Canadian Intermediate Mathematics Contest

NOTE:
1. Please read the instructions on the front cover of this booklet.
2. Write solutions in the answer booklet provided.
3. Express answers as simplifiedpexact numbers except where otherwise indicated.
For example, ⇡ + 1 and 1 2 are simplified exact numbers.
4. While calculators may be used for numerical calculations, other mathematical
steps must be shown and justified in your written solutions and specific marks
may be allocated for these steps. For example, while your calculator might be
able to find the x-intercepts of the graph of an equation like y = x3 x, you
should show the algebraic steps that you used to find these numbers, rather than
simply writing these numbers down.
5. Diagrams are not drawn to scale. They are intended as aids only.
6. No student may write both the Canadian Senior Mathematics Contest and the
Canadian Intermediate Mathematics Contest in the same year.

PART A
For each question in Part A, full marks will be given for a correct answer which is placed in
the box. Part marks will be awarded only if relevant work is shown in the space provided
in the answer booklet.

1. Which of the fractions 23 , 34 , 56 , 58 , and 11

12 is the smallest?
Birthdays in 2016
2. The graph to the right shows the number of
Number of students

8
students in Ms. Gupta’s class that have their
6
birthday in 2016 on each day of the week. If 25%
of the students in the class have their birthday on 4
a day that begins with the letter “T”, how many 2
of the students in the class have their birthday
0
?
in 2016 on a Tuesday?
Monday
Tuesday
Sunday

Wednesday

Saturday
Thursday
Friday

Day of the week

3. Pete sets up 12 hurdles for a race that is 600 metres long. The distance between the
starting line and the first hurdle is 50 metres. The distance between the last hurdle
and the finishing line is 55 metres. The distance between each pair of consecutive
hurdles is d metres. What is the value of d?

4. Dina has a calculating machine, labelled f , that takes one number as input and
calculates an output. The machine f calculates its output by multiplying its input
by 2 and then subtracting 3. For example, if Dina inputs 2.16 into f , the output is
1.32. If Dina inputs a number x into f , she gets a first output which she then inputs
back into f to obtain a second output, which is 35. What is the value of x?
 5. In the diagram, P and Q start at the positions shown P 8m
and point X is fixed on the circle. Initially, the shortest X
distance along the circumference from P to X is 8 m, 16 m
from Q to X is 16 m, and from P to Q is 16 m, as shown.
P and Q move around the circle in opposite directions
as indicated by the arrows. P moves at 3 m/s. Q moves
Q 16 m
at 3.5 m/s. If P and Q begin moving at the same time,
after how many seconds do P and Q meet at X for the
second time?
6. A line has equation y = kx, where k 6= 0 and k 6= 1. The line is reflected in the line
with equation x + y = 1. Determine the slope and the y-intercept of the resulting
line, in terms of k.

PART B
For each question in Part B, your solution must be well-organized and contain words of
explanation or justification. Marks are awarded for completeness, clarity, and style of
presentation. A correct solution, poorly presented, will not earn full marks.
1. In the grid shown, the distance between adjacent dots in one column and adjacent
dots in one row is 1 unit.
L
D H

A J
E
B C K
F G

(a) Determine the area of 4ABC.

(b) Determine the area of figure DEF GH.
(c) Determine the area of 4JKL.

2. In the list of positive integers 1, 3, 9, 4, 11 the positive di↵erences between each pair
of adjacent integers in the list are 3 1 = 2, 9 3 = 6, 9 4 = 5, and 11 4 = 7.
In this example, the smallest positive di↵erence between any two adjacent integers
in the list is 2.
(a) Arrange the integers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 so that the smallest positive di↵erence between
any two adjacent integers is 2.
(b) Suppose that the twenty integers 1, 2, 3, . . . , 18, 19, 20 are arranged so that the
smallest positive di↵erence between any two adjacent integers is N .
(i) Explain why N cannot be 11 or larger.
(ii) Find an arrangement with N = 10. (Parts (i) and (ii) together prove that
the maximum possible value of N is 10.)
(c) Suppose that the twenty-seven integers 1, 2, 3, . . . , 25, 26, 27 are arranged so that
the smallest positive di↵erence between any two adjacent integers is N . What
is the maximum possible value of N ? Prove that your answer is correct.
 Mathematics
Intermediate
Canadian
(English)
Contest

2016
3. For each positive integer n, the Murray number of n is the smallest positive integer
M , with M > n, for which there exist one or more distinct integers greater than n
and less than or equal to M whose product times n is a perfect square.
For example, the Murray number of 3 is 8 since 3 ⇥ 6 ⇥ 8 = 122 and it can be shown
that it is not possible to multiply 3 by one or more distinct integers that are greater
than 3 and less than 8 to obtain a perfect square.

(a) The Murray number of 6 is 12. Show why this is true.

(b) Determine the Murray number of 8. (No justification is required.)
(c) Prove that there are infinitely many positive integers n for which n is not a
perfect square and the Murray number of n is less than 2n.
(d) Prove that, for all positive integers n, the Murray number of n exists and is
greater than or equal to n + 3.