Things to Remember for IOQM and some Problems - TRIP

interloop#0691
April 7, 2023

This document is somewhat of a handout, somewhat of a last-moment revision sheet with problems from AMC,
AIME, HMMT, SMT and a few others to do in your free time. This is not meant as a complete preparation
guide to prepare for IOQM, AIME or any such examination. It is merely a trip, and not a settlement program,
if I may say so, through the beautiful lands of Olympia.

Author’s Note: It is not our fault if you thought this was a tour of Olympus, the land of the gods. You
will not be allowed to refund gained knowledge, if any. Sorry.

Also, you may wonder why Number Theory, of all the 4 topics has not been included. I’ll tell you why.
Number Theory doesn’t really have many theorems (if there are, I guess they’re just ingrained into me) at
this level, and I couldn’t think of sensible partitions apart from just modular arithmetic and divisibility, so
yeah. Just go solve some problems. I may add NT in the future, so here is the declaration:
DRAFT 2
Even if you are completely new to some topics, and you decide to do all of the problems, if you work dedicat-
edly, you can complete this entire document within about 15 days. Also, the problems I have chosen may
or may not be too hard (I mean, they are for me), so yeah, please tell me if you think so. Any feedback is
appreciated!

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Changelog:

Draft 2:
• Added Problem Statements

• Removed Problem Colorboxes

Contests and Abbreviations:

• AMC - American Mathematics Competition
• AIME - American Invitational Mathematics Examination
• BMT - Berkeley Math Tournament

• SMT - Stanford Math Tournament

• HMMT - Harvard-MIT Math Tournament
• HMNT - Harvard-MIT Math November Tournament

• RMO - Regional Mathematics Olympiad (India)

• INMO - Indian National Mathematics Olympiad
• IOQM - Indian Olympiad Qualifier in Mathematics
• PRMO - Pre-Regional Mathematics Olympiad (India)

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§ Algebra

The Basics:
Let P (x) = an xn + an−1 xn−1 + ... + a1 x + a0 . Then:
• The number of roots of the polynomial is n, although some may be identical.
• If there are n + 1 roots, the polynomial is identically 0.

• P (x) = an (x − r1 )(x − r2 )...(x − rn ), where ri is the ith root of this polynomial.

• When P (x) is divided by x − k, the remainder is P (k).
• If P (x) has a rational root ± pq , then p is a divisor of a0 , and q is a divisor of an .
• Complex roots of this polynomial come in conjugates, hence the number of complex roots is even.

Problems:
1. AMC 12A 2017/23: For certain real numbers a, b, and c, the polynomial
g(x) = x3 + ax2 + x + 10
has three distinct roots, and each root of g(x) is also a root of the polynomial
f (x) = x4 + x3 + bx2 + 100x + c.
What is f (1)?
2. AIME 1988/13: Find a if a and b are integers such that x2 − x − 1 is a factor of ax17 + bx16 + 1.
3. AIME I 2004/7: Let C be the coefficient of x2 in the expansion of the product
(1 − x)(1 + 2x)(1 − 3x) · · · (1 + 14x)(1 − 15x).
Find |C|.
4. AIME I 2007/8: The polynomial P (x) is cubic. What is the largest value of k for which the polynomials
Q1 (x) = x2 + (k − 29)x − k and Q2 (x) = 2x2 + (2k − 43)x + k are both factors of P (x)?
5. AIME I 2010/6: Let P (x) be a quadratic polynomial with real coefficients satisfying
x2 − 2x + 2 ≤ P (x) ≤ 2x2 − 4x + 3
for all real numbers x, and suppose P (11) = 181. Find P (16).
6. AIME II 2011/9: Let x1 , x2 , . . . , x6 be nonnegative real numbers such that x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 1, and
x1 x3 x5 + x2 x4 x6 ≥ 540
1
. Let p and q be positive relatively prime integers such that pq is the maximum possible
value of x1 x2 x3 + x2 x3 x4 + x3 x4 x5 + x4 x5 x6 + x5 x6 x1 + x6 x1 x2 . Find p + q.
√ √
3 a+ 3 b+1
7. AIME I 2013/5: The real root of the equation 8x3 − 3x2 − 3x − 1 = 0 can be written in the form c
,
where a, b, and c are positive integers. Find a + b + c.
8. AIME I 2016/11: Let P (x) be a nonzero polynomial such that (x − 1)P (x + 1) = (x + 2)P (x) for every real x,
and (P (2))2 = P (3). Then P ( 72 ) = m
n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
9. AIME II 2018/6: A real number a is chosen randomly and uniformly from the interval [−20, 18]. The probability
that the roots of the polynomial
x4 + 2ax3 + (2a − 2)x2 + (−4a + 3)x − 2
m
are all real can be written in the form n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
10. BMT Algebra 2020/3: The graph of the degree 2021 polynomial P (x), which has real coefficients and leading
coefficient 1, meets the x-axis at the points (1, 0), (2, 0), (3, 0), . . . , (2020, 0) and nowhere else. The mean of all
possible values of P (2021) can be written in the form a!/b, where a and b are positive integers and a is as small
as possible. Compute a + b.
11. BMT Algebra 2021/9: Compute the sum of the positive integers n ≤ 100 for which the polynomial
xn + x + 1
can be written as the product of at least 2 polynomials of positive degree with integer coefficients.

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Viete’s Theorem:
Let P (x) = an xn + an−1 xn−1 + ... + a1 x + a0 . Then:
an−k
σk = (−1)k
an
where σk is the kth elementary symmetric sum of the roots of P (x).

Problems:
1. AIME 1993/5: Let P0 (x) = x3 + 313x2 − 77x − 8. For integers n ≥ 1, define Pn (x) = Pn−1 (x − n). What is the
coefficient of x in P20 (x)?
2. AIME 1996/5: Suppose that the roots of x3 + 3x2 + 4x − 11 = 0 are a, b, and c, and that the roots of x3 + rx2 +
sx + t = 0 are a + b, b + c, and c + a. Find t.
3. AIME I 2005/8: The equation
2333x−2 + 2111x+2 = 2222x+1 + 1
has three real roots. Given that their sum is m/n where m and n are relatively prime positive integers, find
m + n.
4. AIME II 2008/7: Let r, s, and t be the three roots of the equation

8x3 + 1001x + 2008 = 0.

Find (r + s)3 + (s + t)3 + (t + r)3 .

5. AIME II 2010/10: Find the number of second-degree polynomials f (x) with integer coefficients and integer zeros
for which f (0) = 2010.
6. AIME I 2011/15: For some integer m, the polynomial x3 − 2011x + m has the three integer roots a, b, and c.
Find |a| + |b| + |c|.
7. AIME II 2014/5: Real numbers r and s are roots of p(x) = x3 + ax + b, and r + 4 and s − 3 are roots of
q(x) = x3 + ax + b + 240. Find the sum of all possible values of |b|.
√
8. AIME I 2014/9: Let x1 < x2 < x3 be three real roots of equation 2014x3 − 4029x2 + 2 = 0. Find x2 (x1 + x3 ).
9. AIME I 2015/10: Let f (x) be a third-degree polynomial with real coefficients satisfying

|f (1)| = |f (2)| = |f (3)| = |f (5)| = |f (6)| = |f (7)| = 12.

Find |f (0)|.
10. AIME I 2020/14: Let P (x) be a quadratic polynomial with complex coefficients whose x2 coefficient is 1. Suppose
the equation P (P (x)) = 0 has four distinct solutions, x = 3, 4, a, b. Find the sum of all possible values of (a + b)2 .
11. SMT Algebra 2010/10: Find the sum of all solutions of the equation:
1 2 3 4
+ 2 + 2 + 2 = 2010x − 4
x2 − 1 x −2 x −3 x −4

12. SMT Algebra 2011/3: If r, s, t, and u denote the roots of the polynomial f (x) = x4 + 3x3 + 3x + 2, find:
1 1 1 1
+ 2 + 2 + 2
r2 s t u

13. SMT Algebra 2019/8: The equation:

(x−1)(x−2)(x−4)(x−5)(x−7)(x−8) = (x−3)(x−6)(x−9)

has distinct roots r1 , r2 , . . ., r6 . Evaluate:

X
6
(ri − 1)(ri − 2)(ri − 4)
i=1

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Algebraic Manipulation Expressions and/or Newton’s expressions:

• a2 + b2 + c2 = u2 − 2v
• a3 + b3 + c3 = u(u2 − 3v) + 3w

• a2 b2 + b2 c2 + c2 a2 = v 2 − 2vw
• a4 + b4 + c4 = (u2 − 2v)2 − 2(v 2 − 2vw) = u4 − 4u2 v + 2v 2 + 4uw
• (a + b)(b + c)(c + a) = a2 b + a2 c + b2 a + b2 c + c2 a + c2 b + 2abc = uv − w
∑
• cyc ab(a + b) = uv − 3w

• (1 + a)(1 + b)(1 + c) = 1 + u + v + w
∑
• cyc (1 + a)(1 + b) = 3 + 2u + v

• (1 + a2 )(1 + b2 )(1 + c2 ) = u2 + v 2 + w2 − 2uw − 2v + 1

Problems:
1. AIME II 2003/9: Consider the polynomials P (x) = x6 − x5 − x3 − x2 − x and Q(x) = x4 − x3 − x2 − 1. Given
that z1 , z2 , z3 , and z4 are the roots of Q(x) = 0, find P (z1 ) + P (z2 ) + P (z3 ) + P (z4 ).
2. AIME II 2015/6: Steve says to Jon, ”I am thinking of a polynomial whose roots are all positive integers. The
polynomial has the form P (x) = 2x3 − 2ax2 + (a2 − 81)x − c for some positive integers a and c. Can you tell me
the values of a and c?”

After some calculations, Jon says, ”There is more than one such polynomial.”

Steve says, ”You’re right. Here is the value of a.” He writes down a positive integer and asks, ”Can you tell me
the value of c?”

Jon says, ”There are still two possible values of c.” Find the sum of the two possible values of c.
3. AIME II 2015/14: Let x and y be real numbers satisfying x4 y 5 + y 4 x5 = 810 and x3 y 6 + y 3 x6 = 945. Evaluate
2x3 + (xy)3 + 2y 3 .
4. AIME I 2019/8: Let x be a real number such that sin10 x + cos10 x = 11
36
. Then sin12 x + cos12 x = m
n
where m
and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
5. RMO 2013/2: Let f (x) = x3 + ax2 + bx + c and g(x) = x3 + bx2 + cx + a, where a, b, c are real numbers with
c ̸= 0. Suppose that f (1) = 0 and the roots of g(x) are the squares of the roots of f (x). Find a2013 + b2013 + c2013 .
6. INMO 1991/2: How many ordered triples (x, y, z) of real numbers satisfy the system:

x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 9
x4 + y 4 + z 4 = 33
xyz = −4

4
7. BMT Algebra 2019/7: Let r1 , r2 , r3 be the (possibly complex) roots of the polynomial x3 + ax2 + bx + . How
3
many pairs of integers a, b exist such that r13 + r23 + r33 = 0?

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Binomial Theorem:
( ) ( )
n n−1 n
(x + y)n = xn + x y + ... + xy n−1 + y n
1 n−1

Problems:
1. AIME 1986/11: What is the sum of the solutions to the equation:
√ 12
4
x= √
7− 4x

2001
2. AIME I 2001/3: Find the sum of the roots, real and non-real, of the equation x2001 + 1
2
−x = 0, given that
there are no multiple roots.
3. AIME I 2018/11: Find the least positive integer n such that when 3n is written in base 143, its two right-most
digits in base 143 are 01.
4. SMT Team 2013/4: For some positive integers a and b, (xa + abxa−1 + 13)b (x3 + 3bx2 + 37)a = x42 + 126x41 + · · · .
Find the ordered pair (a, b).
5. HMMT Guts 2014/28: Let f (n) and g(n) be polynomials of degree 2014 such that f (n) + (−1)n g(n) = 2n for
n = 1, 2, . . . , 4030. Find the coefficient of x2014 in g(x).
6. HMNT Guts 2011/28: Determine the value of:

X
2011
k−1
k!(2011 − k)!
k=1

!
X
1009
k+1 2018 − k 2019−2k
7. BMT Algebra 2018/8: Compute (−1) 2 .
k−1
k=1

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The Discriminant:
The discriminant of a quadratic ax2 + bx + c is b2 − 4ac, and of a cubic is 18abcd − 4b3 d + b2 c2 − 4ac3 −
27a2 d2 .
• If the discriminant is 0, then the roots are equal.

• If the discriminant is greater than 0, two distinct real roots exist, else no real roots exist.
• If and only if the discriminant is a perfect square, the roots of this equation are rational.

Problems:
1. AIME
√
II 2000/13: The equation 2000x6 + 100x5 + 10x3 + x − 2 = 0 has exactly two real roots, one of which is
m+ n
r
, where m, n and r are integers, m and r are relatively prime, and r > 0. Find m + n + r.
2. SMT General 2012/25: Compute the ordered pair of real numbers (a, b) such that a < k < b if and only if
x3 + x13 = k does not have a real solution in x.
3. HMMT Algebra 2008/9: Let S be the set of points (a, b) with 0 ≤ a, b ≤ 1 such that the equation

x4 + ax3 − bx2 + ax + 1 = 0

has at least one real root. Determine the area of the graph of S.
4. HMNT Guts 2012/29: Find the set of all possible values that can be attained by the expression:

ab + b2
a2 + b2
where a and b are positive real numbers. Express your answer in interval notation.
5. HMMT Guts 2015/9: Let a, b, c be integers. Define f (x) = ax2 + bx + c. Suppose there exist pairwise distinct
integers u, v, w such that f (u) = 0, f (v) = 0, and f (w) = 2. Find the maximum possible value of the discriminant
of f .

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Sums of Squares:
If ai ∈ R, and ni ∈ R+ , then:
n1 a21 + n2 a22 + . . . + nk a2k ≥ 0

AM-GM-HM Inequality:
For ai ∈ R+ , we have:
a1 + a2 + . . . + an √ n
≥ n a1 a2 . . . a n ≥ 1 1 1
n a1 + a2 + ... + an

with equality holding when a1 = a2 = . . . = an .

Cauchy-Schwarz Inequality:
For any ai ∈ R and bi ∈ R ̸= 0, we have:

a21 a2 a2
(b1 + b2 + . . . bn )( + 2 + . . . + n ) ≥ (a1 + a2 + . . . + an )2
b1 b2 bn

Problems:
1. PRMO 2018/23: What is the largest positive integer n such that
a2 b2 c2
b c
+ c a + a b
≥ n(a + b + c)
29
+ 31 29
+ 31 29
+ 31
.
2. AIME II 2011/9: Let x1 , x2 , . . . , x6 be nonnegative real numbers such that x1 + x2 + x3 + x4 + x5 + x6 = 1, and
x1 x3 x5 + x2 x4 x6 ≥ 540
1
. Let p and q be positive relatively prime integers such that pq is the maximum possible
value of x1 x2 x3 + x2 x3 x4 + x3 x4 x5 + x4 x5 x6 + x5 x6 x1 + x6 x1 x2 . Find p + q.
3. AIME II 2016/15: For 1 ≤ i ≤ 215 let ai = 1
2i
and a216 = 1
2215
. Let x1 , x2 , . . . , x216 be positive real numbers
such that
X
216 X 107 X ai x2i
216
xi = 1 and xi xj = + .
i=1
215 i=1 2(1 − ai )
1≤i<j≤216
m
The maximum possible value of x2 = n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
4. SMT General 2011/25: Find the maximum of:
ab + bc + cd
a2 + b2 + c 2 + d2
for reals a, b, c, d not all zero.
5. SMT Algebra 2012/9: Find the minimum value of xy, given that x2 + y 2 + z 2 = 7, xz + xy + yz = 4, and x, y, z
are real numbers.
6. SMT Algebra 2014/6: Find the minimum value of
1 1 1
+ +
x−y y−z x−z
for reals x > y > z given (x − y)(y − z)(x − z) = 17.
7. SMT Algebra 2021/9: Let m, n ∈ R and
f (m, n) = m4 (8 − m4 ) + 2m2 n2 (12 − m2 n2 ) + n4 (18 − n4 ) − 100
Find the smallest value of a in which f (m, n) ≤ a regardless of the input of f .
P∞
8. SMT Guts 2021/30: Let a1 , a2 , ... be a sequence of positive real numbers such that n=1 an = 4. Compute the
maximum possible value of
X∞ √
an
n=1
2n
assuming this always converges.

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9. HMMT Algebra 2005/7: Let x be a positive real number. Find the maximum possible value of
√
x2 + 2 − x4 + 4
x

10. HMMT Guts 2010/27: Suppose that there are real numbers a, b, c ≥ 1 and that there are positive reals x, y, z
such that:

ax + by + c z = 4
xax + yby + zcz = 6
x a + y 2 by + z 2 c z = 9
2 x

What is the maximum possible value of c?

11. HMMT Guts 2014/16: Suppose that x and y are positive real numbers such that x2 − xy + 2y 2 = 8. Find the
maximum possible value of x2 + xy + 2y 2 .
12. HMNT Guts 2018/32: Over all real numbers x and y, find the minimum possible value of

(xy)2 + (x + 7)2 + (2y + 7)2

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Systems of Equations:
Methods to solve systems are somewhat like this:
• Substitution of variables for other variables, and weird sub
• Elimination

• Notice factorizations, and add or subtract to factor

• Use operations on the equations in general to get nice terms
• Try to find other ways to express the system, and use your imagination (example: geometric)

Problems:
1. AIME 1984/15: Determine w2 + x2 + y 2 + z 2 if

x2 y2 z2 w2
+ + + =1
22 −1 − 32
22 − 52
22 − 72
22
x2 y2 z2 w2
+ 2 + 2 + 2 =1
42 − 1 4 − 32 4 − 52 4 − 72
x2 y2 z2 w2
+ 2 + 2 + 2 =1
6 −1
2 6 − 32 6 − 52 6 − 72
x2 y2 z2 w2
+ 2 + 2 + 2 =1
8 −1
2 8 − 32 8 − 52 8 − 72

2. AIME 1990/15: Find ax5 + by 5 if the real numbers a, b, x, and y satisfy the equations

ax + by = 3,
ax2 + by 2 = 7,
3 3
ax + by = 16,
ax4 + by 4 = 42.

3. AIME II 2008/14: Let a and b be positive real numbers with a ≥ b. Let ρ be the maximum possible value of a
b
for which the system of equations

a2 + y 2 = b2 + x2 = (a − x)2 + (b − y)2

has a solution in (x, y) satisfying 0 ≤ x < a and 0 ≤ y < b. Then ρ2 can be expressed as a fraction m
n
, where m
and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
4. AIME I 2010/9: Let (a, b, c) be the real solution of the system of equations x3 − xyz = 2, y 3 − xyz = 6,
z 3 − xyz = 20. The greatest possible value of a3 + b3 + c3 can be written in the form m
n
, where m and n are
relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
5. AIME I 2022/15: Let x, y, and z be positive real numbers satisfying the system of equations
p p
2x − xy + 2y − xy = 1
p p √
2y − yz + 2z − yz = 2
p p √
2z − zx + 2x − zx = 3.
 2
Then (1 − x)(1 − y)(1 − z) can be written as m
n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find
m + n.
6. SMT Team 2001/4: For what values of a does the system of equations

x2 = y 2

(x−a)2 + y 2 = 1
have exactly 2 solutions?

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7. SMT Algebra 2018/9: Let (a, b, c, d, e) be an integer solution to the system of equations

a + d = 12

b + ad + e = 57
c + bd + ae = 134
cd + be = 156
ce = 72
Find all possible values of b + d.
8. HMMT Guts 2006/20: Compute the number of real solutions (x, y, z, w) to the system of equations:

x = z + w + zwx
y = w + x + wxy
z = x + y + xyz
w = y + z + yzw

9. HMMT Guts 2011/17: Given positive real numbers x, y, z that satisfy the system of equations

x2 + y 2 + xy = 1
y 2 + z 2 + yz = 4
z 2 + x2 + zx = 5

find x + y + z.
10. HMMT Algebra 2015/10: Find all ordered 4-tuples of integers (a, b, c, d) (not necessarily distinct) satisfying the
following system of equations:

a2 − b2 − c 2 − d2 = c − b − 2
2ab = a − d − 32
2ac = 28 − a − d
2ad = b + c + 31.

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Progressions:
An arithmetic progression is one in which the successive terms differ by a common difference. It
usually helps to write the terms down as a, a + d, a + 2d, and so on. Also note that the sum of the
first and third terms is 2 times the second term.

Similarly, a geometric progression is one in which the successive terms have a common ratio
between them. It usually helps to write the terms down as a, ar, ar2 , and so on. Also note that the
product of the first and third term is the square of the second term. The sum of n terms of a GP is
given by:
1 − rn
Sn = a ·
1−r

Telescoping Series:
Reduce a fractional term of a sum to partial fractions, such that the middle terms cancel, leaving the
first and last terms (telescoping can also, in general refer to cancelling summations or products):

∑
n
1 ∑1
n
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
= − = − + − ... − + − =1−
i=1
i(i + 1) i=1
i i + 1 1 2 2 n n n + 1 n + 1

Problems:
1. AIME II 2016/9: The sequences of positive integers 1, a2 , a3 , . . . and 1, b2 , b3 , . . . are an increasing arithmetic
sequence and an increasing geometric sequence, respectively. Let cn = an + bn . There is an integer k such that
ck−1 = 100 and ck+1 = 1000. Find ck .
2. SMT Advanced 2011/2: Compute
X∞
(7n + 32) · 3n
n=1
n · (n + 2) · 4n

3. SMT Algebra 2018/5: Let a1 , a2 , a3 , a4 , a5 , …be a geometric progression with positive ratio such that a1 > 1
and (a1357 )3 = a34 . Find the smallest integer n such that an < 1.
4. SMT General 2018/25: Let f (x) = x3 − n1 x2 + (n2 − k2 )x − (n3 − k4 ). Suppose that n1 , n2 , and n3 form a
geometric sequence with common ratio k and that the roots of f are nonzero and form an arithmetic sequence
with common difference also k. Find k.
5. SMT Algebra Tiebreaker 2022/3: Determine
$2022 %
Y 2n + 2
,
n=2
2n + 1

given that the answer is relatively prime to 2022.

2 3
6. HMMT Guts 2002/36: Find the set consisting of all real values of x such that the three numbers 2x , 2x , 2x
form a non-constant arithmetic progression (in that order).
7. HMMT Team B 2010/5: Compute

X
98
2 1
√ √ +√ √
n=1
n+ n+2 n+1+ n+2

8. HMMT Algebra 2016/5: An infinite sequence of real numbers a1 , a2 , . . . satisfies the recurrence

an+3 = an+2 − 2an+1 + an

for every positive integer n. Given that a1 = a3 = 1 and a98 = a99 , compute a1 + a2 + · · · + a100 .
9. HMMT Algebra-NT 2019/5: Let a1 , a2 , . . . be an arithmetic sequence and b1 , b2 , . . . be a geometric sequence.
Suppose that a1 b1 = 20, a2 b2 = 19, and a3 b3 = 14. Find the greatest possible value of a4 b4 .

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10. BMT Algebra 2020/6: The value of

X
10 n

n

2
n+1


n=3 3 3
m
can be written in the form n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Compute m + n.
I didn’t get to use the classic and neat telescoping only problems :( But oh well, I hope you have done
telescoping before. I should add those neat ones in draft 2.

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§ Geometry

Ideas in Geometry:
• Extending the median
• Congruence and Rotations
• Similarity

• Areas Ratios and Area Theorems - Let s be half of the perimeter of a polygon:
√
[△ABC] = s(s − a)(s − b)(s − c)
√ ( )
∠B + ∠D
[P QRS] = (s − a)(s − b)(s − c)(s − d) − abcd cos2
2

• Mass Points

Problems:
1. AIME 1986/9: In △ABC, AB = 425, BC = 450, and AC = 510. An interior point P is then drawn, and
segments are drawn through P parallel to the sides of the triangle. If these three segments are of an equal length
d, find d.
2. AIME 1988/12: Let P be an interior point of triangle ABC and extend lines from the vertices through P to the
opposite sides. Let a, b, c, and d denote the lengths of the segments indicated in the figure. Find the product
abc if a + b + c = 43 and d = 3.
3. AIME II 2002/13: In triangle ABC, point D is on BC with CD = 2 and DB = 5, point E is on AC with CE = 1
and EA = 3, AB = 8, and AD and BE intersect at P. Points Q and R lie on AB so that P Q is parallel to CA
and P R is parallel to CB. It is given that the ratio of the area of triangle P QR to the area of triangle ABC is
m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
4. AIME I 2003/15: In △ABC, AB = 360, BC = 507, and CA = 780. Let M be the midpoint of CA, and let D be
the point on CA such that BD bisects angle ABC. Let F be the point on BC such that DF ⊥ BD. Suppose
that DF meets BM at E. The ratio DE : EF can be written in the form m/n, where m and n are relatively
prime positive integers. Find m + n.
5. HMMT Geo 2001/9: Parallelogram AECF is inscribed in square ABCD. It is reflected across diagonal AC to
form another parallelogram AE ′ CF ′ . The region common to both parallelograms has area m and perimeter n.
Compute the value of nm2 if AF : AD = 1 : 4.
√
6. HMMT Geo 2006/5: Triangle ABC has side lengths AB = 2 5, BC = 1, and CA = 5. Point D is on side AC
such that CD = 1, and F is a point such that BF = 2 and CF = 3. Let E be the intersection of lines AB and
DF . Find the area of CDEB.
7. HMMT Guts 2013/23: Let ABCD be a parallelogram with AB = 8, AD = 11, and ∠BAD = 60◦ . Let X be on
CX
segment CD with XD = 13 and Y be on segment AD with YAYD = 12 . Let Z be on segment AB such that AX,
BY and DZ are concurrent. Determine the area of triangle XY Z.
8. HMNT Guts 2018/11: Let ABC be an acute triangle, with M being the midpoint of BC, such that AM = BC.
Let D and E be the intersection of the internal angle bisectors of ∠AM B and ∠AM C with AB and AC
respectively. Find the ratio of the area of △DM E to the area of △ABC.
9. HMNT Guts 2019/16
10. SMT Geo 2006/10: In triangle ABC, points P , Q, R lie on sides AB, BC, CA respectively, so that P AP
B
= BQ
QC
=
CR 1
RA
= 3
. If the area of ABC is 1, determine the area of the triangle formed by the points of intersection of lines
AQ, BR and CP .
11. SMT Geo 2013/9: In tetrahedron ABCD, AB = 4, CD = 7, and AC = AD = BC = BD = 5. Let IA , IB , IC ,
and ID denote the incenters of the faces opposite vertices A, B, C, and D, respecitvely. It is provable that AIA
intersects BIB at a point X, and CIC intersects DID at a point Y . Compute XY .

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12. BMT Geo 2018/9: Let ABCD be a tetrahedron with ∠ABC = ∠ABD = ∠CBD = 90◦ and AB = BC.
Let E, F, G be points on AD, BD, and CD, respectively, such that each of the quadrilaterals AEF B, BF GC,
[△EF G]
and CGEA have an inscribed circle. Let r be the smallest real number such that ≤ r for all such
p [△ABC]
√
a−b c
configurations A, B, C, D, E, F, G. If r can be expressed as where a, b, c, d are positive integers with
d
gcd(a, b) squarefree and c squarefree, find a + b + c + d.
13. BMT Geo 2020/7: Circle Γ has radius 10, center O, and diameter AB. Point C lies on Γ such that AC = 12.
Let P be the circumcenter of △ AOC. Line AP intersects Γ at Q, where Q is different from A. Then the value
AP
of AQ can be expressed in the form m
n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Compute m + n.
14. BMT Geo 2020/8: Let triangle △ ABC have AB = 17, BC = 14, CA = 12. Let MA , MB , MC be midpoints of
BC, AC, and AB respectively. Let the angle bisectors of A, B, and C intersect BC, AC, and AB at P , Q, and
′ ′
R, respectively. Reflect MA about AP , MB about BQ, and MC about CR to obtain MA , MB , MC′ , respectively.
′ ′
The lines AMA , BMB , and CMC′ will then intersect BC, AC, and AB at D, E, and F , respectively. Given that
AD, BE, and CF concur at a point K inside the triangle, in simplest form, the ratio [KAB] : [KBC] : [KCA]
can be written in the form p : q : r, where p, q and r are relatively prime positive integers and [XY Z] denotes
the area of △ XY Z. Compute p + q + r.

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Thales Theorem:
Suppose that line EF , with E on AB and F on AC in △ABC is parallel to BC. Then:
AE AF EF
= =
AB AC BC
The converse of this theorem also holds.

Midpoint Theorem:
The line connecting two midpoints of a triangle is parallel to the base of the triangle, and it is equal
to one half of that base.

I’m going to be very honest, I have no explicit problems about these theorems in particular. You just have to
know when to use them, and it is pretty obvious too. I have some from Thales though.

Problems:
1. SMT Geo 2022/6: Let the incircle of ABC be tangent to AB, BC, AC at points M , N , P , respectively. If
∠BAC = 30◦ , find
[BP C] [BM C]
·
[ABC] [ABC]
where [ABC] denotes the area of △ABC
2. IOQM 2020/9: Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 5, AC = 4, BC = 6. The internal angle bisector of C
intersects the side AB at D. Points M and N are taken on sides BC and AC respectively, such that DM ∥ AC
and DN ∥ BC. If M N 2 = pq where p and q are relatively prime positive integers, what is the sum of the digits
of |p–q|?

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The Cosine Rule:

In △ABC:
a2 = b2 + c2 − 2bc cos A

The Sine Rule:

In △ABC:
a b c
= = = 2R
sin A sin B sin C
where R is the circumradius of triangle ABC.

Problems:
1. AIME II 2003/14: Let A = (0, 0) and B = (b, 2) be points on the coordinate plane. Let ABCDEF be a convex
equilateral hexagon such that ∠F AB = 120◦ , AB ∥ DE, BC ∥ EF, CD ∥ F A, and the y-coordinates of its
vertices are distinct elements of the set {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10}. The area of the hexagon can be written in the form
√
m n, where m and n are positive integers and n is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find m + n.
2. AIME II 2004/13: Let ABCDE be a convex pentagon with AB ∥ CE, BC ∥ AD, AC ∥ DE, ∠ABC =
120◦ , AB = 3, BC = 5, and DE = 15. Given that the ratio between the area of triangle ABC and the area
of triangle EBD is m/n, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers, find m + n.
3. AIME I 2005/15: Triangle ABC has BC = 20. The incircle of the triangle evenly trisects the median AD. If
√
the area of the triangle is m n where m and n are integers and n is not divisible by the square of a prime, find
m + n.
4. AIME II 2006/12: Equilateral △ABC is inscribed in a circle of radius 2. Extend AB through B to point D so
that AD = 13, and extend AC through C to point E so that AE = 11. Through D, draw a line l1 parallel to
AE, and through E, draw a line l2 parallel to AD. Let F be the intersection of l1 and l2 . Let G be the point on
the circle that
√ is collinear with A and F and distinct from A. Given that the area of △CBG can be expressed in
p q
the form r , where p, q, and r are positive integers, p and r are relatively prime, and q is not divisible by the
square of any prime, find p + q + r.
5. AIME I 2007/15: Let ABC be an equilateral triangle, and let D and F be points on sides BC and AB,
respectively, with F√A = 5 and CD = 2. Point E lies on side CA such that angle DEF = 60◦ . The area of
√
triangle DEF is 14 3. The two possible values of the length of side AB are p ± q r, where p and q are rational,
and r is an integer not divisible by the square of a prime. Find r.
6. AIME II 2011/10: A circle with center O has radius 25. Chord AB of length 30 and chord CD of length 14
intersect at point P . The distance between the midpoints of the two chords is 12. The quantity OP 2 can be
represented as mn
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find the remainder when m + n is
divided by 1000.
7. AIME I 2018/15: David found four sticks of different lengths that can be used to form three non-congruent
convex cyclic quadrilaterals, A, B, C, which can each be inscribed in a circle with radius 1. Let φA denote the
measure of the acute angle made by the diagonals of quadrilateral A, and define φB and φC similarly. Suppose
that sin φA = 32 , sin φB = 35 , and sin φC = 76 . All three quadrilaterals have the same area K, which can be
m
written in the form , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
n
8. SMT Team 2001/15: Let ABC be an isosceles triangle with ∠ABC = ∠ACB = 80◦ . Let D be a point on AB
such that ∠DCB = 60◦ and E be a point on AC such that ∠ABE = 30◦ . Find ∠CDE in degrees.
9. SMT Geo 2021/8: In triangle ABC, AB = 5, BC = 7, and CA = 8. Let E and F be the feet of the altitudes
from
√
B and C, respectively, and let M be the midpoint of BC. The area of triangle M EF can be expressed as
a b
c
for positive integers a, b, and c such that the greatest common divisor of a and c is 1 and b is not divisible
by the square of any prime. Compute a + b + c.
10. SMT Geo 2021/10: In acute △ABC, let points D, E, and F be the feet of the altitudes of the triangle from√A,
B, and C, respectively. The area of △AEF is 1, the area of △CDE is 2, and the area of △BF D is 2 − 3.
What is the area of △DEF ?
11. HMMT Guts February 2006/30: ABC is an acute triangle with incircle ω. ω is tangent to sides BC, CA, and
AB at D, E, and F respectively. P is a point on the altitude from A such that Γ, the circle with diameter AP ,
is tangent to ω. Γ intersects AC and AB at X and Y respectively. Given XY = 8, AE = 15, and that the radius
of Γ is 5, compute BD · DC.

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12. HMNT Guts 2012/25: Triangle ABC satisfies AB = 8, BC = 9, and CA = 10. Evaluate:

sin2 B + sin2 C− sin2 A

sin B · sin C

13. HMMT Guts 2018/26: Let ABC be a triangle with ∠A = 18◦ , ∠B = 36◦ . Let M be the midpoint of AB, D a
point on ray CM such that AB = AD; E a point on ray BC such that AB = BE, and F a point on ray AC
such that AB = AF . Find ∠F DE.
14. HMNT Team 2018/6: Triangle △P QR, with P Q = P R = 5 and QR = 6, is inscribed in circle ω. Compute the
radius of the circle with center on QR which is tangent to both ω and P Q.
15. HMMT Geo 2017/5: Let ABCD be a quadrilateral with an inscribed circle ω and let P be the intersection of its
diagonals AC and BD. Let R1 , R2 , R3 , R4 be the circumradii of triangles AP B, BP C, CP D, DP A respectively.
If R1 = 31 and R2 = 24 and R3 = 12, find R4 .
16. BMT Geo 2021/9: Let ABCD be a convex quadrilateral such that △ABC is equilateral. Let P be a point inside
the quadrilateral such that △AP D is equilateral and ∠P CD = 30◦ . Given that CP = 2 and CD = 3, compute
the area of the triangle formed by P , the midpoint of segment BC, and the midpoint of segment AB.
Basically all AIME geometry problems are trig-bashable, especially ones before 2010-ish. I’ve only included
the harder problems, and more on the Sine Rule. There are tons of this type of problems out there, and
trigbash is the second coolest bash (the first being complex ofc :P).

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Ratio Lemma / Angle Bisector Theorem:

In △ABC, let D be a point on BC. Then:
BD AB sin ∠BAD
= ·
CD AC sin ∠CAD
or without specifications for D:
sin ∠BAD sin ∠ABD BD sin ∠ABD sin ∠BCD
= · = ·
sin ∠CAD sin ∠ACD CD sin ∠ACD sin ∠CBD

Problems:
1. AIME I 2002/10: Angle ABC is a right angle. Point D is on BC, and AD bisects angle CAB. Points E and
F are on AB and AC, respectively, so that AE = 3 and AF = 10. Given that EB = 9 and F C = 27, find the
integer closest to the area of quadrilateral DCF G.
2. AIME II 2010/15: In triangle ABC, AC = 13, BC = 14, and AB = 15. Points M and D lie on AC with
AM = M C and ∠ABD = ∠DBC. Points N and E lie on AB with AN = N B and ∠ACE = ∠ECB. Let P be
the point, other than A, of intersection of the circumcircles of △AM N and △ADE. Ray AP meets BC at Q.
The ratio BQ
CQ
can be written in the form m n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m − n.
3. SMT Geo 2018/6: In △ABC, AB = 3, AC = 6, and D is drawn on BC such that AD is the angle bisector of
∠BAC. D is reflected across AB to a point E, and suppose that AC and BE are parallel. Compute CE.
4. SMT Geo 2018/8: Le ABC be a right triangle with ∠ACB = 90◦ , BC = 16 and AC = 12. Let the angle
bisectors of ∠BAC and ∠ABC intersect BC and AC at D and E respectively. Let AD and BE intersect at I,
and let the circle centered at I passing through C intersect AB at P and Q such that AQ < AP . Compute the
area of quadrilateral DP QE.
5. SMT General 2021/12: △ABC has side length BC = 5. The angle bisector from A intersects BC at D, with
BD = 2 and CD = 3, and the angle bisector from C intersects AB at F , with BF = 2. What is the length of
side AC?
6. HMMT Geo 2020/8: Let ABC be an acute triangle with circumcircle Γ. Let the internal angle bisector of ∠BAC
intersect BC and Γ at E and N , respectively. Let A′ be the antipode of A on Γ and let V be the point where
AA′ intersects BC. Given that EV = 6, V A′ = 7, and A′ N = 9, compute the radius of Γ.
7. HMMT Guts 2018/26: Let ABC be a triangle with ∠A = 18◦ , ∠B = 36◦ . Let M be the midpoint of AB, D a
point on ray CM such that AB = AD; E a point on ray BC such that AB = BE, and F a point on ray AC
such that AB = AF . Find ∠F DE.
8. HMNT Guts 2018/33: Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 20, BC = 10, CA = 15. Let I be the incenter of
ABC, and let BI meet AC at E and CI meet AB at F . Suppose that the circumcircles of BIF and CIE meet
at a point D different from I. Find the length of the tangent from A to the circumcircle of DEF .
9. BMT Geo 2022/6: Triangle △BM T has BM = 4, BT = 6, and M T = 8. Point A lies on line BM and point
Y lies on line BT such that AY is parallel to M T and the center of the circle inscribed in triangle BAY lies on
M T . Compute AY .

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Ceva and Menelaus:

In △ABC let D, E, F be points. Then AD, BE, and CF concur iff:
AF BD CE sin ∠BAD sin ∠CBE sin ∠ACF
· · = 1 or · · =1
F B DC EA sin ∠CAD sin ∠ABE sin ∠BCF
Similarly D − E − F are collinear iff:
AF BD CE
· · = −1
F B DC EA

Problems:
1. AIME 1989/15: Point P is inside △ABC. Line segments AP D, BP E, and CP F are drawn with D on BC, E
on AC, and F on AB. Given that AP = 6, BP = 9, P D = 6, P E = 3, and CF = 20, find the area of △ABC.
2. SMT Geo 2011/4: Let ABC be any triangle, and D, E, F be points on BC, CA, AB such that CD = 2BD,
AE = 2CE and BF = 2AF . AD and BE intersect at X, BE and CF intersect at Y , and CF and AD intersect
[ABC]
at Z. Find [XY Z]

3. SMT Geo 2018/9: Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral with 3AB = 2AD and BC = CD. The diagonals AC
and BD intersect at point X. Let E be a point on AD such that DE = AB and Y be the point of intersection
of lines AC and BE. If the area of triangle ABY is 5, then what is the area of quadrilateral DEY X?
4. SMT Geo 2020/7: Let ABC be an acute triangle with BC = 4 and AC = 5. Let D be the midpoint of BC, E
be the foot of the altitude from B to AC, and F be the intersection of the angle bisector of ∠BCA with segment
AB. Given that AD, BE, and CF meet at a single point P , compute the area of triangle ABC. Express your
answer as a common fraction in simplest radical form.
5. HMMT Geo 2009/10: Points A and B lie on circle ω. Point P lies on the extension of segment AB past B. Line
ℓ passes through P and is tangent to ω. The tangents to ω at points A and B intersect ℓ at points D and C
respectively. Given that AB = 7, BC = 2, and AD = 3, compute BP .
6. HMMT Guts 2004/31: P is a point inside triangle ABC, and lines AP , BP , CP intersect the opposite sides
BC, CA, AB in points D, E, F , respectively. It is given that ∠AP B = 90◦ and that AC = BC and AB = BD.
We also know that BF = 1, and that BC = 999. Find AF .
7. HMMT Guts 2006/41: Let Γ denote the circumcircle of triangle ABC. Point D is on AB such that CD bisects
∠ACB. Points P and Q are on Γ such that P Q passes through D and is perpendicular to CD. Compute P Q,
given that BC = 20, CA = 80, AB = 65.
8. HMMT Guts 2008/24: Suppose that ABC is an isosceles triangle with AB = AC. Let P be the point on side
AC so that AP = 2CP . Given that BP = 1, determine the maximum possible area of ABC.
9. HMMT Guts 2013/23: Let ABCD be a parallelogram with AB = 8, AD = 11, and ∠BAD = 60◦ . Let X be
on segment CD with CX/XD = 1/3 and Y be on segment AD with AY /Y D = 1/2. Let Z be on segment AB
such that AX, BY , and DZ are concurrent. Determine the area of triangle XY Z.

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Stewart’s Theorem:
Let a, b, c denote the lengths of the sides of a triangle. Let there be a cevian intersecting a such that
the lengths formed are m and n to the sides of c and b. Let d be the length of the cevian. Then:

man + dad = bmb + cnc

Problems:
1. AMC 10A 2013/23: In △ABC, AB = 86, and AC = 97. A circle with center A and radius AB intersects BC at
points B and X. Moreover BX and CX have integer lengths. What is BC?
2. AMC 12B 2021/24: Let ABCD be a parallelogram with area 15. Points P and Q are the projections of A and
C, respectively, onto the line BD; and points R and S are the projections of B and D respectively, onto the line
AC. Suppose P Q = 6 and RS = 8, and let d denote the length of BD, the longer diagonal of ABCD. Then d2
√
can be written in the form m + n p, where m, n, and p are positive integers and p is not divisible by the square
of any prime. What is m + n + p?
3. AIME II 2013/13: In △ABC, √ AC = BC, and point D is on BC so that CD = 3 · BD. Let E√be the midpoint
of AD. Given that CE = 7 and BE = 3, the area of △ABC can be expressed in the form m n, where m and
n are positive integers and n is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find m + n.
4. SMT Geo 2007/9: Points P , Q, R, S, T lie in the plane with S on P R and R on QT . If P Q = 5, P S = 3,
P R = 5, QS = 3, and RT = √43 , what is ST ?
5. SMT Geo 2020/10: Three circles with radii 23, 46, and 69 are tangent to each of the other two externally. Find
the radius of the largest circle that can fit inside the region between the 3 circles.
6. HMMT Guts 2012/22: For each positive integer n, there is a circle around the origin with radius n. Rainbow
Dash starts√off somewhere on the plane, but not on a circle. She √takes off in some direction in a straight path.
√
She moves 55 units before crossing a circle, then 5 units, then 3 5 5 units. What distance will she travel before
she crosses another circle?
7. HMMT Guts 2018/20: Triangle ABC has AB = 21, BC = 55, and CA = 56. There are two points P in the
plane of ABC for which ∠BAP = ∠CAP and ∠BP C = 90◦ . Find the distance between them.
8. HMNT√Guts 2019/29: In isosceles △ABC, AB = AC and P is a point on side BC. If ∠BAP = 2∠CAP ,
BP = 3 and CP = 1, compute AP .
9. HMMT Geo 2016/9: The incircle of a triangle ABC is tangent to BC at D. Let H and Γ denote the orthocenter
and circumcircle of △ABC. The B-mixtilinear incircle, centered at OB , is tangent to lines BA and BC and
√ to Γ. The C-mixtilinear incircle, centered at OC , is defined similarly. Suppose that DH ⊥
internally tangent
OB OC , AB = 3 and AC = 2. Find BC.

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Inscribed Angle Theorem:

The angle at the center of the circle is twice the angle formed by the same two points on the circum-
ference.

Cyclicity:
A quadrilateral ABCD is cyclic if and only if:

• ∠A + ∠C = 180◦
• ∠ABD = ∠ACD

Tangents:
Suppose triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle with center O, and let P A be a tangent to the circle at
A, and P D be the second tangent from P . Then:

• OA ⊥ P A
• PA = PD
• ∠BAP = ∠ACB

Problems:
1. AIME II 2018/14: The incircle ω of triangle ABC is tangent to BC at X. Let Y ̸= X be the other intersection
of AX with ω. Points P and Q lie on AB and AC, respectively, so that P Q is tangent to ω at Y . Assume that
m
AP = 3, P B = 4, AC = 8, and AQ = , where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
n
2. SMT Geo 2021/6: (A), centered at point A, has radius 14 and (B), centered at point B, has radius 15. AB = 13.
The circles intersect at points C and D. Let E be a point on (A), and F be the point where line EC intersects
(B) again. Let the midpoints of DE and DF be M and N , respectively. Lines AM and BN intersect at point
G. If point E is allowed to move freely on (A), what is the radius of the locus of G?
3. SMT Geo 2022/7: △ABC has side lengths AB = 20, BC = 15, and CA = 7. Let the altitudes of △ABC be
AD, BE, and CF . What is the distance between the orthocenter (intersection of the altitudes) of △ABC and
the incenter of △DEF ?
4. HMNT General 2019/9: Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with AD = BC = 255 and AB = 128. Let M
be the midpoint of CD and let N be the foot of the perpendicular from A to CD. If ∠M BC = 90◦ , compute
tan ∠N BM .
5. HMMT Geo 2013/10: Triangle ABC is inscribed in a circle ω. Let the bisector of angle A meet ω at D and BC
at E. Let the reflections of A across D and C be D� and C� respectively. Suppose that ∠A = 60◦ , AB = 3, and
AE = 4. If the tangent to ω at A meets line BC at P , and the circumcircle of AP D� meets line BC at F (other
than P ), compute F C ′ .
To be fair, how do you get general problems on this kind of stuff? Like- just no. Go do more problems. It’s 4
am and I’m not doing more work for you.

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Power of a Point:
Let P be a point outside a circle and let two chords intersect given circle at A, B and C, D respectively.
Let the tangent from P be at X. Let O be the center and r the radius of this circle. Then:

P A · P B = P C · P D = P X 2 = OP 2 − r2

If P is inside the circle, then let AB and CD be two chords that pass through it. Then:

PA · PB = PC · PD

Problems:
1. AIME II 2003/7: Find the area of rhombus ABCD given that the circumradii of triangles ABD and ACD are
12.5 and 25, respectively.
2. AIME I 2005/15: Triangle ABC has BC = 20. The incircle of the triangle evenly trisects the median AD. If
√
the area of the triangle is m n where m and n are integers and n is not divisible by the square of a prime, find
m + n.
3. AIME II 2016/10: Triangle ABC is inscribed in circle ω. Points P and Q are on side AB with AP < AQ. Rays
CP and CQ meet ω again at S and T (other than C), respectively. If AP = 4, P Q = 3, QB = 6, BT = 5, and
AS = 7, then ST = m
n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m + n.
4. AIME I 2021/13: Circles ω1 and ω2 with radii 961 and 625, respectively, intersect at distinct points A and B.
A third circle ω is externally tangent to both ω1 and ω2 . Suppose line AB intersects ω at two points P and Q
such that the measure of minor arc P d Q is 120◦ . Find the distance between the centers of ω1 and ω2 .
5. SMT Geo 2010/10: A, B, C, D are points along a circle, in that order. AC intersects BD at X. If BC = 6,
BX = 4, XD = 5, and AC = 11, find AB.
6. SMT Geo 2018/10: Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 13, AC = 14 and BC = 15, and let Γ be its incircle with
incenter I. Let D and E be the points of tangency between Γ and BC and AC respectively, and let ω be the
circle inscribed in CDIE. If Q is the intersection point between Γ and ω and P is the intersection point between
CQ and ω, compute P Q.
7. SMT Geo 2019/10: Let ABC be an acute triangle with BC = 48. Let M be the midpoint of BC, and let D
and E be the feet of the altitudes drawn from B and C to AC and AB respectively. Let P be the intersection
between the line through A parallel to BC and line DE. If AP = 10, compute the length of P M .
8. SMT Team 2022/15: In △ ABC, let G be the centroid and let the circumcenters of △ BCG, △ CAG, and △ ABG
be I, J, and K, respectively. The line passing through I and the midpoint of BC intersects KJ at Y . If the
radius of circle K is 5, the radius of circle J is 8, and AG = 6, what is the length of KY ?
9. HMNT Guts 2013/31: Chords AB and CD of circle ω intersect at E such that AE = 8, BE = 2, CD = 10,
and ∠AEC = 90◦ . Let R be a rectangle inside ω with sides parallel to AB and CD, such that no point in the
interior of R lies on AB, CD, or the boundary of ω. What is the maximum possible area of R?
10. HMNT Guts 2017/24: Triangle ABC has side lengths AB = 15, BC = 18, CA = 20. Extend CA and CB to
points D and E respectively such that DA = AB = BE. Line AB intersects the circumcircle of CDE at P and
Q. Find the length of P Q.
11. HMMT Geo 2016/9: The incircle of a triangle ABC is tangent to BC at D. Let H and Γ denote the orthocenter
and circumcircle of △ABC. The B-mixtilinear incircle, centered at OB , is tangent to lines BA and BC and
√ to Γ. The C-mixtilinear incircle, centered at OC , is defined similarly. Suppose that DH ⊥
internally tangent
OB OC , AB = 3 and AC = 2. Find BC.
12. HMMT Geo 2014/8: Let ABC be a triangle with sides AB = 6, BC = 10, and CA = 8. Let M and N be
the midpoints of BA and BC, respectively. Choose the point Y on ray CM so that the circumcircle of triangle
AM Y is tangent to AN . Find the area of triangle N AY .
13. BMT Geo 2021/8: Let △ABC be a triangle with AB = 15, AC = 13, BC = 14, and circumcenter O. Let l be
the line through A perpendicular to segment BC. Let the circumcircle of △AOB and the circumcircle of △AOC
intersect l at points X and Y (other than A), respectively. Compute the length of XY .

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Ptolemy’s Theorem:
In quadrilateral ABCD:
AB · CD + AD · BC ≥ AC · BD
with equality holding when ABCD is cyclic.

Problems:
1. AMC 10B 2004/24: In triangle ABC we have AB = 7, AC = 8, BC = 9. Point D is on the circumscribed circle
AD
of the triangle so that AD bisects angle BAC. What is the value of CD ?
2. AIME 1991/14: A hexagon is inscribed in a circle. Five of the sides have length 81 and the sixth, denoted by
AB, has length 31. Find the sum of the lengths of the three diagonals that can be drawn from A.
3. AIME I 2001/13: In a certain circle, the chord of a d-degree arc is 22 centimeters long, and the chord of a
2d-degree arc is 20 centimeters longer than the chord of a 3d-degree arc, where d < 120. The length of the chord
√
of a 3d-degree arc is −m + n centimeters, where m and n are positive integers. Find m + n.
4. AIME II 2013/8: A hexagon that is inscribed in a circle has side lengths 22, 22, 20, 22, 22, and 20 in that order.
√
The radius of the circle can be written as p + q, where p and q are positive integers. Find p + q.
5. AIME I 2023/5: Let P be a point on the circle circumscribing square ABCD that satisfies P A · P C = 56 and
P B · P D = 90. Find the area of ABCD.
6. SMT Geo 2010/10: A, B, C, D are points along a circle, in that order. AC intersects BD at X. If BC = 6,
BX = 4, XD = 5, and AC = 11, find AB
AB 3
7. SMT Geo 2014/9: In cyclic quadrilateral ABCD, AB = AD. If AC = 6 and BD
= 5
, find the maximum
possible area of ABCD.
8. HMMT Geo 2009/9: Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 16 and AC = 5. Suppose that the bisectors of angle
∠ABC and ∠BCA meet at a point P in the triangle’s interior. Given that AP = 4, compute BC.
9. HMNT General 2018/8: Equilateral triangle ABC has circumcircle Ω. Points D and E are chosen on minor arcs
AB and AC of Ω respectively such that BC = DE. Given that triangle ABE has area 3 and triangle ACD has
area 4, find the area of triangle ABC.
10. HMMT Guts 2020/24: In ABC, ω is the circumcircle, I is the incenter and IA is the A-excenter. Let M be
the midpoint of arc BAC on ω, and suppose that X, Y are the projections of I onto M IA and IA onto M I,
respectively. If XY IA is an equilateral triangle with side length 1, compute the area of ABC.

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§ Combinatorics

Techniques:
• Addition and Multiplication Principle

• Systematic Casework
• Complementation Principle
• Bijection Principle

• Distributions, Stars-and-Bars
• Working backwards (especially in grids)

Problems:
1. AMC 10A 2017/25: How many integers between 100 and 999, inclusive, have the property that some permutation
of its digits is a multiple of 11 between 100 and 999?
2. AIME I 2005/13: A particle moves in the Cartesian Plane such that from any lattice point (a, b), the particle
may only move to (a + 1, b), (a, b + 1), or (a + 1, b + 1) and there are no right angle turns in the particle’s path.
How many different paths can the particle take from (0, 0) to (5, 5)?
3. AIME I 2009/10: The Annual Interplanetary Mathematics Examination (AIME) is written by a committee of
five Martians, five Venusians, and five Earthlings. At meetings, committee members sit at a round table with
chairs numbered from 1 to 15 in clockwise order. Committee rules state that a Martian must occupy chair 1
and an Earthling must occupy chair 15. Furthermore, no Earthling can sit immediately to the left of a Martian,
no Martian can sit immediately to the left of a Venusian, and no Venusian can sit immediately to the left of an
Earthling. The number of possible seating arrangements for the committee is N · (5!)3 . Find N .
4. AIME I 2010/12: Let M ≥ 3 be an integer and let S = {3, 4, 5, . . . , m}. Find the smallest value of m such that
for every partition of S into two subsets, at least one of the subsets contains integers a, b, and c (not necessarily
distinct) such that ab = c.
5. AIME II 2012/14: In a group of nine people each person shakes hands with exactly two of the other people from
the group. Let N be the number of ways this handshaking can occur. Consider two handshaking arrangements
different if and only if at least two people who shake hands under one arrangement do not shake hands under
the other arrangement. Find the remainder when N is divided by 1000.
6. AIME II 2013/11: Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} and let N be the number of functions f from set A to set A such
that f (f (x)) is a constant function. Find the remainder when N is divided by 1000.
7. AIME I 2014/12: Let A = {1, 2, 3, 4}, and f and g be randomly chosen (not necessarily distinct) functions from
A to A. The probability that the range of f and the range of g are disjoint is m
n
, where m and n are relatively
prime positive integers. Find m.
8. AIME I 2018/14: Let SP1 P2 P3 EP4 P5 be a heptagon. A frog starts jumping at vertex S. From any vertex of the
heptagon except E, the frog may jump to either of the two adjacent vertices. When it reaches vertex E, the frog
stops and stays there. Find the number of distinct sequences of jumps of no more than 12 jumps that end at E.
9. AIME II 2018/8: A frog is positioned at the origin in the coordinate plane. From the point (x, y), the frog can
jump to any of the points (x + 1, y), (x + 2, y), (x, y + 1), or (x, y + 2). Find the number of distinct sequences of
jumps in which the frog begins at (0, 0) and ends at (4, 4).
10. AIME II 2018/10: Find the number of functions f (x) from {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} to {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} that satisfy f (f (x)) =
f (f (f (x))) for all x in {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}.
11. AIME I 2020/9: Let S be the set of positive integer divisors of 209 . Three numbers are chosen independently
and at random from the set S and labeled a1 , a2 , and a3 in the order they are chosen. The probability that both
a1 divides a2 and a2 divides a3 is m
n
, where m and n are relatively prime positive integers. Find m.
12. AIME I 2023/14: A clock has two hands that can move independently of each other. Initially, both hands point
to the number 12. The clock performs a sequence of hand movements so that on each movement, one of the
two hands moves clockwise to the next number on the clock while the other hand does not move. Let N be
the number of sequences of 144 hand movements such that during the sequence, every possible positioning of
the hands appears exactly once, and at the end of the 144 movements, the hands have returned to their initial
position. Find the remainder when N is divided by 1000.

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13. AIME II 2023/10: Let N be the number of ways to place the integers 1 through 12 in the 12 cells of a 2 × 6 grid
so that for any two cells sharing a side, the difference between the numbers in those cells is not divisible by 3.
Find the number of positive integer divisors of N .

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Inclusion-Exclusion Principle:
If (Ai )1≤i≤n are finite sets:

∑
n ∑ ∑
|∪ni=1 Ai | = |Ai | − |Ai ∩ Aj | + |Ai ∩ Aj ∩ Ak | − . . . + (−1)n−1 |A1 ∩ . . . ∩ An |
i=1 i<j i<j<k

Derangements:
A derangement is a permutation with no fixed points. The number of derangements for n objects is
given by the recursion:
Dn = n · Dn−1 + (−1)n
and the formula:
∑
n
(−1)k
Dn = n!
k!
k=0

Problems:
1. AMC 10A 2021/20: In how many ways can the sequence 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 be rearranged so that no three consecutive
terms are increasing and no three consecutive terms are decreasing?
2. AIME I 2017/12: Call a set S product-free if there do not exist a, b, c ∈ S (not necessarily distinct) such that
ab = c. For example, the empty set and the set {16, 20} are product-free, whereas the sets {4, 16} and {2, 8, 16}
are not product-free. Find the number of product-free subsets of the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}.
3. AIME II 2020/9: While watching a show, Ayako, Billy, Carlos, Dahlia, Ehuang, and Frank sat in that order in
a row of six chairs. During the break, they went to the kitchen for a snack. When they came back, they sat on
those six chairs in such a way that if two of them sat next to each other before the break, then they did not sit
next to each other after the break. Find the number of possible seating orders they could have chosen after the
break.
4. AIME II 2021/6: For any finite set S, let |S| denote the number of elements in S. FInd the number of ordered
pairs (A, B) such that A and B are (not necessarily distinct) subsets of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} that satisfy

|A| · |B| = |A ∩ B| · |A ∪ B|

5. SMT Geo Tiebreaker 2012/2: Four points O, A, B, and C satisfy OA = OB = OC = 1, ∠AOB = 60◦ , and
∠BOC = 90◦ . B is between A and C. Draw three circles Oa , Ob , and Oc with diameters OA, OB, and OC,
respectively. Find the area of region inside Ob but outside Oa and Oc .
6. SMT Discrete 2019/9: Edward has a 3 × 3 tic-tac-toe board and wishes to color the squares using 3 colors. How
many ways can he color the board such that there is at least one row whose squares have the same color and at
least one column whose squares have the same color? A coloring does not have to contain all three colors and
Edward cannot rotate or reflect his board.
7. HMNT Team 2011/7: Julia is learning how to write the letter C. She has 6 differently-colored crayons, and wants
to write Cc Cc Cc Cc Cc. In how many ways can she write the ten Cs, in such a way that each upper case C is
a different color, each lower case C is a different color, and in each pair the upper case C and lower case C are
different colors?
8. HMMT Combi 2018/9: How many ordered sequences of 36 digits have the property that summing the digits to
get a number and taking the last digit of the sum results in a digit which is not in our original sequence? (Digits
range from 0 to 9.)
9. HMMT Guts 2010/32: There are 101 people participating in a Secret Santa gift exchange. As usual each person
is randomly assigned another person for whom (s)he has to get a gift, such that each person gives and receives
exactly one gift and no one gives a gift to themself. What is the probability that the first person neither gives
gifts to or receives gifts from the second or third person? Express your answer as a decimal rounded to five
decimal places.

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Pigeonhole Principle:
If there are exactly nk + 1 objects, to be distributed into k holes, then one of the holes must have at
least n + 1 objects.

Problems:
1. AIME 1986/12: In a sequence of coin tosses, one can keep a record of instances in which a tail is immediately
followed by a head, a head is immediately followed by a head, and etc. We denote these by TH, HH, and etc.
For example, in the sequence HHTTHHHHTHHTTTT of 15 coin tosses we observe that there are two HH, three
HT, four TH, and five TT subsequences. How many different sequences of 15 coin tosses will contain exactly two
HH, three HT, four TH, and five TT subsequences?
2. HMMT Combi 2010/10: In a 16 × 16 table of integers, each row and column contains at most 4 distinct integers.
What is the maximum number of distinct integers that there can be in the whole table?
3. HMMT Guts 2011/19: Find the least positive integer N with the following property: If all lattice points in
[1, 3] × [1, 7] × [1, N ] are colored either black or white, then there exists a rectangular prism, whose faces are
parallel to the xy, xz, and yz planes, and whose eight vertices are all colored in the same color.
4. HMMT Geo-Combi 2011/19: Alice and Bob play a game in which two thousand and eleven 2011 × 2011 grids
are distributed between the two of them, 1 to Bob, and the other 2010 to Alice. They go behind closed doors
and fill their grid(s) with the numbers 1, 2, …, 20112 so that the numbers across rows (left-to-right) and down
columns (top-to-bottom) are strictly increasing. No two of Alice’s grids may be filled identically. After the grids
are filled, Bob is allowed to look at Alice’s grids and then swap numbers on his own grid, two at a time, as long
as the numbering remains legal (i.e. increasing across rows and down columns) after each swap. When he is done
swapping, a grid of Alice’s is selected at random. If there exist two integers in the same column of this grid that
occur in the same row of Bob’s grid, Bob wins. Otherwise, Alice wins. If Bob selects his initial grid optimally,
what is the maximum number of swaps that Bob may need in order to guarantee victory?
5. HMMT Combi 2020/3: Each unit square of a 4 × 4 square grid is colored either red, green, or blue. Over all
possible colorings of the grid, what is the maximum possible number of L-trominos that contain exactly one
square of each color?
6. IOQM A 2021/12: A 12 × 12 board is divided into 144 unit squares by drawing lines parallel to the sides. Two
rooks placed on two unit squares are said to be non attacking if they are not in the same column or same row.
Find the least number N such that if N rooks are placed on the unit square, one rook per square, we can always
find 7 rooks such that no that no two are attacking each other.

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Recursion:
When you’ve got something for n, and you can get that easily from n − 1, this is what you call it. Solve
that relation and get the general term for n.

Problems:
1. AMC 12A 2007/25: Call a set of integers spacy if it contains no more than one out of any three consecutive
integers. How many subsets of {1, 2, 3, . . . , 12}, including the empty set, are spacy?
2. AIME I 2001/14: A mail carrier delivers mail to the nineteen houses on the east side of Elm Street. The carrier
notices that no two adjacent houses ever get mail on the same day, but that there are never more than two houses
in a row that get no mail on the same day. How many different patterns of mail delivery are possible?
3. AIME I 2006/11: A collection of 8 cubes consists of one cube with edge-length k for each integer k, 1 ≤ k ≤ 8.
A tower is to be built using all 8 cubes according to the rules, any cube may be the bottom cube in the tower,
and the cube immediately on top of a cube with edge-length k must have edge-length at most k + 2. Let T be
the number of different towers than can be constructed. What is the remainder when T is divided by 1000?
4. AIME II 2015/12: There are 210 = 1024 possible 10-letter strings in which each letter is either an A or a B. Find
the number of such strings that do not have more than 3 adjacent letters that are identical.
5. AIME II 2016/12: There is a ring with 6 connected sections that you have to paint on the wall. You have four
paint colors available and you will paint each of the six sections a solid color. Find the number of ways you can
choose to paint the sections if no two adjacent sections can be painted with the same color.
6. AIME I 2018/14: Let SP1 P2 P3 EP4 P5 be a heptagon. A frog starts jumping at vertex S. From any vertex of the
heptagon except E, the frog may jump to either of the two adjacent vertices. When it reaches vertex E, the frog
stops and stays there. Find the number of distinct sequences of jumps of no more than 12 jumps that end at E.
7. AIME II 2018/11: Find the number of permutations of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 such that for each k with 1 ≤ k ≤ 5, at least
one of the first k terms of the permutation is greater than k.
8. AIME II 2022/9: Let ℓA and ℓB be two distinct parallel lines. For positive integers m and n, distinct points
A1 , A2 , A3 , . . . , Am lie on ℓA , and distinct points B1 , B2 , B3 , . . . , Bn lie on ℓB . Additionally, when segments Ai Bj
are drawn for all i = 1, 2, 3, . . . , m and j = 1, 2, 3, . . . , n, no point strictly between ℓA and ℓB lies on more than
two of the segments. Find the number of bounded regions into which this figure divides the plane when m = 7
and n = 5.
9. SMT Team 2009/4: How many ways are there to write 657 as a sum of powers of two where each power of two
is used at most twice in the sum?
10. SMT General 2019/25: On Day 1, Aaron draws a smiley face on the board. From then on, on each day he does
the same thing as the previous day (draw a smiley face or not) with probability 32 . What’s the probability he
draws a smiley face on Day 10?
11. SMT Combi 2021/9: Alice plays the violin and piano, and would like to create a practice schedule. She will only
practice one instrument on a given day, she can have break days when she does not practice any instrument,
and she wants to make sure she does not neglect any instrument for more than two days (e.g. if she does not
practice piano for two days, she must practice piano the next day). Following these rules, how many ways can
she schedule her practice for eight days?
12. SMT Guts 2021/20: In how many ways can one color the 8 vertices of an octagon each red, black, and white,
such that no two adjacent sides are the same color?
13. HMMT Guts 2016/31: For a positive integer n, denote by τ (n) the number of positive integer divisors of n, and
denote by ϕ(n) the number of positive integers that are less than or equal to n and relatively prime to n. Call
a positive integer n good if ϕ(n) + 4τ (n) = n. For example, the number 44 is good. Find the sum of all good
positive integers n.
14. HMMT Guts 2018/28: Arnold and Kevin are playing a game in which Kevin picks an integer 1 ≤ m ≤ 1001,
and Arnold is trying to guess it. On each turn, Arnold first pays Kevin 1 dollar in order to guess a number
k of Arnold’s choice. If m ≥ k, the game ends and he pays Kevin an additional m−k dollars (possibly zero).
Otherwise, Arnold pays Kevin an additional 10 dollars and continues guessing. Which number should Arnold
guess first to ensure that his worst-case payment is minimized?
15. HMNT Team 2015/6: Find the number of strictly increasing sequences of nonnegative integers such that the
first term is 0 and the last term is 12 - in particular, the sequence has at least two terms, and among any two
consecutive terms, exactly one of them is even.

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16. HMMT Team 2016/6: Cindy has $100 in pennies (worth $0.01 each), nickels (worth $0.05 each), dimes (worth
$0.10 each), and quarters (worth $0.25 each). Prove that she can split her coins into two piles, each with total
value exactly $50.

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