MATHCOUNTS

2005
State Competition
Countdown Round
Problems 1–80

This section contains problems to be used in

the Countdown Round.

Founding Sponsors National Sponsors

CNA Foundation ADC Foundation
National Society of Professional Engineers General Motors Foundation
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Lockheed Martin
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Shell Oil Company
Texas Instruments Incorporated
3M Foundation

©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation, 1420 King Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

1. What is the sum of all the integers between –12.1 and 3.3? 1. _________________

2. Triangle AXY is similar to triangle ZBC. If AX = 6 cm, ZB = 18 cm 2. _________________

and ZC = 63 cm, what is the length of segment AY, in centimeters?

3. This is a type of magic square. The n+1 1 n−1 3. _________________

eight sums from the numbers in each 3 2n − 9 n
of the 3 rows, in each of the 3 columns,
and in each of the 2 main diagonals are n−3 n+2 2
equal. What is the value of n?

4. The value of 2x + 10 is half of the value of 5x + 30. What is the 4. _________________

value of x?

5. Cylinder B’s height is equal to the radius of cylinder A and 5. _________________

cylinder B’s radius is equal to the height h of cylinder A. If B

the volume of cylinder A is twice the volume A

of cylinder B, the volume of cylinder A can be

written as Nπh3 cubic units. What is the value of N?

6. Steve goes on a 40-km bike ride. He covers the first half of the 6. _________________
distance averaging a speed of 15 km/hr. In order to average
20 km/hr for the entire trip, how many kilometers per hour must
his average speed be during the second half of the trip?

7. In Mrs. Marsh’s algebra class, 30 of the 36 students took the 7. _________________

Chapter 4 test and the class mean was 72%. The next day the
other six students took the test and their mean score was 78%.
What is the new class mean? Express your answer as a percent.
3
4(3 )
8. What value of N satisfies 3 3 = 2 N ? 8. _________________
(4 )
9. What is the sum of the positive factors of 48? 9. _________________

10. A cylindrical can that is six inches high has a label that is 60π square 10. _________________
inches in area and exactly covers the outside of the can excluding
the top and bottom lids. What is the radius of the can, in inches?

11. A puppy and two cats together weigh 24 pounds. The puppy and 11. _________________
the larger cat together weigh exactly twice as much as the smaller
cat, and the puppy and the smaller cat together weigh exactly the
same as the larger cat. How many pounds does the puppy weigh?

12. At 3:20, what is the measure in degrees of the lesser angle formed 12. _________________
by the hour hand and the minute hand?

©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation: 2005 State Countdown Round

13. What common fraction is one-third of the way from 1
4 to 1
3
on a 13. _________________
number line?

14. What is the remainder when 22005 is divided by 7? 14. _________________

15. A quarter weighs the same as two pennies. The quarters in one 15. _________________
pound of quarters have a total value of $25. How many dollars
would a pound of pennies be worth?

16. If 3 × 11 × 13 × 21 = 2005 + b, what is the value of b? 16. _________________

17. On the horizontal line y = 5, there are two points exactly 5 units 17. _________________
from the point (7, 1). What is the sum of the x-coordinates of these
two points?
0.6
18. Express as a common fraction. 18. _________________
1.3
19. In the diagram, there are more than three triangles. 19. _________________
If each triangle has the same probability of being
selected, what is the probability that a selected
triangle has all or part of its interior shaded?
Express your answer as a common fraction.

20. A number is increased by 50% and then the result is decreased by 20. _________________
50%. What is the percent of decrease from the original number to
the final number?

21. The algebraic expression (3x – 2y)2 – x(x + 4y) can be written in 21. _________________
the form Ax2 + Bxy + Cy2. What is the value of the sum
A + B + C?

22. Solve the equation 27 = 3(9)x-1 for x. 22. _________________

23. Let x represent the sum of the first 25 positive odd integers. Let y 23. _________________
represent the sum of the next 25 positive odd integers. What is the
value of y – x?

24. A bag contains 2 red chips and 3 blue chips. Kay will take two chips 24. _________________
out of the bag at the same time. What is the probability that the chips
will be different colors? Express your answer as a common fraction.
10!+ 11!+ 12!
25. What is the simplified value of ? 25. _________________
10!+ 11!
26. The figure drawn is not to scale. Which of 26. _________________
the five segments shown is the longest?

©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation: 2005 State Countdown Round

27. What digit must be placed in the blank to make the four-digit 27. _________________
integer 20_7 a multiple of 11?

28. If b3 = 0.25, what is the value of b-3? 28. _________________

29. Twenty-four hamsters weigh the same as 18 guinea pigs. Assuming 29. _________________
all hamsters weigh the same amount and all guinea pigs weigh the
same amount, how many hamsters weigh the same as 24 guinea pigs?

30. A circle has a radius of three inches. The distance from the center 30. _________________
of the circle to chord CD is two inches. How many inches long is
chord CD? Express your answer in simplest radical form.

31. How many total days were there in the years 2001 through 2004? 31. _________________

32. When x = 2 and y = −2, what is the value of ? 32. _________________

33. Triangles BAD and BDC are right triangles 33. _________________
with AB = 12 units, BD = 15 units, and
BC = 17 units. What is the area, in square
units, of quadrilateral ABCD?

34. Six horses eat 12 bales of hay in 12 hours. At the same rate, how 34. _________________
many hours will 36 bales of hay last 12 horses?

35. A team averages 7 losses for every 13 games that it wins. If ties are 35. _________________
not permitted, what is the probability that the team will win its next
game? Express your answer as a percent.

36. What is the sum of the digits of the decimal expansion of 36. _________________
22005 × 52007 × 3 ?

37. In a right triangle with integral length sides, the hypotenuse has 37. _________________
length 39 units. How many units is the length of the shorter leg?

38. Ed takes five 100-point tests in his algebra class. He scores 87, 85 38. _________________
and 87 points on the first three tests. If the scores of his last two
tests differ by three points and he has a 90% average on his five
tests, what was his highest test score?

39. If x + y = 16 and x – y = 2, what is the value of x2 – y2? 39. _________________

40. If three blots equal four bleets, and five bleets equal six blits, then 40. _________________
what is the ratio of one blit to one blot? Express your answer as a
common fraction.

©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation: 2005 State Countdown Round

41. Which of 1120,000, 530,000 or 270,000 is the greatest value? 41. _________________

42. Let p(x) = 2x – 1, where x is a prime number. What is the sum of the 42. _________________
three smallest distinct values of p(x)?

43. The least common multiple of x, 10 and 14 is 70. What is the 43. _________________
greatest possible value of x?
7 5
44. Express + −1 as a mixed number. 44. _________________
5 7
45. How many positive integers less than or equal to 10,000 are 45. _________________
divisible by 2, 5 or 10?

46. What is the x-coordinate of the x-intercept of the line containing the 46. _________________
points (7, 4) and (6, 3)?

47. Cutting equilateral triangle BFC out of square ABCD 47. _________________
and translating it to the left of the square creates
the shaded figure ABFCDE. The perimeter
of square ABCD was 48 inches. What is the
perimeter, in inches, of ABFCDE?

48. The teacher asks Bill to calculate a – b – c, but Bill mistakenly 48. _________________
calculates a – (b – c) and gets an answer of 11. If the correct answer
was 3, what is the value of a – b?

49. James has a collection of 20 miniature cars and trucks. Cars make 49. _________________
up 40% of the collection. If James adds only cars to his collection,
how many cars must he add to make the collection 75% cars?

50. How many distinct three-digit positive integers have only odd digits? 50. _________________

51. When three fair 6-sided dice are tossed, what is the probability of 51. _________________
tossing at least one 6? Express your answer as a common fraction.

52. The first three shapes in a sequence are made of toothpicks of the same 52. _________________
length and shown below. The first shape is made of 6 toothpicks. If
the pattern of adding toothpicks to form another congruent hexagonal
region continues, how many toothpicks
are needed to build the 100th shape?

53. If x is positive and x2 = 729, what is the value of x? 53. _________________

54. The area of rectangle ABCD is four times the 54. _________________
area of square AEFD, as shown. Points A, E
and B are collinear. What is the ratio of the
perimeter of ABCD to the perimeter of AEFD?
Express your answer as a common fraction.
©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation: 2005 State Countdown Round
55. Every June 1, an ecologist takes a census of the number of wrens in 55. _________________
a state park. She noticed that the number is decreasing by 40% each
year. If this trend continues, in what year will the census show that
the number of wrens is less than 10% of what it was on June 1, 2004?

56. Lark has forgotten her locker combination. It is a sequence of three 56. _________________
numbers, each in the range from 1 to 30, inclusive. She knows that the
first number is odd, the second number is even, and the third number is
a multiple of 3. How many combinations could possibly be Lark’s?

57. A cube has a surface area of 216 square centimeters. What is the 57. _________________
volume of the cube, in cubic centimeters?

58. Suppose 2a − 3b = –23. Given that a and b are consecutive 58. _________________
integers, and a < b, what is the value of a?

59. The 5 a.m. temperatures for seven consecutive days were −7°, 59. _________________
−4°, −4°, −5°, 1°, 3° and 2° Celsius. What is the mean 5 a.m.
temperature for the week in degrees Celsius?

60. Using only the digits 7, 8 and 9, how many positive seven-digit 60. _________________
integers can be made that are palindromes?

61. Triangle ABC has sides of length 5, 12 and 13 units, and triangle 61. _________________
DEF has sides of length 8, 15 and 17 units. What is the ratio of
the area of triangle ABC to the area of triangle DEF? Express your
answer as a common fraction.

62. A line has a slope of –7 and contains the point (3, 0). The equation 62. _________________
of this line can be written in the form y = mx + b. What is the
value of m + b?

63. What is the least integer whose square is 48 more than its double? 63. _________________

64. The four partners in a business decide to split the profits of their 64. _________________
company in the ratio 2:3:3:5. If the profit one year is $26,000 what
is the largest number of dollars received by any of the four partners?

65. What is the ratio of the area of triangle BDC 65. _________________
to the area of triangle ADC? Express your
answer as a common fraction.

66. The first term of a particular sequence is 5, and each successive 66. _________________
term is one less than twice the previous term. What is the value of
the sixth term?

67. Express 0.63 as a common fraction. 67. _________________

©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation: 2005 State Countdown Round

68. In this diagram, both polygons are regular. What is the value, in 68. _________________
degrees, of the sum of the measures of angles ABC and ABD?

69. Rays BA and BC form an acute angle. A

G 69. _________________
Including angle ABC, how many acute angles F E

are formed by the rays in the diagram? D

B C

70. Both the numerator and the denominator of the fraction are to 70. _________________
be increased by two. What is the positive difference between the
new fraction and the original fraction? Express your answer as a
common fraction.

71. The line joining (3, 2) and (6, 0) divides the 71. _________________
square shown into two parts. What fraction of
the area of the square is above this line? Express
your answer as a common fraction.

72. If x is a positive number, by how much does x + 10 exceed 10 − x? 72. _________________

Express your answer in terms of x.

73. If g(x) = 2x2 − 3 and h(x) = 4x3 + 1, what is the value of g(h(−1))? 73. _________________

74. Points P and Q are midpoints of two sides of the 74. _________________
square. What fraction of the interior of the square is
shaded? Express your answer as a common fraction.

75. What is the slope of a line perpendicular to the line containing 75. _________________
the points (−1, 2) and (1, −2)? Express your answer as a common
fraction.

76. For how many positive integer values of x is the sum x2 + 4x + 4 76. _________________
less than 20?

77. Triangle ABC is a right triangle. If the measure 77. ________________

of angle PAB is x degrees and the measure of
angle ACB is expressed in the form Mx + N
with M = 1, what is the value of M + N?

78. The number 64 is both a perfect cube and a perfect square, since 78. _________________
43 = 64 and 82 = 64. What is the next larger number that is both a
perfect cube and a perfect square?

79. What is the least possible positive difference between the sum of 79. _________________
five different positive integers and the greatest of them?

80. If each face of a cube has a perimeter of 12 centimeters, what is 80. _________________
the volume of the cube, in cubic centimeters?

©2005 MATHCOUNTS Foundation: 2005 State Countdown Round