Tuesday 22 March 2016

Intermediate
Years 9 & 10
(Australian school years)

Name:

INSTRUCTIONS
• Do not open the CAT paper until told to do so.
• Maintain silence at all times.
• Do not bring mobile phones into the room.
• You may use calculators and printed language dictionaries.
• You may NOT borrow equipment without a supervisor’s permission.
• There are 15 questions. Questions 1–6 are multiple-choice with five possible answers given.
Questions 7–15 require a three-digit answer. Attempt all questions. Penalties do not apply.
• You are allowed working time of one hour (60 minutes). There is no extra reading time.
• This is a competition not a test; do not expect to answer all questions.
• Diagrams are NOT drawn to scale. They are intended only as aids.
• The questions have been thoroughly checked. Each question stands as written. No further
explanation of questions can be provided.
• You must not leave your seat. If you have any other questions or problems, please raise your
hand and wait for a supervisor.
• If you wish to leave the room a supervisor must accompany you.
• Record all your answers on the answer sheet provided.
• Use B or 2B lead pencils only. Ball point and ink pen markings may not activate the optical scanner.
• Do not make any other marks on the answer sheet as these may make the sheet unreadable.
• If you make an error, use a plastic eraser to completely remove all lead marks and smudges.
• Check the number of the answer you are filling in is the same as the number of the question
you are answering. This is particularly important if you decide to leave a question blank.
• To ensure the integrity of the CAT and to identify outstanding students, the AMT reserves
the right to re-examine students before deciding whether to grant official status to their score.
© 2016 AMT Publishing amtt limited acn 083 950 341
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking 2016 (Intermediate) 1

Part A: Questions 1–6

Each question should be answered by a single choice from A to E.
Questions are worth 3 points each.

1. Fractal Circles
The first three fractal circles contain 1, 4 and 13 circles.

How many circles are there in the fifth fractal circle?

(A) fewer than 100 (B) 100−149 (C) 150−199

(D) 200−249 (E) more than 249

2. Star Distances
An ant has to get from the centre of the star to one of its tips. It can only walk along the
line segments shown in the diagram below. Each segment has a number on it, and the
ant adds up all the numbers on its path. What is the smallest sum that the ant can make
on its way from the centre to one of the tips?

6 3

8 5
6 5
5 6
3
7 7
2 1
3 5
3 2
5 6

4 5

6 6

7 5

(A) 8 (B) 9 (C) 10 (D) 11 (E) 12

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking 2016 (Intermediate) 2

3. Coded Message
A coded message consisting of a string of As, Bs, Cs and Ds undergoes a final transfor-
mation before being transmitted.

• each A is replaced by 1 0 1

• each B is replaced by 1 1 0 0

• each C is replaced by 0 1 1 0

• each D is replaced by 1 1 0

The transmitted message was

11001100110110101110010110111000110110110110110
How many letters were there in the original coded message?

(A) 12 (B) 13 (C) 14 (D) 15 (E) 16

4. Computer Glitch
A computer sent a string of ♥s and ♠s over the internet. But at some point during
transmission there was a glitch, and from that point all of the ♥s became ♠s and all of
the ♠s became ♥s.
Before being transmitted, the string contained 12 ♥s and 12 ♠s. After transmission it
contained 10 ♥s and 14 ♠s as shown below.
♠ ♠ ♠ ♥ ♠ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♥ ♥ ♠ ♠ ♥ ♥ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♠ ♥
In how many places could the glitch have occurred?

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

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking 2016 (Intermediate) 3

5. Where to Start
A numbers game requires that you choose a starting point in a list of numbers. Starting
from 0, you add this number, subtract the next, and continue adding and subtracting
until you reach the end of the list.
For example, consider the list
843521
If you started with the 8, your total would be 8 − 4 + 3 − 5 + 2 − 1 = 3,
whilst if you started with the 5, your total would be 5 − 2 + 1 = 4.
For the list
7685941763
what is the largest total you could get?

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

6. Art Gallery
The director of an art gallery wishes to rearrange some paintings to make the display
more interesting. Twelve paintings hang in a line along a gallery wall. At the moment
the first four are by Streeton, the next four by Withers and the last four by Roberts. The
director has decided to rearrange them so that as you progress along the wall you see
four cycles: each consisting of one artwork by Streeton, one by Withers and then one
by Roberts.
However, the paintings are fragile. Each painting can only be moved once per day. Even
then it can only be swapped with one of the paintings on either side of it.
What is the minimum number of days needed to rearrange the paintings to satisfy the
director?

(A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8 (E) 9

Computational and Algorithmic Thinking 2016 (Intermediate) 4

Part B: Questions 7–15

Each question should be answered by a number in the range 0–999.
Questions are worth 2 points each.

7–9. Water Trough

A water trough has baffles that turn it into a series of chambers. Water runs from one
chamber to the next, backing up if the baffle in the next chamber is higher.
In the diagrams below, the first trough has baffles of height 3, 2 and 1 metres, whilst the
second trough has baffles of height 3, 1 and 2 metres. The baffles are 1 metre apart, and
the troughs are 1 metre wide, so the first trough holds 3 cubic metres and the second 4
cubic metres.

3 3

2 2

1
1

How many cubic metres of water will each of the following water troughs hold?
(The numbers represent the heights in metres of the baffles.)

7. 9684623

8. 936845742

9. 9536457368
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking 2016 (Intermediate) 5

10–12. Flow Diagram

Flow diagrams provide a visual way of showing a process or algorithm. In the diagrams
below, a box is used for an action, a diamond (shaded) for making a decision, and arrows
indicate the flow of control.
For example, in the flow diagram below, if A was input as 9 it would be output as 13,
whilst if it was input as 11 it would be unchanged and output as 11.
Input A

no
Is A > 10? Add 4 to A

yes

Output A

For each of the following diagrams, what is the value of the output?

10.
Input A = 10, B = 44

yes
Is B > A? Subtract A from B

no

Output B

Note that if A was 2 and B was 6, then ‘Subtract A from B’ would make B
equal to 4 but leave A unchanged at 2.

11.
Input A = 43, B = 10, C = 0

no
Is A < B? Subtract B from A, add 1 to C

yes

Output C
Computational and Algorithmic Thinking 2016 (Intermediate) 6

12.
Input A = 6, B = 10

Subtract A from B Subtract B from A

no no

no yes
Is A = 0? Is A > B? Is B = 0?

yes yes

Output B Output A

13–15. Solar Panels

An electricity company intends putting solar panels on some of the houses in a new
estate. But company policy dictates that there be at least two houses without panels
between each two houses with panels.
In the streets below, the numbers indicate the maximum capacity (in kW) of the panels
that could be put on the roofs of the houses.
For each street, what is the maximum capacity of the solar panels that could be installed?

13. 4543643

14. 54336251

15. 54336251522
 2016 CAT Answers
Question Intermediate
1 B
2 C
3 C
4 E
5 E
6 B
7 34
8 51
9 72
10 4
11 4
12 2
13 11
14 13
15 16
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