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Melbourne University Math Competition Junior - Solution

1. The document discusses solving several word problems through logical reasoning and mathematical steps. It examines possibilities for a multiplication problem with missing digits, calculates the maximum number of children a farmer can have based on the amount left to charity, and determines the number of possible combinations for connecting houses with colored strings. 2. Multiple problems are broken down into logical steps, such as examining factorizations, setting up and solving inequalities, and considering different arrangements and permutations. 3. The document demonstrates solving word problems systematically through logical deductions and mathematical reasoning.

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132 views2 pages

Melbourne University Math Competition Junior - Solution

1. The document discusses solving several word problems through logical reasoning and mathematical steps. It examines possibilities for a multiplication problem with missing digits, calculates the maximum number of children a farmer can have based on the amount left to charity, and determines the number of possible combinations for connecting houses with colored strings. 2. Multiple problems are broken down into logical steps, such as examining factorizations, setting up and solving inequalities, and considering different arrangements and permutations. 3. The document demonstrates solving word problems systematically through logical deductions and mathematical reasoning.

Uploaded by

RH1 RH1
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Junior Solutions 1

1. The largest possible value obtainable when a 1-digit number is multiplied by


a 2-digit number is 9 × 99 = 891, so the output of Melissa’s multiplication has
at most 3 digits. Since the digit 3 is not shown, the possibilities are 21, 321,
231 and 213. The prime factorisations of each of these numbers are 21 = 3 × 7,
321 = 3 × 107, 231 = 3 × 7 × 11 and 213 = 3 × 71. We examine each in turn to
find out which of these numbers have factorisations involve a 1-digit number
times a 2-digit number. The answers are 21 = 1 × 21, 231 = 3 × 77 = 7 × 33
and 213 = 3 × 71. All the possible products except the first are not possible
for Melissa to input as she is missing the button 3. Therefore she must be
multiplying 1 × 21.

2. We will show the answer is 6, 219. The fourth digit is at most 9, and the
second and third digits have to sum to at least 3, since they are distinct and
not zero. Therefore the first digit is at most 9 − 3 = 6. In order to have the
first digit 6, we must have equality everywhere, therefore the second and third
digits are 1 and 2 in some order, and the fourth digit is 9. The largest of these
options is the number 6, 219, which we can easily check is indeed funny.

3. After each child takes their share, the amount of the farmer’s estate that
remains is reduced by three-quarters. So if there are n children, then the
fraction of the farmer’s estate donated to charity will be (3/4)n . The oldest
child gets 1/4 of the estate, so we seek the largest value of n for which (3/4)n >
1/4. This is equivalent to 3n > 4n−1 . If n = 4, then this inequality is 81 > 64
which is true, while if n = 5, this inequality is 243 > 256 which is false.
Therefore the maximum number of children the farmer can have is 4.

4. Because at most 5 of the digits are larger than 3, there can be at most one
occurrence of 6, 7 and 8 in a row. If these digits occur in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
positions, then the first digit can be any of 0,1,2,3 and 4, while the other two
digits are unrestricted. Therefore there are 4 × 10 × 10 = 400 numbers of the
form ∗67, 8 ∗ ∗. There are two other locations where the digits 6, 7 and 8 can
occur, and similarly there are 400 possibilities for each of these cases. So in
total, there are 3 × 400 = 1200 numbers satisfying the given conditions. The
probability is therefore
1200 3
= .
400000 1000
5. The answer is 6.

Z
Z
Z
ZZ

The picture above shows one side of the box. Half of the diagonal is shown,
which represents the part of the line between opposite egdes that lies in the
1 × 3 × 4 sub-box. Inside this sub-box, we count and see there are 3 cubes
interesected, so in total there must be 2 × 3 = 6.
Junior Solutions 2

6. We have
12 20
|AEF | = |ABC| =
33 3
since the height differs by a factor of 1/3 and the base differs by a factor of
2/3 (thinking of the side along AC as the base).
20
Similarly |CDE| = |BF D| = 3
.
Therefore
20
|DEF | = |ABC| − |AEF | − |CDE| − |BF D| = 30 − 3 × = 10.
3

7. Consider the green string attached to the westmost house on the north side
of the street. It is attached to some house, call it A on the south side of the
street. The red string attached to A cannot cross this green string attached to
A, so must also be connected to the westmost house on the north side of the
street. So the two strings from the westmost house on the north side of the
street must be connected to the same house on the south side of the street.
Once we know this, we can apply a similar argument to show that the two
strings from the middle house on the north side of the street are connected to
the same house on the south side of the street, and again for the last house.
This leaves us with the question of how many ways we can match up houses
from the north side of the street to the south side, which is 3! = 6. (Each such
matching does lead to a valid configuration of lights).

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