 −9×3x +1 = 0,

which is quadratic in 3x .
√
2
The solutions are 3x = 9± 29 −4 , which are both positive (we do not
care what the solutions are, just that they are positive). This gives two
real solutions for x (say x1 and x2 ).
To find their sum, we note that 3x1 3x2 = 1 by Vieta’s formulas, or
3x1 +x2 = 1 ⇒ x1 + x2 = 0 .

18. Answer: (B) There are 24 ways to choose the first endpoint of such
a space diagonal. For each vertex, there are 10 ways to choose the
second endpoint (any vertex except the first vertex, or any vertex on
either octagon containing the first vertex). Divide by 2 for overcounting
each diagonal, giving 24×10
2
= 120 space diagonals.

19. Answer: (E) Note that b 12 + xc simply rounds √ x to the nearest

1
integer (rounding 2 to 1). The following lists x, rounded to the
nearest integer:

√ √
1, 2 → 1 (2 values)
√ √
3, . . . , 6 → 2 (4 values)
√ √
7, . . . , 12 → 3 (6 values)
..
.
√ √
1893, . . . , 1980 → 44 (88 values)
√ √
1981, . . . , 2018 → 45 (38 values)

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

Hence the sum is 1 · 2 + 2 · 4 + 3 · 6 + . . . + 44 · 88 + 45 × 38 = 2(12 +

22 + . . . + 442 ) + 45 × 38 = 44×45×89
3
+ 45 × 38 = 60450 .
Note: To make the computation slightly easier, rewrite as 44 × 15 ×
89+45×38, then factor out 10 to get 10(66×89+9×19) = 10(6045) =
60450.

20. Answer: (B) Extend AM past M and DC past C to meet at a point

Q. By ASA congruence, we have 4ABM ∼
= 4QCM , so CQ = 10 and
QM = AM .
Similarly by ASA, we have 4ABP ∼ QDP , and since QD = 15, the
two triangles are in the ratio 3:2. It follows from these two facts that
AP = 4k, P M = k, and M Q = 5k for some k, and that [BM P ] =
1 1
5
[ABM ] = 10 [ABC].
If we extend AD and BC past D and C respectively to meet at a point
R, we see that 4ABR is isosceles with base 16 and equal sides of length
10. Since C is the midpoint of side BR, it follows that 4ABC is a
1 12
6-8-10 triangle with area 24. Then [BM P ] = 10 × 24 = .
5
21. Answer: (B) Note that 0 is not a root of P (x). We have

3  
Y 1
Q(3) = 3 − (ri + + 1)
i=1
ri
3
Y −ri2 + 2ri − 1
=
i=1
ri
Q3
i=1 −(1 − ri )2
= Q3
i=1 ri

Note that P (1) = 2(1−r1 )(1−r2 )(1−r3 ), so P (1) = 3i=1 (1−ri ). Hence
Q
2
the numerator of the above expression is equal to (−1)3 (P (1)/2)2 =
−( 25 )2 = − 25
4
. The denominator is equal to 32 by Vieta’s. Then Q(3) =
−25/4 25
3/2
= − .
6
22. Answer: (C) We have the following:

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

A B

Let O denote the center of Ω and M denote the midpoint of AB, so

that AM = 5. Because 4ABC is isosceles, we have that AM C is a
5-12-13 triangle, so M C = 12.
Let the radius of Ω be r. We have that O, A, and the tangency point
with ΩA and Ω are concurrent, so OA = r − 5. We have OC = r − 8
and M C = 12 − (r − 8) = 20 − r. By Pythagorean theorem on triangle
AM O:

52 + (20 − r)2 = (r − 5)2

Expanding gives 425 − 40r + r2 = r2 − 10r + 25 ⇒ 400 = 30r ⇒ r =

40
.
3
23. Answer: (B) There are 20 lines that pass through at least two of the

6 with slope ±1, 4 with slope ±2, 4 with
points (3 vertical, 3 horizontal,
slope ± 21 ), so there are 202
= 190 ways to choose two different lines,
leading to potentially 190 intersection points. However this overcounts
(i) pairs of parallel lines and (ii) 3 or more pairs of lines that intersect
at the same point.

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

(i) There are 16 pairs of parallel lines, so subtract 16 for overcounting.

(ii) Note that the four corner points have 5 lines passing through; the
four side points have 6 lines passing through,
and the center point has
4 lines passing through it. Then there are 52 = 10 pairs of lines that
6


intersect at a corner

point, 2 = 15 pairs of lines that intersect at a
4
side point, and 2 = 6 pairs of lines that

intersect

at the center. Hence
5 6 4


we must subtract 4×( 2 −1)+4×( 2 −1)×( 2 −1) = 36+56+5 = 97
due to overcounting.
Additionally, we overcount four intersection points as follows:

3


We subtract 4 × ( 2
− 1) = 8 for overcounting.
The other four intersection points that are overcounted are as follows:

Similarly we subtract 8 for overcounting.

The number of pairs of lines is 190 − 16 − 97 − 8 − 8 = 61 .

24. Answer: (D) Let W and L denote the events “some team wins all
5 matches” and “some team loses all 5 matches” respectively. The
complementary event is that some team wins all 5 or loses all 5, so the
desired probability equals 1 − P (W ∪ L).
1 3
We have P (W ) = 6 × 32 = 16 . This is because at most one team can
win all 5 matches (i.e. the events “team i wins all 5” and “team j wins
all 5” are disjoint for i 6= j), and the probability that any one team
wins all five matches is ( 12 )5 = 32
1 3
. Similarly P (L) = 16 .

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

We need to compute the intersection, which is P (W ∩ L). For any

1 ≤ i < j ≤ 6, the probability that team i wins all 5 and team j loses
all 5 is ( 21 )5 ( 12 )4 = 512
1
(team i wins all 5, and team j loses the remaining
1 15
4 matches). Then P (W ∩ L) = 6 × 5 × 512 = 256 .
By inclusion-exclusion, we have
3 3 15 81
P (W ∪ L) = + − =
16 16 256 256

The desired probability is

81 175
1 − P (W ∪ L) = 1 − = .
256 256

25. Answer: (A) N is interesting iff there is a sequence of length between

2 and 10 (inclusive), starting with 1, such that each successive term is
obtained by doubling the previous term or adding 1, and whose last
term is N . The largest interesting number is 29 = 512. This suggests
using binary.
Given positive integer N , let f (N ) denote the length of the shortest
such sequence beginning with 1 and ending with N . For example,
f (12) = 5 since the sequence 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 has length 5, and no shorter
sequence exists.
Let d2 (N ) denote the number of digits of N when expressed in binary,
and let s2 (N ) denote the sum of these digits.
Lemma 1. For positive integer N , we have f (N ) = d2 (N ) + s2 (N ) − 1.

The proof is at the end of the solution.

Using the lemma, we have 2 ≤ f (N ) ≤ 10 ⇐⇒ 3 ≤ d2 (N ) + s2 (N ) ≤
11, i.e. N is interesting iff the number of digits of N in binary, added
with their sum (or the number of 1’s) is between 3 and 11 inclusive.
We can put the set of interesting integers in bijection with sequences
of 1’s and 2’s whose sum is between 1 and 9 inclusive. The bijection
is as follows: Given such an integer N , convert it to binary. Add 1 to
each digit to obtain a sequence of 1’s and 2’s, then drop the leading 2.
For example, N = 81 = 10100012 maps to 121112.

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

Now we’ve reduced the problem to a simpler counting exercise of count-

ing the number of sequences of 1’s and 2’s whose sum is 1, 2, 3, . . . , 9.
The number of sequences whose sum is m (between 1 and 9 inclusive) is
solvable recursively and is equal to Fm+1 , where Fn is the nth Fibonacci
number. Summing from m = 1 to m = 9, the number of interesting
integers is

9
X
Fm+1 = F2 + F3 + . . . + F10
m=1
= F12 − 1 − F1
= 144 − 1 − 1
= 142 .

Proof of Lemma. This can be shown by strong induction on N . The

base case N = 1 holds, as f (1) = 1 and d2 (1)+s2 (N )−1 = 1+1−1 = 1.
Suppose the statement is true for all n < N . We wish to show the
equation holds for N . We have two cases:
Case 1: N is odd. Then f (N ) = f (N − 1) + 1 = d2 (N − 1) + s2 (N − 1).
Note that d2 (N ) = d2 (N − 1), and s2 (N ) = s2 (N − 1) + 1. Substituting
gives f (N ) = d2 (N ) + s2 (N ) − 1.
Case 2: N is even. Then f (N ) = min(f (N/2) + 1, f (2N − 2) + 2)
(either double to get N , or add 1 twice). By induction hypothesis:

f (N ) = min(d2 (N/2) + s2 (N/2), d2 (N − 2) + s2 (N − 2) + 1

For even N , we have d2 (N/2) = d2 (N ) − 1 and s2 (N/2) = s2 (N )

trivially. Also, d2 (N ) ≤ d2 (N − 2) + 1 and s2 (N ) ≤ s2 (N − 2) + 1 (to
see the last inequality, note that adding 1 increases the digit sum by 1,

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Mock 2018 AMC 10 - Solutions scrabbler94

but adding 1 again either leaves the digit sum unchanged or decreases
it due to carrying). Using these facts we have that

f (N ) = min(d2 (N ) + s2 (N ) − 1, d2 (N ) + s2 (N ) − 1 + C)
= d2 (N ) + s2 (N ) − 1

completing the induction. It is not too difficult to give an algorithm

constructing such a sequence, given N in binary.

10