HMMT November 2023

November 11, 2023

Theme Round
1. Tyler has an infinite geometric series with sum 10. He increases the first term of his sequence by 4
and swiftly changes the subsequent terms so that the common ratio remains the same, creating a new
geometric series with sum 15. Compute the common ratio of Tyler’s series.
Proposed by: Isabella Quan
1
Answer: 5

Solution: Let a and r be the first term and common ratio of the original series, respectively. Then
a a+4
1−r = 10 and 1−r = 15. Dividing these equations, we get that

a+4 15
= =⇒ a = 8.
a 10
a 8
Solving for r with 1−r = 1−r = 10 gives r = 15 .

2. Suppose rectangle F OLK and square LORE are on the plane such that RL = 12 and RK = 11.
Compute the product of all possible areas of triangle RKL.
Proposed by: Rishabh Das
Answer: 414
Solution: There are two possible configurations, as shown below.

K F

E R
E R

K F
L O L O
√
If RL = 12, the side length of the square is 6 2. Now
√
121 = RK 2 = RE 2 + EK 2 = (6 2)2 + EK 2 ,
√
so EK = 7. Then the possible values of LK are 6 2 ± 7. Note that the area of △RLK is
LK · RE √
= LK · 3 2,
2
and so the product of all possible areas are
√ √ √ √ √ √ √
3 2 (6 2 + 7) · 3 2 (6 2 − 7) = (6 2 + 7)(6 2 − 7) · (3 2)2
= (72 − 49) · 18 = 414.
3. There are 17 people at a party, and each has a reputation that is either 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Some of them
split into pairs under the condition that within each pair, the two people’s reputations differ by at
most 1. Compute the largest value of k such that no matter what the reputations of these people are,
they are able to form k pairs.
Proposed by: Albert Wang
Answer: 7
Solution: First, note that k = 8 fails when there are 15, 0, 1, 0, 1 people of reputation 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, respectively. This is because the two people with reputation 3 and 5 cannot pair with anyone, and
there can only be at maximum ⌊ 15 2 ⌋ = 7 pairs of people with reputation 1.
Now, we show that k = 7 works. Suppose that we keep pairing people until we cannot make a pair
anymore. Consider that moment. If there are two people with the same reputation, then these two
people can pair up. Thus, there is at most one person for each reputation. Furthermore, if there are at
least 4 people, then there must exist two people of consecutive reputations, so they can pair up. Thus,
there are at most 3 people left, so we have formed at least 17−3
2 = 7 pairs.

4. Let LOV ER be a convex pentagon such that LOV E is a rectangle. Given that OV = 20 and LO =
V E = RE = RL = 23, compute the radius of the circle passing through R, O, and V .
Proposed by: Pitchayut Saengrungkongka
Answer: 23
Solution:

L E
X

O V

Let X be the point such that RXOL is a rhombus. Note that line RX defines a line of symmetry on
the pentagon LOV ER. Then by symmetry RXV E is also a rhombus, so RX = OX = V X = 23.
This makes X the center of the circle, and the radius is 23.

n3 −1989
5. Compute the unique positive integer n such that n is a perfect square.
Proposed by: Isaac Zhu
Answer: 13
Solution 1: We need n2 − 1989 n to be a perfect square, so n | 1989. Also, this perfect square would be
less than n2 , so it would be at most (n − 1)2 = n2 − 2n + 1. Thus,
1989
≥ 2n − 1 =⇒ 1989 ≥ 2n2 − n,
n
so n ≤ 31. Moreover, we need
1989
n2 ≥ =⇒ n3 ≥ 1989,
n
 so n ≥ 13. Factoring gives 1989 = 32 · 13 · 17, which means the only possible values of n are 13 and 17.
3
Checking both gives that only n = 13 works. (In fact, 13 −1989
13 = 42 .)

n3 −1989
Solution 2: If n = d2 then n3 − nd2 = 1989. Factorizing gives

(n − d)n(n + d) = 32 × 13 × 17.

We can easily see that n = 13, d = 4 works since 1989 = 9 × 13 × 17.

6. A function g is ever more than a function h if, for all real numbers x, we have g(x) ≥ h(x). Consider
all quadratic functions f (x) such that f (1) = 16 and f (x) is ever more than both (x + 3)2 and x2 + 9.
Across all such quadratic functions f , compute the minimum value of f (0).
Proposed by: Isabella Quan, Pitchayut Saengrungkongka, Alex Yi
21
Answer: 2

Solution: Let g(x) = (x + 3)2 and h(x) = x2 + 9. Then f (1) = g(1) = 16. Thus, f (x) − g(x) has a
root at x = 1. Since f is ever more than g, this means that in fact

f (x) − g(x) = c(x − 1)2

for some constant c.

Now

f (x) − h(x) = ((f (x) − g(x)) + (g(x) − h(x)) = c(x − 1)2 + 6x = cx2 − (2c − 6)x + c

is always nonnegative. The discriminant is

(2c − 6)2 − 4c2 = 24c − 36 ≥ 0,

so the smallest possible value of c is 23 . Then

21
f (0) = g(0) + c(x − 1)2 = 9 + c ≥ ,
2
with equality at c = 32 .

7. Betty has a 3 × 4 grid of dots. She colors each dot either red or maroon. Compute the number of ways
Betty can color the grid such that there is no rectangle whose sides are parallel to the grid lines and
whose vertices all have the same color.
Proposed by: Amy Feng
Answer: 408
Solution: First suppose no 3 by 1 row is all red or all blue. Then each row is either two red and one
blue, or two blue and one red. There are 6 possible configurations of such a row, and as long as no row
is repeated, there’s no monochromatic rectangle This gives 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 = 360 possibilities.
Now suppose we have a 3 by 1 row that’s all red. Then the remaining rows must be two blue and one
red, and all 3 such configurations must appear. This gives 4! = 24, and having an all blue row is also
4! = 24.
The final answer is 360 + 24 + 24 = 408.
8. Call a number feared if it contains the digits 13 as a contiguous substring and fearless otherwise. (For
example, 132 is feared, while 123 is fearless.) Compute the smallest positive integer n such that there
exists a positive integer a < 100 such that n and n + 10a are fearless while n + a, n + 2a, . . . , n + 9a
are all feared.
Proposed by: Rishabh Das
Answer: 1287
Solution: First of all, note that we cannot have n, n+a, . . . , n+10a be less than 1000, since we cannot
have fearless numbers have 13 as their last two digits since a < 100, and 129, 130, 131, . . . , 139 doesn’t
work as 139 is feared.
Thus, we must utilize numbers of the form 13xy, where 1, 3, x, and y are digits. If all of n + a, n +
2a, . . . , n + 9a start with 13, then a ≤ 12, and the minimum we can achieve is 1288, with

1288, 1300, 1312, . . . , 1384, 1396, 1408.

If, however, n + 9a = 1413, then we can take a = 14 to get

1287, 1301, 1315, . . . , 1399, 1413, 1427,

so the minimum possible value is 1287.

9. Pentagon SP EAK is inscribed in triangle N OW such that S and P lie on segment N O, K and A lie
on segment N W , and E lies on segment OW . Suppose that N S = SP = P O and N K = KA = AW .
Given that EP = EK = 5 and EA = ES = 6, compute OW .
Proposed by: Rishabh Das
√ q
3 610 122
Answer: 5 = 3 5

Solution:

S K

P 6 5 A

5 6
O E W

Note that [ESK] = [EP A], since one has half the base but double the height. Since the sides are the
same, we must have sin ∠SEK = sin ∠P EA, so ∠SEK + ∠P EA = 180◦ .
Let OW = 3x, so SK = x and P A = 2x. Then by the law of cosines

x2 = 61 − 60 cos ∠SEK
4x2 = 61 − 60 cos ∠P EA.
q
122
Summing these two gives 5x2 = 122, since cos ∠SEK = − cos ∠P EA. Then x = 5 , which means
√
3 610
3x = 5 .
10. It is midnight on April 29th, and Abigail is listening to a song by her favorite artist while staring at
her clock, which has an hour, minute, and second hand. These hands move continuously. Between two
consecutive midnights, compute the number of times the hour, minute, and second hands form two
equal angles and no two hands overlap.
Proposed by: Evan Erickson
Answer: 5700
Solution: Let t ∈ [0, 2] represent the position of the hour hand, i.e., how many full revolutions it has
made. Then, the position of the minute hand is 12t (it makes 12 full revolutions per 1 revolution of the
hour hand), and the position of the second hand is 720t (it makes 60 full revolutions per 1 revolution of
the minute hand). Then, in order for equal angles to be formed, we need (a−b)−(b−c) = a−2b+c ≡ 0
(mod 1), where a, b, c is a permutation of t, 12t, 720t. (Here, b would correspond to the hand that’s the
angle bisector.) Checking all three possibilities,

12t − 2(t) + 720t ≡ 697t ≡ 0 (mod 1),

t − 2(12t) + 720t ≡ 730t ≡ 0 (mod 1),
t − 2(720t) + 12t ≡ −1427t ≡ 0 (mod 1).
1 1 1
Then we require t to be a multiple of 697 , 730 , or 1427 . Since 697, 730, and 1427 are pairwise relatively
prime, the possible values of t are
1 2 696 698 2 · 697 − 1
, ,..., , ,..., ,
697 697 697 697 697
1 2 729 731 2 · 730 − 1
, ,..., , ,..., ,
730 730 730 730 730
1 2 1426 1428 2 · 1427 − 1
, ,..., , ,...,
1427 1427 1427 1427 1427
since t ∈ [0, 2]. This gives a count of 2((697 − 1) + (730 − 1) + (1427 − 1)) = 5702.
Note that in the above count we don’t count t = 0, 1, 2 since then all three hands would overlap. If
two hands overlap, then one of 11t, 708t, 719t ≡ 0 (mod 1), and the only way one of these can happen
1 1 1
and t being a multiple of 697 , 730 , or 1427 is if t = 21 and t = 32 (which correspond to 6:00 AM and
PM). This is because the only pair of numbers that are not relatively prime among 11, 708, 719, 697,
730, 1427 is 708 and 730. The only common divisor of these two numbers is 2, hence t = 12 , 32 . Thus
the final answer is 5702 − 2 = 5700.