SAMO Extracts For SP Problem Solving Questions Solutions
SAMO Extracts For SP Problem Solving Questions Solutions
1. Themba and James sell cakes at school socials. At the first social, they sold
50 cakes, and at the second social they sold 58 cakes. What was the percentage
increase in their sales?
2. The desks in a classroom are lined up in straight rows. Vusani's desk is in the third
row from the front and the fourth row from the back of the classroom. His desk is
also the fourth from the left and the sixth from the right. How many desks are
there in the classroom?
3. Pieter and Jacob share a packet of sweets in the ratio 7 : 5. Pieter gets 14 sweets
more than Jacob. How many sweets were there in the packet?
4 5 19 32 33 35 37
5. A fraction that lies between & = is: ; ; ; ;
7 8 56 56 56 56 56
6. Mary has three types of toys: teddy bears, cars and jets.
• All her toys except 21 are jets.
• All her toys except 23 are teddy bears.
• All her toys except 26 are cars.
How many jets does she have?
7. A bead worker is threading beads onto a straight wire; he has four green beads
and two red beads and will use them all. How many different arrangements can
he make?
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9.
A bathroom floor is covered with square
tiles.
The floor is 5 tiles wide and 8 tiles long.
If one of the floor tiles is chosen at random,
what is the probability that it is at the edge
of the floor?
1 1 ⎞⎛ 1 ⎞ ⎛ 1 ⎞
10. Calculate ⎛⎜ 1 − ⎞⎛
⎟⎜1 − ⎟⎜1 − ⎟ . . . ⎜1 − ⎟
⎝ 3 ⎠⎝ 4 ⎠⎝ 5⎠ ⎝ 100 ⎠
11. A petrol tank weighs 34kg when empty and 58kg when full. Calculate its weight
when it is two-thirds full?
12. A set of 12 numbers has average 18, but the smallest and largest have average 28.
What is the average of the others?
13. Four teams play in a knockout tournament (which means that two pairs compete,
and the two winners then play each other). Team A beat team D, and team B beat
team A. Who beat team C?
14. In the sequence 5, 11, 17… how many terms are smaller than 1000?
18. I have five books, one of each colour. In how many ways can I place them in a row?
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19. Five identical rectangles are placed to form a new
rectangle.
The width of the new rectangle is 15cm.
What is the area of the big rectangle (in square cm)?
21.
23. Barbie’s bag is half full with 30 tennis balls in it. If she takes half of the balls from
Ken’s bag, then her bag is two-thirds full. How many tennis balls were there
originally in Ken’s bag?
24.
All 28 sides of the polygon alongside are equal in
length and adjacent sides are perpendicular to
each other. If the perimeter of the polygon is 56cm,
calculate the area of the polygon.
P47 L4
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25. A flag is made up of three strips of equal
width. Each strip is divided into equal parts
with alternating black and white colours, as
shown.
What fraction of the flag is black in colour?
27. Children at a school fun day had to guess the number of marbles in a jar. Prizes
were awarded on how close the guesses were. The first prize went to Emily who
guessed 125 marbles, second prize to Cassandra who guessed 140, third prize to
Sigrid who guessed 142, and fourth prize to Rina who guessed 121. How many
marbles were in the jar?
28. If m and n are positive integers and n2 = 756m , what is the smallest possible value
of m?
29. What is the smallest number that leaves a remainder of 3 when divided by 10 and
leaves a remainder of 4 when divided by 13?
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31. A child’s age, increased by 3, gives a perfect square, and when decreased by 3 the
age is the (positive) square root of that perfect square. How old is the child?
33. A bag contains 65 marbles of the same size. There are 20 red ones, 20 green ones,
20 blue ones, and another 5 that are either yellow or white. Lindiwe removes
marbles from the bag without looking. What is the smallest number of marbles
that she must remove to ensure that she has 10 of the same colour?
34. The product of the ages of a group of children whose ages are all between 12 and
20 is 10 584 000. How many children are there in the group?
35. In the figure, squares ABDC and EFGD have unequal areas.
ˆ = 70°, find ADG
If CE = CD and DEC ˆ .
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ANSWERS
7
1. 16% P3 20. P39
12
2. 54 P5 21. 2 and 4 P40
4. 90 P7 23 20 P44
33
5. P8 24. 100cm2 P47
56
5
6. 14 P10 25. P48
9
7. 15 P12 26. 3 P49
12. 16 P26 1 1 1 1 1 1
30. P83
13. B P27 1 4 2 3
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1 000 Mathematics Olympiad Problems by Prof. Poobhalan Pillay
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Extracts from 1 000 Mathematics Olympiad Problems
by Prof. Poobhalan Pillay
Solutions
1. Themba and James sell cakes at school socials. At the first social, they sold
50 cakes, and at the second social they sold 58 cakes. What was the percentage
increase in their sales?
Answer
% increase
change in price
=
original price
8 2
= ×
50 2
16
=
100
= 16%
2. The desks in a classroom are lined up in straight rows. Vusani's desk is in the third
row from the front and the fourth row from the back of the classroom. His desk is
also the fourth from the left and the sixth from the right. How many desks are
there in the classroom?
Answer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1
2
3 V
4
5
6
6 × 9 = 54
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3. Pieter and Jacob share a packet of sweets in the ratio 7 : 5. Pieter gets 14 sweets
more than Jacob. How many sweets were there in the packet?
Answer
7: 5 (difference of 2)
14 : 10 (difference of 4)
21 : 15 (difference of 6)
28 : 20 (difference of 8)
35 : 25 (difference of 10)
42 :30 (difference of 12)
49 : 35 (difference of 14)
Answer
The perimeter of AFGB
= 2 × 25 + 2 × 20
= 50 + 40
= 90
The perimeter of the given figure ABCDEF
is exactly the same as the perimeter of
rectangle AFGB.
∴ the perimeter of ABCDEF = 90.
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4 5 19 32 33 35 37
5. A fraction that lies between & = is: ; ; ; ;
7 8 56 56 56 56 56
Answer
The LCM of 7 and 8 is 56.
4 × 8 32 5 × 7 35
= and =
7 × 8 56 8 × 7 56
32 33 35
< <
56 56 56
4 33 5
∴ < <
7 56 8
6. Mary has three types of toys: teddy bears, cars and jets.
• All her toys except 21 are jets.
• All her toys except 23 are teddy bears.
• All her toys except 26 are cars.
How many jets does she have?
Answer
• All her toys except 21 are jets. (teddy bears and cars total 21 toys)
• All her toys except 23 are teddy bears. (cars and jets total 23 toys)
• All her toys except 26 are cars. (teddy bears and jets total 26 toys)
If we add the numbers 21, 23 and 26, we are counting all Mary’s toys exactly twice.
21 + 23 + 26 70
So, she has = = 35 toys, which means that she has 35 – 21 = 14 jets.
2 2
(This also means that she has 35 – 23 = 12 teddy bears and 35 – 26 = 9 cars.)
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7. A bead worker is threading beads onto a straight wire; he has four green beads
and two red beads and will use them all. How many different arrangements can
he make?
Answer
1 R R G G G G
2 R G R G G G
3 R G G R G G
4 R G G G R G
5 R G G G G R
6 G R R G G G
7 G R G R G G
8 G R G G R G
9 G R G G G R
10 G G R R G G
11 G G R G R G
12 G G R G G R
13 G G G R R G
14 G G G R G R
15 G G G G R R
Answer
There are 25 numbers in each set of brackets.
The corresponding sets of numbers differ by 1 in each case:
• 2–1=1
• 4–3=1
• 6–5=1
• .
.
.
• 50 – 49 = 1
∴ ( 2 + 4 + 6 …+ 50 ) − (1 + 3 + 5 + …+ 49 ) = 25 (1 ) = 25
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9.
A bathroom floor is covered with square tiles.
The floor is 5 tiles wide and 8 tiles long.
If one of the floor tiles is chosen at random,
what is the probability that it is at the edge of the
floor?
Answer
The total number of tiles = 8 × 5 = 40 .
The total number of inner tiles = 6 × 3 = 18
∴ the total number of tiles at the edge is 40 – 18 = 22.
22 11
∴ the probability that a tile chosen at random is at the edge
= =
40 20
1 1 1 1
10. Calculate 1 − 1 − 1 − . . . 1 −
3 4 5 100
Answer
1 1 1 1
1 − 1 − 1 − . . . 1 −
3 4 5 100
3 − 1 4 − 1 5 − 1 100 − 1
= ...
3 4 5 100
2 3 4 99
= . . .
3 4 5 100
2
=
100
1
=
50
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11. A petrol tank weighs 34kg when empty and 58kg when full.
Calculate its weight when it is two-thirds full?
Answer
Total weight = Weight of petrol tank + weight of petrol
The petrol in the tank, when it is full, weighs 58 kg – 34 kg = 24 kg.
2
When the tank is two-thirds full the petrol will weigh × 24 =
16 kg.
3
The petrol tank will weigh 34 kg + 16 kg = 50 kg when it is full.
12. A set of 12 numbers has average 18, but the smallest and largest have average 28.
What is the average of the others?
Answer
The sum of the 12 numbers
= 12 × 18
= 12 × 10 + 12 × 8
= 120 + 96
= 216
13. Four teams play in a knockout tournament (which means that two pairs compete,
and the two winners then play each other). Team A beat team D, and team B beat
team A. Who beat team C?
Answer
A played twice, so A played in the final.
A beat D but lost to B, so A played D in the first round and B in the final.
B played C in the first round and beat C because B won the final round.
So, B beat C.
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14. In the sequence 5, 11, 17… how many terms are smaller than 1000?
Answer
Look rather at 6, 12, 18, …
Each of these numbers is one more than a multiple of 6.
6 × 100 =
600
6 × 50 =
300
6 × 10 =
60
6×6 =36
Let  = x and B̂ = y
ˆ =
∴ A CM ˆ = y ( ∠ s opp equal sides are equal)
x and BCM
ˆ = 180°
Aˆ + Bˆ + A CB ( ∠ sum in ∆ ABC)
∴ 2x + 2y = 180°
∴ x + y = 90°
ˆ =°
∴ A CB 90
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16. The positive integers are written in a long sequence 12345678910111213…
When the sequence contains 100 digits, how many of these are 1’s?
Answer
Read this carefully … it is easy to misread this question and work with the first 100
numbers instead of the first 100 digits.
Answer
Factors:
1 1 factor
11 ; 13 ; 17 ; 19 4 factors
11 × 13 ; 11 × 17 ; 11 × 19 ; 13 x 17 ; 13 × 19 ; 17 × 19 6 factors
11 × 13 × 17 ; 11 × 13 × 19 ; 11 × 17 × 19 ; 13 × 17 × 19 4 factors
11 × 13 × 17 × 19 1 factor
16 factors
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18. I have five books, one of each colour. In how many ways can I place them in a row?
Answer
Let’s start with two colours, red and blue.
BR RB
Note: 2 × 1 = 2
Now let’s arrange three colours, blue, green and red.
BGR BRG
GBR GRB
RBG RGB
Note: 3 × 2 × 1 = 6
Now let’s arrange four colours, blue, green, purple and red.
BGPR BGRP BPGR BPRG BRGP BRPG
Note: 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24
For each choice of these 60 ways, there are 2 ways of choosing the fourth colour.
So there are 60 × 2 =120 ways of choosing the first four colours.
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19. Five identical rectangles are placed to form a new rectangle.
The width of the new rectangle is 15cm.
What is the area of the big rectangle (in square cm)?
Answer
The length and breadth add up to 15, so possible combinations include:
1 and 14, 2 and 13, 3 and 12, 4 and 11, 5 and 10, 6 and 9, 7 and 8.
Option 1 Option 2
2 × 14 ≠ 3 × 1 2 × length = 3 × breadth
2 × 13 ≠ 3 × 2 length 3
∴ =
2 × 12 ≠ 3 × 3 breadth 2
14 3
≠
2 × 11 ≠ 3 × 4 1 2
2 × 10 ≠ 3 × 5 13 3
≠
2 2
2× 9 =3× 6
12 3
≠
3 2
11 3
≠
4 2
10 3
≠
5 2
9 3
=
6 2
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20. The long sides of a rectangle are divided into four
parts and a short side, into three equal parts.
One point on the other short side is joined to all
the others. What fraction of the area of the large
rectangle is the area of the shaded region?
Answer
If you place the point on the left in the middle of the line, you can use numbers.
At a more advanced level, place the point anywhere on the line and then show that
the 4 triangles above the dashed line are all equal in area, as are 4 triangles below
the dashed line, in which case you could make these areas all equal to b .
1 1
= 4 + 2
16 6
1 1
= +
4 3
3+4
=
12
7
=
12
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21.
Answer
Move shape to the left of shape and slide them towards each other.
Answer
3 3 1
• = <
23 8 2
1 1
• <
4 2
1
• ( 0,2
= )3 0,008 <
2
7 1
• <
16 2
• 0,625 > 0,5
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23. Barbie’s bag is half full with 30 tennis balls in it. If she takes half of the balls from
Ken’s bag, then her bag is two-thirds full. How many tennis balls were there
originally in Ken’s bag?
Answer
24.
All 28 sides of the polygon alongside are equal in
length and adjacent sides are perpendicular to
each other. If the perimeter of the polygon is 56cm,
calculate the area of the polygon.
Answer
56
Each side has length 2 cm . = 2
28
= 25 × 4
= 100 cm2
P4
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25. A flag is made up of three strips of equal
width. Each strip is divided into equal parts
with alternating black and white colours, as
shown.
What fraction of the flag is black in colour?
Answer
Each row makes up one-third of the flag.
In the top row one-third of the flag is black.
In the middle row two-thirds of the row is black.
In the bottom one-third of the row is black.
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26. On a die the numbers on opposite
faces add up to 7. The die in the
diagram is rolled edge over edge
along the path until it rests on the
square labelled X.
In that position, what is the number
on top?
Answer
Numbers on opposite faces add up to 7, so the numbers opposite each other are:
1 and 6, 2 and 5, 3 and 4
27. Children at a school fun day had to guess the number of marbles in a jar. Prizes
were awarded on how close the guesses were. The first prize went to Emily who
guessed 125 marbles, second prize to Cassandra who guessed 140, third prize to
Sigrid who guessed 142, and fourth prize to Rina who guessed 121.
Answer
• The number must be closer to 125 than it is to 140, so it must be less than 133.
• The number must be further from 121 than it is from 142, so it must be more
than 131.
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28. If m and n are positive integers and n2 = 756m , what is the smallest possible value
of m?
Answer
756 = 2 × 2 × 3 × 3 × 3 × 7 2 756
2 378
∴ m=
21 3 189
3 63
3 21
7 7
1
29. What is the smallest number that leaves a remainder of 3 when divided by 10 and
leaves a remainder of 4 when divided by 13?
Answer
Numbers that leave a remainder of 3 when divided by 10
• 3 ; 13 ; 23 ; 33 ; 43 ; …
Numbers that leave a remainder of 4 when divided by 13
• 4 ; 17 ; 30 ; 43 ; …
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30. A block of eight flats with a stairway in the middle
is situated on the top floor of a building.
The positions of the flats are shown on the sketch alongside.
There are windows on all sides of the building which afford
good views.
Twice as many people have a southward view as there
are people who can look eastward.
Those with a westward view number only one third of
those who can look south, while the few who have a
northward view number only half of those who can look east.
Altogether 20 people live in the eight flats.
How many occupy each flat, given that no flat is vacant?
Show the number of occupants on a sketch.
Answer
Each view is at least 3 since no flat is vacant.
Twice as many people look South as East.
1
The number of people who look West is of the people who look South, so three
3
times as many people look South as West.
South is a multiple of 3 as well as 2, so it is a multiple of 6.
So, South = 6, 12 or 18.
South cannot be 6, for then West is 2.
South cannot be 18 since the rest would then number 2.
1 1 1
Therefore South = 12, West = 4 , East = × 12 =6 , North = × 6 = 3
× 12 =
3 2 2
So there is exactly one in each of the Northern flats.
Second row = 20 – (12 + 3) = 5
From left to right in the 2nd row, we have (W,E) = ( 1,4) or (4,1) or (2,3) or (3,2)
Since West = 4 and (4,1) and (3,2) are eliminated.
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31. A child’s age, increased by 3, gives a perfect square, and when decreased by 3 the
age is the (positive) square root of that perfect square. How old is the child?
Answer
The perfect square can only be 4 or 9, so the child’s age can only be 1 or 6.
1 cannot be decreased, to the child’s age is 6. (Check: 6 – 3 = 9 )
32. In the diagram, the sides of the triangle are divided into three equal parts to
produce smaller congruent triangles as shown. This process is repeated for the
smaller triangle on the bottom right. If the area of the largest triangle is 81, what
is the total area of the shaded triangles?
Answer
The total area of the shaded triangles
1 3 1
= × 81 + × × 81
9 9 9
= 9+3
= 12
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33. A bag contains 65 marbles of the same size. There are 20 red ones, 20 green ones,
20 blue ones, and another 5 that are either yellow or white. Lindiwe removes
marbles from the bag without looking. What is the smallest number of marbles
that she must remove to ensure that she has 10 of the same colour?
Answer
20 red
20 green
20 blue
5 either yellow or white
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34. The product of the ages of a group of children whose ages are all between 12 and
20 is 10 584 000. How many children are there in the group?
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35. In the figure, squares ABDC and EFGD have unequal areas.
If CE = CD and DECˆ = 70°, find ADG
ˆ .
Answer
ˆ = 70°
CDE ( ∠ s opp equal sides)
ˆ = 90°
BDC ( ∠ in square ABDC)
ˆ = 90°
EDG ( ∠ in square DEFG)
ˆ= 360° − 250° (rev )
∴ BDG
= 110°
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ANSWERS
7
1. 16% Problem3 20. Problem 39
12
2. 54 Problem 5 21. and Problem 40
4. 90 Problem 7 23 20 Problem 44
33
5. Problem 8 24. 100cm2 Problem 47
56
5
6. 14 Problem 10 25. Problem 48
9
7. 15 Problem 12 26. 3 Problem 49
12. 16 Problem 26 1 1 1 1 1 1
30. Problem 83
13. B Problem 27 1 4 2 3
These resources have all been extracted from the following book:
1 000 Mathematics Olympiad Problems by Prof. Poobhalan Pillay
https://www.samf.ac.za/en/shop
The eBook @ R400 (VAT inclusive) and the hard copy @ R600 (shipping and VAT included).
This material is copyright protected and may not be photocopied or shared in any way.