MAMC solutions

by evt917
Created in December 2024

1 Preface
Please do not look at the answers unless you have already finished the test. This
mock relies on integrity, so please do not cheat. Thank you.

If you have not finished the test, I will say again; STOP! I really don’t want
people to cheat and inflate the leaderboard much. This is the last time you will
be asked.

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2 Answer key
The answer key is listed below.

The answer key will be a list. The first letter will be the answer to the first
question, the second letter will be the answer to the second question... so on.
Every five problems is separated with a backslash (\).

CBADE \CCDEB \EBAEA \EDDBA \CDCED

If you spot any error (there is a chance), please report it to evt917 by PM.

3 Solutions
Here are the detailed solutions for the 2024 MAMC 8:

Problem 1: Clive has six apples. If Alice has two times the apples Clive has,
and Bob has three times fewer apples than Alice and Clive combined, how many
apples does Bob have?

(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 6 (D) 12 (E) 18

Solution: Clive has six apples. Since Alice has two times the apples Clive
has, Alice has 6 · 2 = 12 apples. Bob has three times fewer apples than Alice
and Clive combined, which is 6 + 12 = 18. Therefore, Bob has 18 3 = (C) 6
apples.

Problem 2: The set 1,5,2,3,4,6,1 has a range, median, and mode. Find the sum
of those three numbers.

(A) 7 (B) 9 (C) 11 (D) 12 (E) 15

Solution: We can list the numbers from least to greatest: 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. We

can see the median, or the middle number, is 3. The range is the difference
between the largest and smallest numbers, which is 6 − 1 = 5. The mode is the
number that appears the most, which is 1. The sum is 3 + 5 + 1 = (B) 9 .

Problem 3: A certain triangle has angles in a 3:4:5 ratio. What is the smallest
angle?

(A) 45 (B) 50 (C) 60 (D) 90 (E) 120

Solution: We denote the angles as 3x, 4x, and 5x for some x. We write the

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equation 3x + 4x + 5x = 180, since there are 180 degrees in a triangle. Com-
bine like terms to get 12x = 180, so x = 15. Therefore, the smallest angle is
3x = (A) 45 degrees.

Problem 4: An unfair coin has a 2/3 chance of landing tails. If you flip the coin
three times, the probability that all of them comes up tails can be expressed as
m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. What is m+n?

(A) 12 (B) 27 (C) 32 (D) 35 (E) 40

Solution: The probability that the coin will land tails one time is 32 . So, the
probability that the coin will land tails three times in a row is 23 · 23 · 23 = ( 32 )2 = 27
8
.
Thus, m = 8 and n = 27, and m + n = (D) 35 .

Problem 5: Let A = 581029 + 472998 - 58203. Which of the following is A

rounded to the nearest thousand?

(A) 995000 (B) 1000000 (C) 984000 (D) 927000 (E) 996000

Solution: We can write A as 581000 + 29 + 473000 − 2 − 58000 + 203. Dealing

with all the thousands, we get 996000 + 29 + 203 − 2. We can see now that this
easily rounds to (E) 996000 .

Problem 6: A telephone company charges a certain fixed fee, along with a 60

cents charge for every minute on the phone. If the total cost for a 45 minute
call is 32 dollars, what is the fixed fee, in dollars?

(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 5 (D) 6 (E) 7

Solution: Let the fixed fee be x cents. We can write the following equation
when we convert everything to cents: x + 60(45) = 3200. We simplify this equa-
tion to get x + 2700 = 3200. From here we know x = 500 cents, so the fixed fee
in dollars is (C) 5 dollars.

Problem 7: Company B advertises that their products contain 20 percent more

stuff and is for 10 percent less price, when compared to an identical product of
Company A. What is the percent discount for buying Company B’s products,
instead of Company A’s products?

(A) 50 (B) 35 (C) 25 (D) 20 (E) Less than 20

Solution: Imagine Company A sells their product at 10 dollars, for 10 units

of stuff. Then, we see Company B sells their product at 9 dollars, for 12 units
of stuff. The price per unit of stuff for Company A is 1 dollar, while it’s only
0.75 dollars for Company B. Therefore, you get a (C) 25 percent discount.

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Problem 8: Five concentric circles have radii of 1,2,3,4, and 5. Find the posi-
tive difference between the total area covered by the purple, green, and orange
sections and the total area covered by the blue and yellow sections.

(A) 15π (B) 10π (C) 7π (D) 5π (E) 3π

Solution: Computing each region by hand, we get that the area of the pur-
ple section is 25π − 16π = 9π, the area of the green section is 9π − 4π = 5π,
and the area of the orange section is π. The sum of those three sections is 15π,
so the remainder (namely, the sum of the areas of the yellow and blue sections)
is 10π. The answer is then 15π − 10π = (D) 5π .

Problem 9: Tay collects lots of baseball cards. He notices that if he sorts the
cards into groups of 9, he would have 1 left over. He also notices that if he sorts
the cards into groups of 7, he would have 6 left over. What is the minimum
number of cards Tay could have?

(A) 51 (B) 52 (C) 53 (D) 54 (E) 55

Solution 1 (basic): The easiest way to do this is to make a list. The list of integers

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that leave a remainder of 1 when divided by 9 is 1, 10, 19, 28, 37, 46, 55, 64, 71...
so on. We also make a list of the integers that leave a remainder of 6 when
divided by 7: 6, 13, 20, 27, 34, 41, 48, 55. We stop at 55 because it’s common to
the first list. The answer is then (E) 55 .

Solution 2 (advanced): We can use this information to create:

x≡1 mod 9
x≡6 mod 7

We can use x ≡ 6 mod 7 to convert to x = 7y + 6. We then substitute this

into the other modulo which becomes 7y + 6 ≡ 1 mod 9. We then isolate y,

7y ≡ 4 mod 9
y≡7 mod 9
We can do the same thing we did before, which makes y ≡ 7 mod 9 to y = 9z+7.
We can then substitute y into x = 7y + 6. This becomes

x = 7(9z + 7) + 6
x = 63z + 49 + 6
x = 63z + 55
Converting back into modulo form we get out final answer:

x ≡ 55 mod 63

We get answer choice E or 55 (Also this is NOT the way you should be usu-
ally answering this type of question because it takes longer than first solution.
But if the numbers are bigger then this is what you should be doing, and this
is also a good practice.).

Problem 10: A number is called “crazy” if all of its digits are different. How
many four-digit crazy numbers are there?

(A) 3000 (B) 4536 (C) 4600 (D) 4739 (E) 5012

Solution: There are nine choices for the first digit (because you can choose
anything except 0). There are nine choices for the second digit (because you
can choose anything besides the first digit). Similarly, there are eight and
seven choices for the third and fourth digits, respectively. Thus, the answer

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is 9 · 9 · 8 · 7 = (B) 4536 .

Problem 11: The current score in a basketball game is 20-40. Mike notices the
trailing team is now scoring 5 points per 2 minutes, compared to the winning
team, who is scoring only 3 points per 2 minutes. Assuming this rate remains
constant, and it’s currently the 23rd minute, at what minute would the trailing
team be winning?

(A) 41 (B) 42 (C) 43 (D) 44 (E) 45

Solution: Notice how the trailing team gains two points every two minutes.
Since they’re losing by 20, it would take 10 of those two minute sections to tie
the game. It’s going to be the 20 + 23 = 43rd minute by then. Then, the team
needs two more minutes to ge the lead. Therefore, the answer is (E) 45 .

Problem 12: Let the nth Fibonacci number be denoted as Fn . The Fibonacci
sequence is defined as Fn+2 = Fn+1 + Fn , with F1 = 1, and F2 = 1. Compute
F1 + F2 + F3 + · · · + F10 .

(A) 142 (B) 143 (C) 144 (D) 145 (E) 146

Solution: We can list out the first ten fibbonacci numbers, since it’s a rather
achievable task: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55. Summing it up, we get (B) 143 .

Problem 13: I’m starting from the origin in the coordinate plane. Assuming I
can only go to the right or up, how many ways can I go to the point (2,7)?

(A) 36 (B) 40 (C) 45 (D) 50 (E) 66

Solution: Note that you need to go up 7 times, and you need to go to the
right 2 times. There is nine total moves, and you can choose two of them to
go to the right. The rest have no choice – they have to go up. Therefore, the
answer is 92 = (A) 36 .

Problem 14: Let N = 24 · 35 · 46 · 67 . How many positive integer divisors does

N have?

(A) 300 (B) 304 (C) 308 (D) 310 (E) 312

Solution: Fully prime factorizing N , we get 223 · 312 . Using the formula to
find the number of divisors of a number, we get (23 + 1)(13 + 1) = (E) 312 .

Problem 15: If you randomly arrange the letters in the word VILLAGE, what
is the probability that the two ”L”’s are together?

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 2 1 2 1 5
(A) 7 (B) 3 (C) 5 (D) 2 (E) 7

Solution: For the two L’s to be together, we can treat the two L’s like a single
block, like so: VI(LL)AGE. Then, the L’s would always be together. There is
6 ”letters”, and 6! = 720 ways to arrange the words in the word VI(LL)AGE.
However, if we don’t treat the two L’s like a single letter, there is 7! = 5040
ways to arrange the letters. However, to account for the over-counting (since
the order of the two L’s doesn’t matter), we divide by 2! = 2, since there
is 2! ways to arrange the order of the two L’s. This gives us the probability
720 720 2
= 2520 = (A) .
( 5040
2 ) 7
Problem 16: A triangle is bounded by the graph of y = |x| and y = 2. What is
the area of that triangle?

(A) 2 (B) 2.5 (C) 3 (D) 3.5 (E) 4

Solution: We can pretty easily graph the two equations. Then, we notice
that the triangle is right. Also notice that the legs of the right triangle are the
hypotenuses of an isosceles right triangle with√ leg length 2. The hypotenuse of a
isosceles right triangle with side√length
√
2 is 2 2, by the Pythagorean theorem.
Therefore, the desired area is 2 2·22
2
= 8
2 = (E) 4.

Problem 17: Define the operation a ⋆ b = a2 − ab − b2 for all a and b. Also de-
fine the operation a@b = (a2 −b)(a−ab+b−b2 ) for all a and b. Find (1⋆2)@(3⋆4).

(A) -20000 (B) -20110 (C) 21025 (D) -21120 (E) -39270

Solution: 1 ⋆ 2 = 12 − 1 · 2 − 22 = 1 − 2 − 4 = −5, and 3 ⋆ 4 = 32 − 3 ·

4 − 42 = 9 − 12 − 16 = −19. Next, we apply the @ operation to the two
numbers, which yields ((−5)2 − (−19))(−5 − (−5) · (−19) + (−19) − (−19)2 ) =
(25 + 19)(−5 − 95 − 19 − 361) = (44)(−480) = (D) -21120 .

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Problem 18: In the diagram below, A is the center of the circle. AB, the radius,
equals 4. D is the intersection point of line BD and CD, and BD is a tangent to
the circle. Line CD is perpendicular to line BD, and AD = AC. We are given
that ̸ DAB = 30◦ . Find the length of CD.

√ √ √
(A) 2 2 (B) 3 3 (C) 8 (D) 8.25 (E) 4 5

Solution: We know since BD is a tangent to the circle, ̸ ABD = 90◦ . There-

fore, △ABD is a√30-60-90 right triangle. We can√
notice that since AB = 4,
DB = √43 = 4 3 3 . and AD = DB · 2 = 8 3 3 . Then, we can see that
̸ ADC = 90 − 60 = 30◦ . Since △ADC is isosceles, ̸ ACD = 30◦ as well,
and ̸ CAD = 180 − 30 − 30 = 120◦ . We can break triangle ADC into two
30-60-90 triangles by drawing a line from A to the midpoint of CD. Let’s call

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 √
4 3
the foot of that altitude E. Then, AE = 3 , and CE = 4, so CD = (C) 8 .

Problem 19: A teacher writes six words on a board: “cat dog has max dim tag.”
She gives three students, Albert, Bernard and Cheryl each a piece of paper with
one letter from one of the words. Then she asks, “Albert, do you know the
word?” Albert immediately replies yes. She asks, “Bernard, do you know the
word?” He thinks for a moment and replies yes. Then she asks Cheryl the same
question. She thinks and then replies yes. What is the word?

(A) cat (B) dog (C) dim (D) max (E) None of the four listed.

Solution: When asked, Albert replies that he knows the word. This means
Albert was given a letter that is unique to a single word–the letter appears
only once in the list. Albert must have been given the one of the letters c (cat),
o (dog), h or s (has), x (max), or i (dim). This means the word could not be tag.

Upon hearing Albert’s answer, Bernard knows the word could not be tag,
and his letter is not one of those given to Albert. Because Bernard indicates he
knows the word, he must have received a unique identifier from the remaining
words and the letters not given to Albert. The letter could be t (cat), g (dog),
or h (if Albert got s in has) or s (if Albert got h in has). The letter could not
be “a” because “a” is in multiple words (cat, has, max, tag) and the letter also
could not be m (max and dim). This eliminates the words max and dim. The
possible words are cat, dog, and has.

Upon hearing Albert’s and then Bernard’s answers, Cheryl is also able to
deduce the word. This means she received a unique letter from the three re-
maining words cat, dog, and has. And she got a the letter from the letters not
given to Albert or Bernard. As the letter “a” in in both cat and has, she could
not have gotten “a.” This eliminates the words cat and has. The only remaining
possibility is (B) dog .

Problem 20: On a weird planet far away from earth, math uses base b, instead
of base 10. Steve notices that if you square 17b , you get 341b as the result.
What is b?

(A) 8 (B) 9 (C) 11 (D) 12 (E) 13

Solution: We can denote 17b as b + 7. We can denote 341b as 3b2 + 4b + 1.

Set the square of 17b equal to 341b : (b + 7)2 = 3b2 + 4b + 1. Expanding, we
get b2 + 14b + 49 = 3b2 + 4b + 1. Simplifying, we get −2b2 = −10b − 48, or
2b2 = 10b + 48. We can make the quadratic 2b2 − 10b − 48 = 0. Factoring, we
get 2(b + 3)(b − 8) = 0. Since b must be positive, b = (A) 8 .

Problem 21: My school offers three sports: Flag football, Baseball, and Basket-

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ball. The school board requires each kid to participate in at least one sport. I
did a poll to record the sports each kid participated in. 29 kids do Flag football,
34 kids do Baseball, and 33 kids do Basketball. 15 kids do both Flag football
and Baseball, 16 kids do both Baseball and Basketball, and 12 kids do Flag
football and Basketball. The poll included 57 kids. However, I spilled some
juice on the part that said how many kids did all three sports. How many kids
did all three sports?

(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 4 (D) 5 (E) 6

Solution: We can first start with adding all the students in each of the sports:
29 + 34 + 33 = 96. This obviously overcounts. This is because we forgot to
account for the people who did two sports. We can subtract 15 + 16 + 12 = 43
kids from the total, to account for the kids who did two sports. This gives us
96 - 43 = 53 students. However, this undercounted! This is because for the kids
who did all three sports, they get counted once in the count that added all the
kids that did one sport, and gets subtracted once in the count that added all the
kids that took a pair of sports. Those who took all three sports got completely
skipped! Therefore, we can see that the kids that did all three sports is the
difference between our count and the number of students. The answer is then
57 - 53 = (C) 4 .

Problem 22: Point O is inside quadrilateral ABCD. A rotation of 180◦ about O

maps the quadrilateral ABCD back to itself, meaning each vertex of the image
is also a vertex of the original quadrilateral. Consider the following statements.
Which are true?

1. ABCD must be a parellelogram.

2. ABCD must be a rectangle.
3. ABCD must be a square.
4. ABCD is always cyclic.

(A) 1 and 4 (B) 1 and 2 (C) 1,2, and 3 (D) None of them (E) All of them

Solution: Note that O maps A to C, B to D, C to A, and D to B. This

means O is the midpoint of the diagonals of the quadrilateral. For the sides
to remain valid after the rotation, we see that AB||CD and AD||BC. This
suggests the quadrilateral is a parellelogram. However, a 180◦ rotation does not
force the angles in the parellelogram to be 90 degrees, so the quadrilateral does
not need to be a rectangle. This implies statement 3 is false, too. For statement
4, we can see that while some parellelograms are cyclic, some aren’t. So 4 isn’t
always satisfied. Only 1 is true, hence choice D .

Problem 23: We are given a line with equation x + y = 5. We are also given a
circle with equation x2 + y 2 − 4y + 12x = 25. The two intersection points of the

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circle and line can be expressed as (x1 , y1 ) and (x2 , y2 ), where x1 , y1 , x2 , y2 are
all real numbers. Find x1 + y1 + x2 + y2 .

(A) -8 (B) 0 (C) 10 (D) 12 (E) 16

Solution: From the first equation, x = 5 − y. We can substitute that into

the circle equation, giving (5 − y)2 + y 2 − 4y + 12(5 − y) = 25. After some
expanding, we get that the simplified form of the equation is 2y 2 − 26y + 60 = 0.
You can work the expanding out yourself. The quadratic can be factored as
2(y − 3)(y − 10) = 0., so the solutions are y = 10 and y = 3. We can plug in
y = 10 to the first equation, which yields x = −5. We can plug in y = 3 to
the first equation, which yields x = 2. Therefore, the points of intersection are
(2, 3) and (−5, 10). The desired sum is 2 + 3 + (−5) + 10 = (C) 10 .

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Problem 24: When the fraction 26 is expressed as a decimal, the result is
0.1ABCDEF , where A, B, C, D, E, F are digits. What is A−B+C −D+E −F ?

(A) 5 (B) 0 (C) -3 (D) -7 (E) -11

Solution: Although tedious and annoying, the best way to solve this prob-
lem is to just do the long division. From the problem statement, we know that
the repetend of the decimal is no more than 6 digits, so doing the division is
technically achievable. We can start by just jumping right to doing 3 ÷ 26. If
you carefully evaluate this expression, you get 0.1153846. So, the answer is just
1 − 5 + 3 − 8 + 4 − 6 = (E) -11

Problem 25: In the figure below, there is a square ABCB ′ with side length 6.
(note: I do not know why the square has vertices named that). Arc B ′ B is the
arc of a circle centered at C. and arc AC is the arc of a circle centered at B.
Those two arcs intersect at E, and D is the intersection point of line AC and
arc B ′ B. Lines CD, DE, and EC form a shape (specifically, part of arc B√ ′
B,
aπ
AC, and part of line AC). The area of the shape can be expressed as b − c d.
What is a + b + c + d?

(A) 26 (B) 27 (C) 28 (D) 29 (E) 30

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Solution: Notice that the area can be found by subtracting circular sector DBC
from the region bounded by arc EC, arc EB, and side CB. To find the latter
region, we can draw segments EA and EB. The desired region is now the sum
of the areas of the circular segments AE and EB, and the area of △ECB.
Since the sides of △ECB are radii of length 6, the triangle is equilateral, and
60
the two circular segments span 360 = 16 of the whole circle. Since the circular
segment CE√has area equal √ to sector EBC minus the area of △ECB, its area
2
is 6 6π − (62 3)/4 = 6π − 9 3. Thus the region enclosed by the two arcs and
√ √ √
side CB has area 2(6π − 9 3) − (62 3)/4 = 12π − 9 3. Since CD is part of the
diagonal of the square, we find ̸ CAB = 45◦ and sector CDB is one-eighth of a
circle. Thus the area of the sector is 62 π/8 = 9π/2. Finally, the desired area is
√ √
12π − 9 3 − 9π/2 = 15π2 − 9 3. The answer is the sum 15 + 2 + 9 + 3 = (D) 29 .

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