MATHEMATICS CHALLENGE FOR YOUNG

AUSTRALIANS
INTERMEDIATE: YEARS 9 and 10
WARM UP PROBLEM 01: SOLUTIONS

Love Potion

1. Represent quantities diagrammatically as if they are un-

mixed:

Honey 50 mL Honey
Extra Indian Ink

Indian Ink Indian Ink

160 mL

Turpentine Turpentine
140 mL

Required Mix Mix with extra

Indian Ink
Fig. 1 Fig. 2
 MCYA Intermediate 1 Solution Page 2

Honey Honey

Indian Ink Honey poured back

Indian Ink in to make 50 mL
as in Fig 1.
160 mL

Turpentine Turpentine Turpentine poured

back in to make
140 mL as in Fig 1

Fig. 3 Fig. 4
Pour out proportional
amounts (allowing
for mixing) so that
160 mL of Indian Ink
remains

From Fig. 4, the honey and turpentine mix poured back

in is in the ratio 210:140 or 3:2.

2. If 70 mL of the initial mixture goes down the sink,

then 70 mL is replaced, being a honey and turpentine
mixture in the ratio 3:2. So 35 (70) = 42 mL is honey and
the remaining 28 mL is turpentine. It follows that 28
mL of turpentine was wasted initially and the remain-
ing 42 mL that went down the sink was a mixture of
Indian ink and honey.
Refer to Figs. 3 and 4 from 1. again.
After Griselda has poured some of the mixture down the
sink, let x mL be the amount of honey remaining, y mL
be the amount of honey wasted and z mL be the amount
of Indian ink wasted.
 MCYA Intermediate 1 Solution Page 3
From above, we have y + z = 42. Also, x + y + z is
equal to the amount of honey present after replacement,
so x + y + z = 50. Thus x = 8.
Quantities were poured out proportionally when the po-
tion was mixed. So we have:
z 160 160
= = = 20,
y x 8
so z = 20y.
Also, y + z = 42 so z = 42 − y. Thus, 42 − y = 20y,
giving 21y = 42 and so y = 2.
Then z = 40.
Thus, 2 mL of honey, 40 mL of Indian ink and 28 mL of
turpentine were wasted.

2005
c Australian Mathematics Trust