2022 Wits Mathematics Competition

Final Round
Senior Secondary

Instructions
This paper is 90 minutes long and consists of ten single answer questions (to be answered in
the below table) and two proofs (to be answered on the pages they’re written on).

If needed, additional sheets of blank paper may be used to finish your solutions.

Calculators may NOT be used. A ruler and compass may be used but all other geomet-
ric aids are NOT allowed. A translation aid (such as a dictionary) from English to another
language is allowed.

Questions 1 – 3 are each worth 4 marks.

Questions 4 – 7 are each worth 5 marks.
Questions 8 – 10 are each worth 6 marks.
Questions 11 – 12 are each worth 10 marks.
The total number of marks available is 70.

”It requires a very unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious.” - Alfred North
Whitehead
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Question Answer
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
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A. 4 point questions
1. ABCD and DEF G are squares, CE = 17cm and the shaded region ABCGF E is
161cm2 . What is the perimeter of the shaded region?

A B

E
F

D C
G

Solution 24.

Let ABCD have side length s and DEF G have side length t. The perimeter of the
shaded region is 3s as EF + GC = s = AE + F G. Now by pythagorus s2 + t2 = 289
and we are given s2 − t2 = 161. Adding these together gives 2s2 = 128 which solves to
s = 8. Therefore the perimeter is 24.

2. What is the maximum value of the expression (1 + x)(1 − x) + (3 − y)(2 + y) where x

and y are real numbers?

29
Solution 4
:

The trick here is to notice that we can optimize in x and y seperately here as the
terms don’t interact.

(1 + x)(1 − x) + (3 − y)(2 + y) = (1 − x2 ) + (6 + y − y 2 )
25 1
= (1 − x2 ) + ( − ( − y)2 )
4 2
Which is maximized by setting the squares equal to zero. This gives a final answer of
29
4
.

3. What is the median value for x such that ⌊3x + 4⌋ = 1? Here ⌊x⌋ means the greatest
integer less than or equal to x.

Solution − 56 . ⌊3x + 4⌋ = 1 when x ∈ [−1, − 32 ).

Senior Secondary Page 4 of 10 14 September 2022

B. 5 mark questions

4. Let f : R → R be a function such that

(n − 2022)f (n) − f (2022 − n) = 2022

for all real numbers n. Find f (2022).

Solution f (2022) = 4086462. First plug in n = 2022 to get:

(n − 2022)f (n) − f (2022 − n) = 2022

0 · f (2022) − f (0) = 2022
f (0) = −2022

Now plus in n = 0 to get

(n − 2022)f (n) − f (2022 − n) = 2022

(−2022)f (0) − f (2022) = 2022
(−2022 · −2022) − f (2022) = 2022
f (2022) = (−2022 · −2022) − 2022
= (2022 · 2021)
= 4086462

5. Adele and Bongi play a game. The game ends when either Adele or Bongi win two con-
secutive rounds. The probability that Adele wins a round is 0.3, while the probability
that Bongi wins a round is 0.6. The probability that a round is drawn is 0.1. What is
the probability that neither is the winner after at most three games?

Solution: 0.343

There are a few ways to not have a winner after three rounds. Either have a draw in the
first round and don’t have either play win the next two 0.1 × (1 − 0.32 − 0.62 ) = 0.055,
have have a draw first but have a draw second 0.9 × 0.1 = 0.09 or ABA = 0.054,
BAB = 0.108, ABD = 0.018 or BAD = 0.018. These sum to 0.343
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6. The following fraction is a rational number. Write it in its simplest form:

p √ p √
3+2 2− 3−2 2
p √ p √
8+2 7− 8−2 7

Solution 1:

Compute the four square roots individually.

p √ √
p 3 + 2 √2 = 1
√ + 2
p3 − 2√2 = 2 − √1
p8 + 2√7 = 1√+ 7
7−2 7= 7−1
Substituting these in gives that our fraction is in fact 1

7. ABCD is a quadrilateral and this is divided into four smaller quadrilaterals with M as
a common vertex, and the areas are as indicated in the diagram. AP : P B = 2 : 1,
CQ : QB = 2 : 1, CR : RD = 2 : 1, and AS : SD = 2 : 1. Calculate the area X.

8 10
P

18
X
A D
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Solution: 6. We draw in lines from the four corners to the meeting point M and let the
area of triangle AM S be y. It is then easy to calculat the areas of the other drawn in
triangles in terms of y as seen below.

B y−2
y
2
−1

9 − y2
P 12 − y

18 − y 6− y
2
R

y y
2
A D
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C. 6 mark questions

8. What is the sum of the integers k for which the expression below is also an integer?

(k 2 + 2k − 6)2
k+1

Solution: −6

(k 2 + 2k − 6)2 (k 2 + 2k + 1 − 5)2
=
k+1 k+1
((k + 1)2 − 5)2
=
k+1
(k + 1)4 − 10(k + 1)2 + 25
=
k+1
25
= (k + 1)3 − 10(k + 1) +
k+1

Which is an integer if and only if k+1 dives 25. That is when k+1 ∈ {1, 5, 25, −1, −5, −25}
or equivalently k ∈ {0, 4, 24, −2, −6, −26}.
Which sums to −6

9. Eight consecutive 3-digit positive integers have the property that each of them is divisi-
ble by their last digit. What is the smallest of these numbers?

Solution 841. The numbers either end in 1 through 8 or 2 through 9 (or else we’d have
division byu zero). Call the numbers x + 1, x + 2,..., x + 8 and observe that x must be di-
visible by all the last digits or equivalently by the lcm of all last digits. IF the last digits
are 2 through 9 this is 2520 which isn’t a factor of any three digit number (it’s too large).

If the last digits are 1 through 8 then the lcm is 840. Which means the numbers must
be 841 through 848.
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10. P QRS is a parallelogram and T is the mid-point of QR. P T and SQ intersect at U .

What is the ratio of the area of SRT U to the area of P QRS?

P Q

S R

5
Solution: 12 . Draw in the line segment P R and call the oint where P R and SQ intersect
O and extend the segment T O to P S. Then call the area of triangle OU T x and the
area of triangle QU T y. From here it is possible to find the areas of other triangles by
comparing bases and heights. They are shown in the diagram below.

P Q
2x+y

y U y
x+y
x
T
O
x+y x+y
2x+2y

S R

y x
Finally observe from the diagram that 2x+y
= y
which implies y = 2x. Out final ratio
then is 4x+3y
8x+8y
= 10x
24x
5
= 12
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D. Proof questions, 10 marks each

11. The numbers 1, 2, 3, . . . , 2n − 1, and 2n are arbitrarily divided into two groups with n
numbers each. The numbers in the first group are written in ascending order, denoted
by a1 , a2 , . . . , an , and the numbers in the second group are written in descending order,
denoted by b1 , b2 , . . . , bn . (So a1 < a2 < · · · < an and b1 > b2 > · · · > bn .)
Find, with proof the value of the following expression:

|a1 − b1 | + |a2 − b2 | + · · · + |an − bn |

Solution n2 . Call the numbers 1, 2, 3,..., n ’small’ and the numbers n+1, n+2, n+3,...,2n
’big’. There must be exactly as many big numbers in A and small numbers in B and visa
versa. Therefore every pair will be a big number minus a small number. This means
that the total will always be [(n + 1) + (n + 2) + ...(2n)] − [1 + 2 + ... + n] = n2
Senior Secondary Page 10 of 10 14 September 2022

12. Let m be an
√ irrational number √
greater than 1 and n be an integer greater than 1. Prove
1 1
that (m + m − 1) n − (m − m2 − 1) n is an irrational number.
2

Solution: This question had a typo and as stated

√ the conclusion turns
√ out to be false.
1 1
The intended question was to show that (m + m2 − 1) n + (m − m2 − 1) n

We begin by proving a lemma that if s − 1s is rational then sn + s1n is rational. This is

1
shown by induction on n. More precisely we shall show that sk+1 + sk+1 is rational using
k 1 k−1 1
the assumed rationality of s + sk and s + sk−1 . We shall therefore require both n = 1
and n = 2 to be proven as the base case. The case of n = 1 is trivial and we can handle
the case of n = 2 by observing that s2 + s12 = (s + 1s )2 − 2.

1
Proceeding to the inductive step we see that sk+1 + sk+1 1
= (sk + s1k )·(s+ 1s )−(sk−1 + sk−1 ).
Which is enough to prove our lemma.

√ 1 √ 1
Moving on to the main part of the proof, we let X = (m + m2 − 1) n + (m − m2 − 1) n
√ 1
and define y = (m + m2 − 1) n .

√ 1
It is easy to check that y1 = (m − m2 − 1) n so X = y + y1 . Which means that by our
√ √
lemma if X is rational then so is y n + y1n = (m + m2 − 1) + (m − m2 − 1) = 2m, but
2m is given as irrational so it follows that y + y1 is irrational.