junior mathematics

COMPETITION 2005

TIME ALLOWED: ONE HOUR

Only Year 9 candidates may attempt QUESTION ONE
ALL candidates may attempt QUESTIONS TWO to FIVE

These questions are designed to test ability to analyse a problem and to

express a solution clearly and accurately.

Please read the following instructions carefully before you begin:

(1) Do as much as you can. You are not expected to complete the entire paper. In the past, full
answers to three questions have represented an excellent effort.

(2) You must explain your reasoning as clearly as possible, with a careful statement of the main points
in the argument or the main steps in the calculation. Generally, even a correct answer without any
explanation will not receive more than half credit. Likewise, clear and complete solutions to two
problems will generally gain more credit than sketchy work on four.

(3) Credit will be given for partial solutions and evidence of a serious attempt to tackle a problem.

(4) Textbooks are NOT allowed. Calculators, tables, etc. may be used (but should not be necessary).
Otherwise normal examination conditions apply.

(5) Diagrams are a guide only and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

University of Otago
Department of
Mathematics and Statistics

PLEASE TURN OVER

Question 1 (Year 9, Form 3 only)
Note: In this question the word “digit” means a positive single-digit whole number, that is, a member
of the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9}.
On a long journey by car, Michael was starting to get bored. To keep him amused, his mother asked him
some arithmetic questions. The first question she asked was
“Can you think of five different digits which add to a multiple of 5?”
Michael answered straight away
“That’s easy Mum. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 work because 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15, and 15 is a multiple of 5
because 15 = 5 × 3.”
Now answer the other questions which Michael’s mother asked. (When you have to write down a set of
numbers, list them in order from smallest to largest):
(a) In your Answer Booklet write down a set of five different digits which add to 35.

(b) Write down a set of three different digits which add to a multiple of 5, but which don’t include 5
itself or 1.

(c) How many different sets of four different digits are there which add to a multiple of 5, but which
don’t include 5 itself or 1? (Note that writing the same set of numbers in a different order doesn’t
count here.)

(d) Is it possible to write down a set of six different digits which add to a multiple of 5, but which don’t
include 5 itself? If it is possible, write down such a set. If it is not possible, explain briefly why it
cannot be done.

(e) Is it possible to write down a set of seven different digits which add to a multiple of 5, but which
don’t include 5 itself? If it is possible, write down such a set. If it is not possible, explain briefly
why it cannot be done.

Question 2

Braille is a code which lets blind people read and write. It was
invented by a blind Frenchman, Louis Braille, in 1829. Braille is
based on a pattern of dots embossed on a 3 by 2 rectangle. It is Fig. 1: the letter h
read with the fingers moving across on top of the dots.
Altogether there are 63 possible ways to emboss one to six dots on
a 3 by 2 rectangle. (We will not count zero dots in this question.)
Figure 1 shows the pattern for the letter h. Note that if we reflect Fig. 2: the letter j
this pattern (down the middle of the rectangle) the result is the
Braille letter j, shown in Figure 2.

(a) How many different patterns are possible using just one dot?
(b) There are 15 different ways to emboss two dots on a 3 by 2 rectangle. How many ways are there to
emboss four dots on a 3 by 2 rectangle? Briefly explain your answer.
(c) Including the two patterns shown in Figures 1 and 2, how many possible patterns are there using
three dots?
(d) A simplified version of Braille has been proposed. In this
version the dots will be embossed on a 2 by 2 rectangle. An Fig. 3: a simplified
example is shown in Figure 3. How many possible patterns version of Braille.
would there be in this simplified version (assuming that we
will not count zero dots)?

(e) Write down how many possible patterns there will be if we were to develop a more complicated
version of Braille using a 4 by 2 rectangle. (Again assume that we would not count zero dots.)

Question 3

Around the year 2000 BC, the Babylonians used a number system based on the number 60. For example,
where we would write 0.25 (meaning “one quarter” or 1 ), they would write something like || 15 |
4
(meaning “fifteen sixtieths” or 15 , which does simplify to become 1 in our number system).
60 4

The table below shows some numbers and their reciprocals written according to the Babylonian system.
(A special feature of a number and its reciprocal is that when you multiply them together, the result is
always 1.) In Table One, each column represents a place value of 1 of the previous column. For
60
example, 7 | 30 means 7 + 30 .
60 3600

Number || Reciprocal Number || Reciprocal

2 || 30 | 6 || |
3 || 20 | 7 || | | | | ...
4 || | 8 || 7 | 30 |
5 || | 9 || | |
Table One

(a) In your Answer Booklet, write down in the correct order the three missing numbers which should
go beside 4, 5, and 6.

(b) If we added our number 2.5 (meaning “two and a half”) into the table above, what number would
we write beside it to show the Babylonian version of its reciprocal?

(c) The reciprocal of the number 8 is shown in the table as 7 | 30 |. Using the same notation,
what is the reciprocal of the number 9?

(d) Write down the first two numbers which should go beside 7 in the table above.

(e) Write down the Babylonian version for the reciprocal of our number 192.

PLEASE TURN OVER

Question 4

When we finally landed on Mars, we discovered that Martians love to play a game called HitBall. In this
game two teams of players try to hit a ball between poles placed at each end of a field. The team that
scores the most points within one Martian hour is the winner.
There are three ways to score points. An Inner scores 7 points, an Outer scores 4 points, while a Wide
scores 2 points.
The first match report sent back to Earth was not very clear because of static, so not all the details are
certain. However, we did hear that the Red Team won. They scored “something-seven” points altogether
(only the last number could be clearly heard). We also learned that they had exactly 16 successful scoring
shots.

(a) Write down in a list (from smallest to largest) the possible numbers of Inners which the Red Team
could have scored according to this first match report.
(b) A later report added the information that the Red Team scored the same number of Inners and
Outers. Using this extra information, write down how many points the Red Team scored
altogether.

(c) Explain why your answer to (b) is the only possible solution. As part of your explanation, make
sure you include how many Inners, Outers, and Wides the Red Team scored.

Question 5
40 40
During 2004, a Dunedin newspaper held a competition to
find a new flag design for the province of Otago. Wendy 30 30
entered the competition. Her entry was based on the design
shown at the right (Figure 4). Her flag featured a gold cross
with a blue background. She also placed a circle into her
design. The top and bottom of the circle just touch the
corners of the top and bottom triangles, as shown in Figure 4.
30 30

(a) Wendy designed her flag to be 240 cm long and 150 cm 40 40

high. If the edges of the cross are 40 cm and 30 cm Fig. 4 (not to scale)
away from each of the corners, as shown in Figure 4,
what is the radius of the centre circle?

(b) Wendy decided to remove the circle from her design

(see Figure 5). With the circle removed, what is the
total area of the cross?

Fig. 5 (not to scale)