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Intermediate Division Solutions

1. Compute the largest 4-digit number of the form ABBA which is exactly divisible by 7.
Solution
ABBA =
=

1000A + 100B + 10B + A


1001A + 110B

1001 is divisible by 7 (1001 = 7 143), so 1001A is exactly divisible by 7. Hence ABBA is divisible
by 7 if and only if 110B is divisible by 7. As 110 is not divisible by 7 and 7 is a prime, B must be
divisible by 7 for 110B to be divisible by 7.
Thus ABBA is divisible by 7 whenever B = 0 or 7. In particular, the largest such 4-digit number
occurs when A = 9 and B = 7, so it is 9779.
Remark: Many students assumed that A and B had to be different digits. This is not necessarily the
case, and this possibility also had to be dealt with.
Remark: This question could also be solved briefly with trial and error, as 9779 is the third highest
4-digit number of the form ABBA.
2. Imagine a corridor with 100 light switches, all switched off. 100 people walk through the corridor one
after another. The first person flips every switch (starting with the second), thus turning every second
switch off, the third person flips every third switch (starting with the third), etc. At the end, state
whether the 79th switch and the 100th switch is on or off, giving reasons.
Solution
The first person flips every switch i.e. every switch whose number is a multiple of 1.
The second person flips every second switch those switches whose number is a multiple of 2.
In general, the nth person flips every switch whose number is a multiple of n. So the mth switch is
flipped by the nth person if and only if m is divisible by n if n is a factor of m.
79 only has 2 factors 1 and 79. The 79th switch is therefore switched twice and at the end is off.
100 has 9 factors 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, 100. So the 100th switch is flipped an odd number of times
and at the end is on.
(Shortcut: one may notice that for any positive integer n, its factors may be grouped into pairs that
multiply to n. For example, 12 = 1 12 = 2 6 = 3 4. Thus, every positive integer n has an even
number of factors, except those n for which a factor pairs up with itself to multiply to n when n is
a perfect square. Hence we may conclude that every switch whose number is a perfect square is on at
the end, and every other switch is off.)
Remark: Many students merely listed the factors of 79 and 100 and wrote the answer. They are
reminded that some explanation is required to constitute a proof!
3. Banknotes in the mythical country Canalia are of four denominations: $1, $10, $100, $1000. Can one
have half a million notes with total value $1 million?
Solution
No, one cannot have 500, 000 notes of value $1, 000, 000. Suppose it were possible to have such notes.
Then let a, b, c, d denote the number of $1, $10, $100, $1000 notes respectively. We then have
1

a + 10b + 100c + 1000d = 1, 000, 000


a + b + c + d = 500, 000

(1)
(2)

Subtracting (2) from (1) gives

9b + 99c + 999d

500, 000

9(b + 11c + 111d)

500, 000

Now 9(b + 11c + 111d) is an integer divisible by 9, while 500, 000 is not. This is a contradiction, so
such a combination of banknotes is impossible.
4. A group of N boys and N girls are sitting around a table. It is known that some of them always
lie, while the rest always tell the truth. Further, the number of liars among the boys is the same
as the number of liars among the girls. When asked the question What gender is your right-hand
neighbour? everyone replies Girl. Prove that N is even.
Solution
Since everyone replies Girl, all those sitting to the left of a girl tell the truth, while those sitting to
the left of boys lie. Thus the number of liars is equal to the number of boys, which is N . As there are
equal numbers of male and female liars, the total number of liars, N , is even.
5. Let S = {0000000, 0000001, . . . , 1111111} be the set of all binary sequences of length 7. The distance
of two elements s1 , s2 S is the number of places in which s1 and s2 differ. For example, 0001011
and 1001010 have distance 2, since they differ in positions 1 and 7. Show that if T is a subset of S
having more than 16 elements (that is, take a sample of more than 16 such binary sequences), then T
contains two elements whose distance is at most 2.
Solution
Let T be a subset of S containing 17 or more elements.
We must show that there are two binary sequences in T which are sufficiently similar or close together
as to have distance 2.
The idea is to include, along with each binary sequence t in T , all binary sequences that only differ in
one place from it (i.e. all sequences distance 1 away from t). Think of this as a ball around t covering
everything up to a radius of 1 away from t, and t as the centre of the ball. So place a ball
around each sequence in T as shown in Figure ??.
If any two of these balls overlap (i.e. have a binary sequence in common), then there are two elements
in T that differ by 2 or less. This is because, if we let the centres of the two overlapping balls be u
and v (u and v are binary sequences in T ), and both balls contain w, then w is 1 away from u and w
is 1 away from v. Then the distance between u and v is 2 or less.
However, each ball contains 8 things the centre binary sequence and 7 binary sequences, each
sequence differing from the centre in one place (different for each). There are 17 or more balls, as there
are at least 17 elements in T , so the balls taken together contain at least 8 17 = 136 sequences.
But S, the set of all binary sequences of length 7, only contains 27 = 128 sequences. Thus the balls
cannot all be separate and there must be two balls which contain common elements they must
overlap. Hence there must be two sequences in T whose distance is at most 2.
Remark: S here is an example of a mathematical object known as a metric space: a set with a distance
defined between elements.
2

o
o

+ - sequence in T
o - other sequence in S

o
+u

o
o

ow

+
o

+v

o
o

o
o

o
Figure 1: Balls around sequences in T

Remark: This was a very hard problem nobody found the official solution. Some solutions were
found which considered all possible cases, making liberal use of without loss of generality (WLOG)
arguments and the pigeon hole principle (PHP).
6. Find the smallest positive integer n such that n2 is the square of an integer,
integer, and n5 is the fifth power of an integer.

n
3

is the third power of an

Solution
Clearly n is divisible by 2, 3, 5, so we can express n in a prime factorised form:
n = 2a 3b 5c m
where a, b, c are positive integers and m is not divisible by 2, 3 or 5.
Recall that for an integer k in prime factorised form, k is a perfect square if and only if the exponents
of all primes are even. Similarly, k is a perfect cube if and only if the exponents of all primes are
multiples of 3 and k is a perfect fifth power if and only if the exponents of all primes are multiples of
5.
Now
n
2
n
3
n
5

2a1 3b 5c m

(1)

2a 3b1 5c m

(2)

2a 3b 5c1 m

(3)

These 3 expressions are respectively a perfect square, cube and fifth power.
So a is a multiple of 3, a multiple of 5 and a 1 is a multiple of 2. The least such positive integer is
15.
Similarly b is a multiple of 2 and 5 and b 1 is a multiple of 3. The least such positive integer is 10.
c is a multiple of 2 and 3 and c 1 is a multiple of 5. The least such positive integer is 6.
It follows that n = 2a 3b 5c m 215 310 56 . But this value of n has the required properties, and
so is the smallest such integer.
3

7. Pythagoras theorem relating to a right triangle is well known. Consider the following three dimensional
analogue. The corner of a rectangular prism is cut off by a diagonal plane, resulting in a pyramidal
shaped solid, 3 (triangular) faces of which derive from the original cube, while the fourth (triangular)
face derives from the diagonal plane. Can you relate the area of this fourth face to the area of the
other three faces, (and prove your claim)?
Solution
(based on the solution presented by Nicholas Sheridan)
Let the vertices of the solid be labelled O, A, B, C as shown in Figure ??. Let the distances from O to
A, B, C respectively be a, b, c.
C

Figure 2: Right-angled tetrahedron for Question 7


First consider the base triangle OAB. Let X be the foot of the perpendicular from O to AB.

By Pythagoras Theorem, AB = OA2 + OB 2 = a2 + b2 .


Now as 6 AOB = 6 AXO = 90 , 6 OAX = 6 BAO, we have 4AOB 4AXO. Hence

OX

=
=

OX
AO

BO
AB ,

so

AO BO
AB
ab

2
a + b2

Now consider 4OCX, which is right-angled as OX lies in plane OAB and OC is perpendicular to this
plane. By Pythagoras Theorem,

CX 2

CX

OX 2 + OC 2
a2 b2
=
+ c2
2
a + b2
ab b2 + a2 c2 + b2 c2
=
a2 + b2
r
a2 b2 + a2 c2 + b2 c2
=
a2 + b2
=

OC is perpendicular to plane OAB, so OC AB. Also OX AB by definition. Thus plane OCX


is perpendicular to AB, and CX AB. So we can consider AB a base, and CX a height, of triangle
ABC.
The area of ABC can now be calculated:

|ABC| =
=
=

Hence

|ABC|

=
=

1
AB CX
2
r
a2 b2 + a2 c2 + b2 c2
1p 2
2
a +b
2
a2 + b2
s
2
ac 2 bc 2
ab
+
+
2
2
2
p
|OAB|2 + |OAC|2 + |OBC|2
|OAB|2 + |OAC|2 + |OBC|2 .

So the square of the area of the fourth face is equal to the sum of the squares of the areas of the other
three sides a three dimensional analogue of Pythagoras theorem.
Remark: This was a difficult question. Very few solved it, and (disappointingly) very few even managed
to guess the answer despite a strong hint in the statement of the problem (Consider the following
three dimensional analogue of Pythagoras theorem). An alternative approach is to use Herons formula
for the area of a triangle given its side lengths.

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