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It all adds up at Scotch

The state-based University of Melbourne Mathematics Competition is held annually and this year Scotch College students won 17.5% of the prizes available (31 of the 130 available). A number of other students entered and

performed well. This outstanding performance demonstrates the wonderful commitment of the School’s staff and students in this important faculty. In two of the three divisions Scotch College students Matthew Ng (Intermediate

Division – Years 9 and 10) and

Alex Hua (Senior Division – Years 11 and 12) won first prize. Derek Yu (Junior Division – Years 7 and 8) and James Wan (Senior Division – Years 11 and 12) won second prize. Adrian Li (Junior Division – Year 7 and 8), and Stephen

Muirhead (Senior Division – Years 11 and 12) won third prize. Many other boys won Outstanding Awards or Certificates of Merit.

The Competition has been running for over 30 years. It was sponsored in 2004 by BHP Billiton, Department of Mathematics and Statistics and The Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, and is organised by members of

the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at this University.

The Competition is open to students at all secondary schools in Victoria. Over the years the number of participants has steadily increased from around 2500 to approximately 5000 students, from about 120 schools. The competition

is demanding, designed to identify real mathematical talent. The problems require a higher level of mathematical insight and creativity than found in traditional school syllabi. Students are required to write up their solutions in a clear

and coherent manner, and their efforts are assessed accordingly. Consequently, students are not only trained to produce high quality mathematics, but they are also required to present it in written form in a clear and logical manner.

The Competition aims to identify and encourage highly talented students of mathematics, to promote mathematics as an exciting recreation and to develop a discipline that is playing an essential part in an increasingly technological

world.

The Competition seeks to satisfy the demand for challenging intellectual pursuits by some of Australia’s most talented students of mathematics.

The questions set are generally regarded as being quite difficult. They are not multiple choice, but require sustained reasoning for their solution.

The Competition also provides valuable training for the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Programme which is an Australia-wide initiative providing further rigorous training in mathematics to highly talented students such as our prize-

winners. From this select group of students a team of six is eventually chosen to represent Australia at an International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the highest level of competition available.

Tim Shearer

Refresh your maths skills with these sample questions from the competition –

Junior Division

Junior Division: R: Chris Brack, Matthew Rein, Tom Eldredge, Andy Wang, Gordon Yang. M: Brett Borger, Derek Yu, Xi Chen, Russell Coulthard, Don Koo. F: Adrian Li, Perry Reiter.

Question

A shipping clerk wishes to determine the weights of five boxes. Each box weighs a different amount less than 100kg. Unfortunately the only scales available measure weights in excess of 100kg. The clerk therefore decides to weigh

the boxes in pairs, so that each box is weighed with every other box. The weights for the pairs of boxes (in kilograms) are 110, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120 and 121. From this information the clerk can determine the weight

of each box. What are the weights of the boxes?

Solution

Let the weights (in kilograms) be a, b, c, d and e, where a < b < c < d < e. Then:

a + b = 110 (1)

a + c = 112 (2)

d + e = 121 (3)

c + e = 120 (4)

Since each box is used in four weighings,

4(a + b + c + d + e) = 110 + 112 + ˛ + 120 + 121 = 1156

a + b + c + d + e = 289 (5)

Adding equations (1) and (3) gives:

a+ b + d + e = 231

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Then from (5), c = 58.

a = 54, e = 62, b = 56 and d = 59

Intermediate Division

R: Ashish Sharma, David Tang. M: Navin Ranasinghe, Matthew Ng, Greg Pet. F: Thomas Gin, Julian Hua.

Question

The 6 digits of Maja’s phone number are all different. If the product of the 6 digits ends in 4 what is the sum of the 6 digits if the sum is even?

Solution 1:

0 cannot be one of the digits because the product of the 6 digits would then end in 0. Since the product ends in 4, one of the digits must be even. Then 5 cannot be one of the digits since the inclusion of 5 and this even number

means that the product of the 6 digits ends in 0.

Hence the 8 possible digits are 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, or 9.

The sum of the 6 digits is even, so there must be an even number of odd digits. Since there are 4 even digits and 4 odd digits, there must either be 2 even digits and 4 odd digits OR 4 even digits and 2 odd digits.

If there are four odd digits, they must be 1, 3, 7 and 9. The two even digits must be chosen from 2, 4, 6 and 8. Considering the product of the 6 possible pairs of even digits (2,4), (2,6), (2, 8), (4, 6), (4,8), (6,8) with

1 x 3 x 7 x 9, it can be verified that only

1 x 3 x 7 x 9 x 2 x 8 = 3024 ends in 4.

If there are four even digits, they must be 2, 4, 6 and 8. The two odd digits must be chosen from 1, 3, 7 and 9. Considering the product of the 6 possible pairs of odd digits (1,3), (1,7), (1,9), (3,7), (3,9), (7,9) with

2 x 4 x 6 x 8, it can be verified that only

2 x 4 x 6 x 8 x 3 x 7 = 8064 ends in 4.

Hence the 6 digits are either 1,3,7,9,2,8 or 2,4,6,8,3,7. In either case,

1 + 3 + 7 + 9 + 2 + 8 = 30 and

2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 3 + 7 = 30

and so the sum of the 6 digits in Maja’s number is 30.

Solution 2:

(Provided by Matthew Ng, Scotch College)

As in the previous solution, 0 and 5 cannot be digits.

Thus the digits come from 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,9. The last digit of the product of these is 6 so the product of the two digits to be taken away ends in 4 or 9.

The sum of the digits to be taken away is even since 1+2+3+4+6+7+8+9 is even hence we take away two odd digits or two even digits. The only two even digits with product ending in 4 is 4 and 6 and the only two odd digits with

product ending in 9 is 1 and 9.

Since 4 + 6 = 10 = 1 + 9, the sum of the 6 digits of Maja’s phone number is

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 – 10 = 30.

Senior Division

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R: Joshua Tee, Bob Hu, Ben Zanatta. M: Sam Chow, Alex Hua, James Wan. F: Chris Sia, Stephen Muirhead.

Question

Jane and her friends are standing in a circle. It turns out that both neighbours of each child are the same gender. If there are six boys in the circle, how many girls are there?

Solution:

Suppose that two boys are standing next to each other. Then for the neighbours of each child to be of the same gender, the next child in the circle must also be a boy. Similarly, all children in the circle must be boys, contradicting

the fact that Jane, who is a girl, is standing in the circle. The same argument shows that no two girls can stand next to each other. Therefore, the circle contains alternating boys and girls. We conclude that there are equally as

many girls as boys so the circle contains six girls in total.

For more samples click onto www.mathscomp.ms.unimelb.edu.au

Updated: Monday 23 August 2013

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