The CENTRE for EDUCATION

in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING

cemc.uwaterloo.ca

Pascal Contest
(Grade 9)
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
(in North America and South America)
Thursday, February 27, 2025
(outside of North America and South America)

Time: 60 minutes ©2024 University of Waterloo

Calculating devices are allowed, provided that they do not have any of the following
features: (i) internet access, (ii) the ability to communicate with other devices,
(iii) information previously stored by students (such as formulas, programs, notes,
etc.), (iv) a computer algebra system, (v) dynamic geometry software.
Instructions
1. Do not open the Contest booklet until you are told to do so.
2. You may use rulers, compasses and paper for rough work.
3. Be sure that you understand the coding system for your response form. If you are not sure,
ask your teacher to clarify it. All coding must be done with a pencil, preferably HB. Fill in
circles completely.
4. On your response form, print your school name and city/town in the box in the upper right
corner.
5. Be certain that you code your name, age, grade, and the Contest you are writing
in the response form. Only those who do so can be counted as eligible students.
6. Part A and Part B of this contest are multiple choice. Each of the questions in these parts
is followed by five possible answers marked A, B, C, D, and E. Only one of these is correct.
After making your choice, fill in the appropriate circle on the response form.
7. The correct answer to each question in Part C is an integer from 0 to 99, inclusive. After
deciding on your answer, fill in the appropriate two circles on the response form. A one-digit
answer (such as “7”) must be coded with a leading zero (“07”).
8. Scoring: Each correct answer is worth 5 in Part A, 6 in Part B, and 8 in Part C.
There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.
9. Diagrams are not drawn to scale. They are intended as aids only.
10. When your supervisor tells you to begin, you will have 60 minutes of working time.
11. You may not write more than one of the Pascal, Cayley and Fermat Contests in any given
year.

Do not discuss the problems or solutions from this contest online for the next 48 hours.

The name, grade, school and location, and score range of some top-scoring students will be
published on our website, cemc.uwaterloo.ca. In addition, the name, grade, school and location,
and score of some top-scoring students may be shared with other mathematical organizations
for other recognition opportunities.
 Scoring: There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.

Part A: Each correct answer is worth 5.

1. The value of (2 × 0) + (2 × 5) is
(A) 0 (B) 7 (C) 10 (D) 12 (E) 20

2. How many of the numbers −4, −2, −3.5, −2.5, and 6 are
to the left of −3 when placed on the number line?
–3 0
(A) 3 (B) 2 (C) 1
(D) 5 (E) 4

3. If 18 + 18 + 18 = 3x, then x is equal to

(A) 3 (B) 6 (C) 12 (D) 18 (E) 36

4. How many multiples of 5 are between 8 and 58?

(A) 12 (B) 6 (C) 11 (D) 8 (E) 10

5. Cynthia graphs a sequence of points. The first point y

has coordinates (−3, 0), the second point has coordinates
(−2, 2), and the third point has coordinates (−1, 4). Each
point after the first is 1 unit to the right and 2 units above
the previous point. What is the fourth point that Cynthia
graphs? (−1, 4)
(A) (1, 5) (B) (−4, −2) (C) (2, 6)
(−2, 2)
(D) (0, 5) (E) (0, 6)
x
(−3, 0)

6. If 43 = 8a , the value of a is
√
(A) 3 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 6

7. The Grade 8 and Grade 9 students at Pascal S.S. were

surveyed about puzzles. Their responses are summarized Like Don’t
in the chart shown, but two of the entries in the chart Like
were erased. In total, how many Grade 9 students were Grade 8 92
surveyed? Grade 9 68
(A) 140 (B) 125 (C) 116 TOTAL 125 140
(D) 160 (E) 149

8. Rachel, Christophe and Alfonzo are paid to organize some books. In total, they are
paid $50. Alfonzo is paid $14. Rachel is paid twice what Christophe is paid. How
much is Christophe paid?
(A) $10 (B) $12 (C) $14 (D) $16 (E) $18

9. Suppose that 6x + 3 = y, where x is a positive integer. A possible value of y is

(A) 18 (B) 32 (C) 38 (D) 45 (E) 55
10. A small square is drawn inside a larger square, as shown.
The area of the shaded region and the area of the
unshaded region are each 18 cm2 . What is the side length
of the larger square?
(A) 3 cm (B) 4 cm (C) 6 cm
(D) 9 cm (E) 12 cm

Part B: Each correct answer is worth 6.

11. In the diagram, point D lies on side BC of 4ABC so A

that AB = AD = CD. If ∠ABC = 80◦ , the measure of
∠ACD is
(A) 20◦ (B) 60◦ (C) 80◦
(D) 100◦ (E) 40◦ 80˚
B D C

12. The sum of 10 positive integers is 30. What is the largest number that can be used
in this sum?
(A) 17 (B) 19 (C) 21 (D) 23 (E) 25

13. In the diagram, 4ABC is right-angled at B and BCDE A

is a square. If AB = 8 and AC = 17, the area of square 17
8
BCDE is
B C
(A) 60 (B) 81 (C) 225
(D) 289 (E) 353

E D

14. The Edmonston Eulers hockey team played 5 games with an average of 3 goals per
game. How many goals do they need to score in their 6th game to increase their
average to 4 goals per game?
(A) 3 (B) 5 (C) 7 (D) 9 (E) 11

15. Three students took a 3-question quiz. Their teacher recorded their answers in a
chart:

Question #1 Question #2 Question #3

Student A 15 36 24
Student B 20 38 24
Student C 15 54 24

Each student answered exactly 2 questions correctly. What is the sum of the correct
answers to the 3 questions?
(A) 75 (B) 77 (C) 80 (D) 82 (E) 93
16. A total of 34 students, including Pedro and Hwie-Lie, are sitting side-by-side in a
row of chairs. Pedro counted 23 students, including Hwie-Lie, to his left. Hwie-Lie
counted 15 students, including Pedro, to her right. How many students are seated
between Pedro and Hwie-Lie?
(A) 4 (B) 2 (C) 8 (D) 11 (E) 15

17. If n is a positive integer, the notation n! (read “n factorial”) is used to represent the
product of the integers from 1 to n. That is, n! = n × (n − 1) × (n − 2) × · · · × 3 × 2 × 1.
For example, 5! = 5 × 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 120. If n! = 3! × 5! × 7!, the value of n is
(A) 7 (B) 8 (C) 9 (D) 10 (E) 11

18. Two circular dials are positioned next to each other, and
an arrow is drawn on each dial, as shown. The left dial
rotates counterclockwise at 20◦ per second and the right
dial rotates clockwise at 8◦ per second. What is the
minimum number of seconds that must pass before the
arrows are pointing directly towards each other again?
(A) 90 (B) 45 (C) 180
(D) 810 (E) 18

19. Two cylinders are standing on a flat table. Cylinder A has radius 2 and height 8.
Cylinder B has radius 8 and height 2. Cylinder A is 34 full of water and Cylinder B
is empty.

Cylinder A Cylinder B

If all of the water from Cylinder A is then poured into Cylinder B, what fraction of
Cylinder B is full of water?
(The volume of a cylinder with radius r and height h is πr2 h.)
3 1 1 3 5
(A) 16 (B) 4 (C) 2 (D) 4 (E) 16

20. A drawer contains 5 black socks, 3 gold socks, 2 white socks, and no other socks.
Jack randomly removes 3 socks from the drawer. What is the probability that these
3 socks are not all the same colour?
7 9 11 37 109
(A) 8 (B) 10 (C) 12 (D) 40 (E) 120
Part C: Each correct answer is worth 8.
Each correct answer is an integer from 0 to 99, inclusive.
A one-digit answer (such as “7”) must be coded with a leading zero (“07”).
Note: The integer formed by the rightmost two digits of 12 345 is 45.
The integer formed by the rightmost two digits of 6307 is 7, coded 07.

21. The side lengths of a rectangle are positive integers. The perimeter is a multiple of 7
and the area is a multiple of 9. What is the smallest possible perimeter?

22. A robot is programmed to complete the following sequence of steps:

• Step 1: Move 2 m in the direction it is facing.

• Step 2: Turn 90◦ to the left.
• Step 3: Move 4 m in the direction it is facing.

The robot starts facing north and completes this sequence of 3 steps a total of 26 times.
When it has completed these steps, the robot is x m from its starting point. What is
the value of x2 ?

23. The three-dimensional figure represented below on the left has 8 triangular faces and
is called an octahedron. A number is written on each face. The number on each face
is equal to the sum of the numbers on the faces that share an edge with that face.
Irina unfolded the octahedron and erased the numbers on five of its faces, giving the
net shown below on the right.

–20 0

–56

What number did Irina erase from the face labelled x?

24. In the diagram, a figure is drawn on a 6×8 grid using eight

semi-circles whose diameters are AB, BC, CD, DE, EF , B C
F G, GH, and HA. Suppose that the area of the figure is
x and that y is the closest integer to 100x. What is the A D
sum of the digits of y? H E
G F

25. For how many ordered triples (A, B, C) of integers with 0 ≤ A ≤ 9 and 0 ≤ B ≤ 9
and 0 ≤ C ≤ 9 is the sum of three six-digit positive integers

7A6 B5C + 2B9 C5A + 7C1 A6B

divisible by 36?
 (English)
Contest
Pascal
2025
The CENTRE for EDUCATION
in MATHEMATICS and COMPUTING
cemc.uwaterloo.ca
For students...
Thank you for writing the 2025 Pascal Contest! Each year, more than
265 000 students from more than 80 countries register to write the
CEMC’s Contests.

Encourage your teacher to register you for the Fryer Contest which
will be written in April.

Visit our website cemc.uwaterloo.ca to find

• More information about the Fryer Contest
• Free copies of past contests
• Information about careers in and applications of mathematics and
computer science
For teachers...
Visit our website cemc.uwaterloo.ca to
• Register your students for the Fryer, Galois and Hypatia Contests
which will be written in April
• Look at our free online courseware
• Use our free Problem Set Generator to create problem sets for
curriculum support and enrichment
• Learn about our face-to-face workshops and our web resources
• Subscribe to our free Problem of the Week
• Investigate our online Master of Mathematics for Teachers
• Find your school’s contest results