2018 AUCKLAND MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD

Questions
• Write all your working and solutions below the question.
• You are expected to show how you obtained your solution for each question, as correct
answers (without working) will be awarded 1 mark only.
• Markers will mark only one question at a time per candidate.

Junior Division

1. Find a multiple of 2018 whose decimal expansion's first four digits are 2017.
2. Starting with a list of three numbers, the “Make-My-Day” procedure creates a new
list by replacing each number by the sum of the other two.
For example, from {1, 3, 8} “Make-My-Day” gives {11, 9, 4} and a new “Make-
My-Day” leads to {13, 15, 20}.
If we begin with {20, 1, 8}, what is the maximum difference between two
numbers on the list after 2018 consecutive “Make-My-Day”s?
3. Consider the pentagon below. Find its area.

4. A vintage tram departs a stop with a certain number of boys and girls on board.
At the first stop, a third of the girls get out and their places are taken by boys.
At the next stop, a third of the boys get out and their places are taken by girls.
There are now two more girls than boys and as many boys as there originally were
girls.
How many boys and girls were there on board at the start?

𝑎𝑎+1 𝑏𝑏+1 𝑐𝑐+1

5. Find all possible triples of positive integers, a, b, c so that , , and
𝑏𝑏 𝑐𝑐 𝑎𝑎
are also integers.
 Senior Division

6. For two non-zero real numbers a, b , the equation, 𝑎𝑎(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑎𝑎)2 + 𝑏𝑏(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑏𝑏)2 = 0
has a unique solution.
Prove that 𝑎𝑎 = ±𝑏𝑏 .

7. Consider a positive integer,

N = 9 + 99 + 999 + . . . . . + 999…9
2018

How many times does the digit 1 occur in its decimal representation?

8. A rectangular sheet of paper whose dimensions are 12 x 18 is folded along

a diagonal, creating the M-shaped region drawn in the picture (see below).

Find the area of the shaded region.

9. Alice and Bob are playing the following game:

They take turns writing on the board natural numbers not exceeding 2018
(to write the number twice is forbidden).
Alice begins. A player wins if after his or her move there appear three numbers on
the board which are in arithmetic progression.
Which player has a winning strategy?

10. There is a sequence of numbers +1 and -1 of length n. It is known that the sum
of every 10 neighbouring numbers in the sequence is 0 and that the sum of every
12 neighbouring numbers in the sequence is not zero.
What is the maximal value of n ?
 2018 AUCKLAND MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD
Solutions for Students

1 2018 × 9996 = 20171928

2 Claim: 19. In fact, the "MakeMyDay" procedure does not change the
maximum difference between two numbers on the list. Suppose our list is {a,b,c} with a
< b < c. The maximum difference between the largest and the smallest number is c − a.
The “MakeMyDay” operation creates {b + c, a + c, a + b}.
Since a < b, we know that a+c < b+c. Since b < c, we also know that a+b < a+c.
Combining these two inequalities, we have a + b < a + c < b + c.
The maximum difference between any number is (b+c) − (a+b) or c − a.
So the same as the one we started with. For the initial list of {20,1,8}, the maximum
difference will always be 19.
3 Inscribe in a rectangle, where ∠CBP=30deg.

���� = 2, we get ����

Since 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵 ����� = 1 +√3.
���� = √3, So 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴
𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 = 1, and 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵
Then ∠DCQ = 60deg, so 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 ���� = 1/2, ���� ���� = (√3)/2.
𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃 =3/2, 𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
2+2√3− √3
���� = 1 + √3 - (√3)/2 =
Finally, 𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = 1 + (√3)/2, and 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸�����= 1/2.
2
The area of the pentagon is then ���� x 𝑃𝑃𝑃𝑃
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 ���� - 1/2(𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵 ���� + 𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶
����x𝐶𝐶𝐶𝐶 ����x𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
���� + 𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
����x𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸
���� )
= 1/4(5+3 √3) = approx 2.549 units²
4 Let b_i and g_i be the numbers of boys and girls on board the tram, respectively,
at stop i. Note that b_0 and g_0 are the numbers of boys and girls on board the tram,
respectively, at the start of the trip.
At stop 1, b_1=b_0 + g_0/3, g_1=2 g_0/3.
Similarly, at stop 2, b_2 = 2 b_1/3, g_2 = g_1+b_1/3.
Using above formulas for b_1, g_1 leads to b_2 = 2b_0/3 + 2g_0/9,
g_2 = 7g_0/9 + b_0/3. From b_2 = g_0 this yields b_0 = 7g_0/6.
As b_2+2 = g_2, we have g_0 = 1/5(3b_0+18).
We can now solve for g_0 to get g_0=12 and then b_0=14.

5 We have b ≤ a+1, c ≤ b+1, a ≤ c+1, so that c-1 ≤ b ≤ a+1 ≤ c+2,

so a in {c-2, c-1, c, c+1}. Now a case bash yields 10 solutions:
(1,2,3),(3,1,2),(2,3,1), (3,4,5),(5,3,4),(4,5,3), (2,1,1),(1,2,1),(1,1,2), (1,1,1).
6 Suppose a and b are both positive. Then 𝑎𝑎(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑎𝑎)2 ≥ 0 and 𝑏𝑏(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑏𝑏)2 ≥ 0
with the first being zero for x = a and the second being zero for x = b.
Thus 𝑎𝑎(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑎𝑎)2 + 𝑏𝑏(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑏𝑏)2 = 0 only when x = a = b.
If a and b are both negative, then the reasoning is similar.
If a and b have opposite signs, we rewrite the equation as follows:
𝑎𝑎(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑎𝑎)2 + 𝑏𝑏(𝑥𝑥 − 𝑏𝑏)2 = (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏)𝑥𝑥 2 − 2(𝑎𝑎2 + 𝑏𝑏 2 )𝑥𝑥 + (𝑎𝑎3 + 𝑏𝑏 3 ) = 0
Then its discriminant, D = 4(𝑎𝑎2 + 𝑏𝑏 2 )2 − 4(𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏)(𝑎𝑎3 + 𝑏𝑏 3 )
= 4(2𝑎𝑎2 𝑏𝑏 2 − 𝑎𝑎𝑏𝑏 3 − 𝑏𝑏𝑎𝑎3 )
= −4𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎(−2𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏 2 + 𝑎𝑎2 )
= −4𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎(𝑎𝑎 − 𝑏𝑏)2 < 0, is negative unless 𝑏𝑏 = −𝑎𝑎.
7 We have
N = (10 − 1) + (102 − 1) + ⋯ + (102018 − 1) = 111 … 10 − 2018

2018
= 111 … 100000 + (11110 − 2018)

2014
= 111 … 100000 + 9092.

2014
Hence in decimal representation there are 2014 ones.

8 The area of the M-region is area OR . . . OR . . .

of rectangle ABCD - area ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 With ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = half
as triangle ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 is the overlap. rectangle 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = 108 We have
then remaining shaded ����
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 (= ����
𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 ) + ����
𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 = 18,
area = ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴,
���� = 12,
and since side 𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 so set up the equation
we can find ����
𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵 from 12 × with ����
𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 = ����
𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 = 𝑥𝑥
tan(∠𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵), so that
where ∠𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵 is from
|ABCD| = 12 x 18 = 216. ∠𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵 − ∠𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 𝑥𝑥 2 + 122 = (18 − 𝑥𝑥)2
����
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 is the diagonal of the (i.e. from
18 12 144 = 324 − 36𝑥𝑥
rectangle, 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡−1 �12� − 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡−1 �18�)
so ����
𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = √122 + 182 Solves 𝑥𝑥 = 5 = ����
𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 .
= 6√13. ���� = 5,
So 𝐵𝐵𝐵𝐵
Therefore the shaded
���� ,
The height of ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 is 𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸 and smaller ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 = 30, so
area
���� x tan ∠𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷
and equals 𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 combined shaded area of
���� | = 3√13
|𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹 ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 + ∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴 1 1
= (12 x 18) + 2 (5 x 12)
12 2 = 108 + 30 = 138. 2
and tan ∠𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = 18 = 3
1
���� | x |𝐸𝐸𝐸𝐸
���� | = 78. = 138.
So |∆𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴| = 2|𝐴𝐴𝐴𝐴
Area = 216-78 = 138.
9 If after her second move Alice does not win, then Bob wins with his second move.
Indeed, in this case there are two numbers a and b on the board with the same parity.
1
Bob wins with writing 2 (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏).
We just need to show how Bob chooses his first move.
If Alice chooses 𝑎𝑎 ≤ 1009 , then Bob chooses the number in the set {2017, 2018}
whose parity is different from a.
And, if Alice chooses 𝑎𝑎 ≥ 1010, then Bob chooses b = 1 or 2, the one whose parity is
different from a.
1
Then Alice cannot win with her second move since 2 (𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏) is not an integer.

10 Firstly, let us show that n = 15 is possible. Indeed, we can have the sequence
+1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 - 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1:
Let us prove that n cannot be larger.
Suppose 𝑛𝑛 ≥ 16 and our sequence is 𝑥𝑥 = 𝑥𝑥1 𝑥𝑥2 𝑥𝑥3 … 𝑥𝑥𝑛𝑛 .
Without loss of generality suppose 𝑥𝑥1 = 1.
Then, as the sum of every 10 neighbouring numbers is 0, we have 𝑥𝑥11 = 1.
Thus we have 𝑥𝑥 = 1𝑥𝑥2 𝑥𝑥3 … 𝑥𝑥10 1𝑥𝑥12 𝑥𝑥13 … 𝑥𝑥𝑛𝑛 .
We claim that 𝑥𝑥12 = … = 𝑥𝑥𝑛𝑛 = 1.
Indeed, among these, -1 cannot follow 1 since then we will have the sum of 12
consecutive terms of the sequence, which ends with these +1 and -1 being 0.
If 𝑛𝑛 ≥ 16, then we have at least 6 ones at the end of the sequence which it then makes
impossible to have the sum of the last 10 terms to be 0.