JUNIOR SOLUTIONS 1999

1. There are six TV programmes which run for the following times (in
hours):
3 2 3 19 7
7 3 4 21
1 12 1 23
If two 3-hour videotapes are available, is it possible to store three of
the programmes entirely on one tape and the other three entirely on
the other tape?
Solution.
This requires finding three of the six given numbers which add to at
most 3, such that the remaining three also add to at most 3. The sum
of all the numbers is 6, so the constraints must be exactly satisfied.
Since one of the numbers has 21 as its denominator, it is impossible to
get a whole number total unless this is added to other fractions with
denominators divisible by 7, and by 3. As 19
21
+ 37 = 43 , this leads to the
solution
19 3 2 2 3 7
+ + 1 = 3, + + 1 = 3.
21 7 3 3 4 12
So the answer is yes.

2. As depicted in the diagram, points 1 cm along the edges

of a square from its vertices create a smaller square,
whose area is 14 sq cm less than the area of the larger
square. Find the dimensions of the larger square.

Solution.
The difference in area of the two squares is the total area of the four
triangles in the picture, so this is 14 sq cm. These triangles all have
hypotenuse equal to a side of the smaller square, and all have the same
angles, so they are all congruent to each other. So the area of one
triangle is 3 12 sq cm. As one of the sides is 1 cm, the other must be 7
cm. So the larger square has side length 8 cm.

3. Each of the 60 students (girls and boys) at an Easter camp found a

number of eggs in the egg hunt. The girls found more, so each girl gave
two eggs to the teachers. The teachers supplied each boy with one of
these eggs and found that there were two left over for each teacher. If
there were four times as many girls as teachers, how many girls were
there?

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 Solution.
Let x be the number of teachers. There were four times as many girls
as teachers, so the number of girls was 4x. There were sixty girls and
boys altogether, so there were 60 − 4x boys. Each girl gave two eggs to
the teachers, so there were 4x × 2 = 8x eggs given to teachers. Each
boy received one of these, so 8x − (60 − 4x) eggs remained for teachers.
This was two for each teacher, so

8x − (60 − 4x) = 2x.

This is solved for x as follows:

8x − 60 + 4x = 2x
10x = 60
x = 6.

So there were 4x = 24 girls.

4. Bridget has a rectangular brick of cement which

is too large by 5cm in each dimension (length,
breadth and height). She is about to trim the ex-
cess off, when Jill passes by and observes that she
can get two identical bricks each of exactly the
desired dimensions by splitting the brick in half.
What are the dimensions of the brick?
Solution.
The first thing to notice is that the desired dimensions are all smaller
than the original. If the original are x, y and z then the trimmed ones
are x−5, y−5 and z−5 (all in cm). If the brick is split in half to achieve
these dimensions, its longest side must be cut in half — otherwise the
split brick would have one dimension equal to the longest. So, assuming
x ≥ y ≥ z, the dimensions after splitting are 12 x, y and z. These equal,
in some order, x − 5, y − 5 and z − 5. Which is y? Since y − 5 < y
and z − 5 < y, it must be that x − 5 = y. Which is z? Since z − 5 < z
we are only left with y − 5 = z. This leaves only z − 5 = 12 x. Finding
everything in terms of x:
1
y = x − 5, z = y − 5 = x − 10, x = z − 5 = x − 15.
2
Solving 12 x = x − 15 gives 15 = 12 x and so x = 30. Thus the dimensions
of the original brick are 30, 25 and 20.

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5. Find all prime numbers n such that n is both a difference of two primes
and a sum of two primes. Note: 1 is not prime.
Solution.
If n is a difference of two primes, there are two cases. Firstly, both
primes may be odd, in which case n is even and so n = 2 (this being
the only even prime). But 2 is not a sum of two primes, so this is not
the n we are looking for. We are left with the second case: one of the
primes is even and is therefore equal to 2. Thus p − 2 = n for some
prime p. But then p, and so also n, must be odd, and so if n is a sum
of two primes then those two primes cannot both be odd. So one of
them is equal to 2, and n = 2 + q for some prime q. Now we have three
numbers, q = n − 2, n, and p = n + 2, all prime and all odd. But for
any three consecutive odd numbers, one of them must have a factor 3
(since multiples of 3 include every third odd number). The only prime
with a factor 3 is 3 itself. Since 1 is not prime, the numbers are not
1, 3, 5, so the only other possibility is 3, 5, 7. Thus n = 5. (5 is the
difference of the two primes 2 and 7, and the sum of 2 and 3.)

6. Aaron wrote down all the five-digit numbers which use only the digits 1,
2, 8 and 9, with repetitions permitted. (1024 numbers in all, starting
with 11111.) Yuri added them all up (correctly) to find the total.
Without writing down all the numbers, find Yuri’s total.
Solution.
It is helpful to notice first why there are 1024 five-digit numbers of this
kind: there are four choices for the first digit, and for each of these
alternatives there are four independent choices for the second, and so
on, making 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 = 1024 choices for the five digits. Choosing
“1” for the first digit leaves 4×4×4×4 = 256 choices for the remaining
digits, so this is how many of the numbers start with 1. For the same
reason, the number of numbers starting with “2”, with “8” or with “9”
is 256. These digits all have place value 10,000 in the five-digit number,
so they contribute

256 × 10000 + 256 × 20000 + 256 × 80000 + 256 × 90000

= 256 × (1 + 2 + 8 + 9) × 10000 = 256 × 20 × 10000 = 51200000

to Yuri’s total. For similar reasons, 256 of the numbers have any given
digit in the second position, with place value 1000, and so these digits
contribute 256×20×1000 = 5120000 to Yuri’s total. Counting the same
way for the digits in the third, fourth and fifth positions determines
the contributions from those digits: 512000, 51200 and 5120. So Yuri’s

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 total is
51200000 + 5120000 + 512000 + 51200 + 5120 = 512 × 111110
= 56, 888, 320.

7. Exactly 28 of the numbers 1, 2, . . ., 30 (inclusive) are factors of a

number N . The other two numbers, which are not factors of N , are
both factors of a number M which is less than 250. What is M ? (You
do not have to find N .)
Solution.
Let i and j be the two numbers missing from the list of factors, and
suppose i < j ≤ 30. An important thing to notice for this question is:
if every number which is a prime power and is factor of x is also a factor
of N , then x itself is a factor of N . Turning this around, if x is missing
from the list of factors of N , then one of its prime power factors must
be missing. Using this fact, there are several ways to decide what i and
j can be. For instance, many numbers can be eliminated from being i
or j by an argement like the following. If 24 is missing, then one of its
prime power factors must also be missing, so either 8 or 3 is missing.
But if 3 is missing, so are 6, 9, etc, and if 8 is missing, so is 16. In
either case there are at least three missing numbers less than 30; so 24
cannot be missing.
Here is an argument that takes a more general approach. The smallest
number missing from the factors, i, must be a prime power. Next,
2i and 3i cannot be factors of N because i is not a factor. So either
i ≤ 15, in which case j = 2i and 3i > 30, or i > 15. Taking the first
case, i ≤ 15 and 3i > 30 means i > 10 and so, since it’s a prime power,
i = 11 or 13. Then j = 2i means i = 11, j = 22 is one possibility for the
numbers, and M can be any multiple of 22 less than 250. (Note that
if N is the product of the numbers from 1 to 30 excluding 11 and 22,
then N has no factor 11, and so these numbers are indeed not factors
of N .) If i = 13 then j = 26 and M is any multiple of 26 less than 250.
The second case is that i > 15. But then j must be a prime power
too, since otherwise (from the argument above) one of its prime power
factors must also be missing, and this would be less than 15. Since j
is not a multiple of i, j and i must be powers of different primes, and
so the smallest M they both divide is i × j, which is too big (at least
16 × 17).
Hence the only solutions are the ones found in the first case: M is any
multiple of 22 or 26 which is less than 250 (there are 11 such multiples
of 22 and 9 such multiples of 26).