PhIMO 2023 Final Round Review

Secondary 3 Set 1

MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS:
1. Suppose there are three positive integer numbers 𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑧 such that when you multiply any
two of these numbers, their possible products are 24, 32, and 48. What is the value of 𝑥𝑦𝑧?
(a) 192 (b) 384 (c) 576 (d) 769 (e) 999

2. A racer on his bicycle is moving at a speed of 5 𝑚/𝑠 while a car on the other lane is moving at a
speed of 72 𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟. How many times faster is the car moving compared to the racer?
(a) 2 (b) 2.5 (c) 3 (d) 3.5 (e) 4

3. How many real roots does the polynomial below have?

𝑃(𝑥) = 𝑥 4 + 𝑥 3 + 4𝑥 2 − 𝑥 − 5
(a) 0 (b) 1 (c) 2 (d) 3 (e) 4

4. In parallelogram ABCD, ∠𝐵𝐶𝐷 = 120°, ∠𝐴𝐷𝐵 = 50°, and ∠𝐴𝐶𝐵 = 40°. If a point E is chosen on
diagonal BD such that 𝐴𝐵 = 𝐵𝐸, determine the measure of ∠𝐴𝐸𝐷.
(a) 80° (b) 85° (c) 90° (d) 95° (e) 100°
5. A student got an average score of 94 in her six tests with each test having 100 as the highest
possible score. If the student got different scores for all the tests, what is the smallest possible
score she could have gotten in a test?
(a) 71 (b) 74 (c) 77 (d) 78 (e) 79

6. Determine the remainder when 20232023 is divided by 8.

(a) 3 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 6 (e) 7

7. A microwave is on sale for 20% off the original price. A store-wide sale results in an additional
reduction of 25%. What is the total discount based on the original price?
(a) 30% (b) 32% (c) 34% (d) 36% (e) 40%

8. Three positive integers whose mean is 49/3 form a geometric progression. If the sum of their
reciprocals is 1/4, what is the value of largest integer in the progression?
(a) 24 (b) 28 (c) 30 (d) 34 (e) 36

9. A unit sphere is inscribed in a cube such that each face of the cube touches a point on the sphere.
If each of the four vertices of one face of the cube is connected to the center of the sphere, a
pyramid is formed. Find the surface area of this pyramid.
(a) 4 (b) 4√2 (c) 4/3 (d) 4 + 4√2 (e) 16√2

100
10. Suppose 𝑛 is an integer such that 𝑛+9 is a positive integer. If you randomly choose a value of 𝑛
from all its possible values, what is the probability that it is a negative integer?
(a) 2/9 (b) 1/3 (c) 4/9 (d) 5/9 (e) 7/9
OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:
11. How many positive integer factors does 47 − 46 − 3 have?

12. The positive integer 𝑛 is the smallest multiple of 15 such that every digit of 𝑛 is either 8 or 0.
𝑛
Compute 16.

13. A crew of seven mechanics can fix four cars in exactly nine days. At this same rate, how many
mechanics are needed in a crew to fix 12 cars in exactly 6 days if half of this crew will need to
stop working after the first 3 days?

14. Determine the largest number of 6 𝑖𝑛 × 7 𝑖𝑛 × 8 𝑖𝑛 solid rectangular prisms that can be fitted
inside a 1.75 𝑓𝑡 × 2.5 𝑓𝑡 × 2.5 𝑓𝑡 box.

15. Given that 𝑓(𝑥 − 1) = 𝑓(𝑥 + 1) + 4𝑥 and 𝑓(0) = 22023 . If 𝑓(𝑥) is a quadratic function, the value
of 𝑓(2023) can be expressed as 𝑚2023 − 𝑛2 . Determine the value of 𝑚 + 𝑛.

16. Five integers form an arithmetic sequence with a common difference of 5. What is the least
possible value of the product of the 1st and the 4th term of this sequence?

17. Two identical circles intersect so that their centers and the points at which they intersect form
a square of side 4 cm. Find the area in sq.cm. of the portion that is common to the circles.

18. Three identical circles of radius 1 cm are tangent to each other externally such that any two of
these circles only touch each other at exactly one point. If they are inscribed in a triangle, find
the area of the triangle in sq.cm.
19. Justine draws 5 hats randomly from a bag containing 6 red hats and 5 yellow hats. Find the
probability that at most 3 yellow hats are drawn.

20. Let the product and sum of the digits of a positive number 𝑛 be 𝑃(𝑛) and 𝑆(𝑛), respectively. For
example, 𝑃(24) = 8 and 𝑆(24) = 6. Suppose 𝑛 is a two-digit number such that 𝑛 = 𝑆(𝑛) + 𝑃(𝑛),
what is the units digit of 𝑛?

21. Two integers satisfy the following conditions: 𝑎𝑏 = 30!, 𝑎 > 1, 𝑏 > 1 and gcd(𝑎, 𝑏) = 1.
𝑎
Determine the number of possible values for 𝑏.

𝑎+4 𝑏+9 𝑎+5 𝑎

22. Let 𝑎, 𝑏, and 𝑐 be real numbers such that = 𝑐−3 = . Determine the value of 𝑏.
2 𝑐−5

23. Determine the minimum value of 𝑥 such that for all nonnegative 𝑎,
𝑎 ≥ 14√𝑎 − 𝑥.

24. Let 𝑋, 𝑌 and Z be three distinct vertices of a unit cube. Determine the number of different values
∠𝑋𝑌𝑍 can take.

25. Point 𝑃 is on circle 𝑂 and is inscribed in a square whose distance is 2 and 4 units from the two
closest sides of the square. Determine the area of the square.

26. What is the largest number of consecutive positive odd integers that add up to 2023?
27. Find the area of a triangle whose altitudes are of length 15, 21 and 35.

28. Given that 2023! × 𝑎 = 1, express the sum of

1 2 3 2020 2021
+ + +⋯+ +
2! 3! 4! 2021! 2022!
in terms of 𝑎 and without the factorial sign.

29. What is the probability that in a randomly chosen arrangement of the numbers and letters in
“PHIMO2023,” one can read either “PHIMO” or “2023” from left to right? (For example, in
“3PH0I22MO,” one can read “PHIMO.”)

30. Compute the 3-digit positive integer which has exactly 29 positive proper divisors (For example,
1, 2, and 3 are positive proper divisors of 6, but 6 itself is not).
 ANSWERS AND SOLUTIONS
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS:
1. Suppose there are three positive integer numbers 𝑥, 𝑦, and 𝑧 such that when you multiply any
two of these numbers, their possible products are 24, 32, and 48. What is the value of 𝑥𝑦𝑧?
(a) 192 (b) 384 (c) 576 (d) 769 (e) 999

Answer: (a)
Solution:
𝑥 2 𝑦 2 𝑧 2 = 212 32 . This gives 𝑥𝑦𝑧 = 26 × 3 = 192. The correct answer is (a).

2. A racer on his bicycle is moving at a speed of 5 𝑚/𝑠 while a car on the other lane is moving at a
speed of 72 𝑘𝑚/ℎ𝑟. How many times faster is the car moving compared to the racer?
(a) 2 (b) 2.5 (c) 3 (d) 3.5 (e) 4

Answer: (e)
Solution:
72 km/hr = 20 m/s. Thus, 20/5 = 4. The correct answer is (e).

3. How many real roots does the polynomial below have?

𝑃(𝑥) = 𝑥 4 + 𝑥 3 + 4𝑥 2 − 𝑥 − 5
(a) 0 (b) 1 (c) 2 (d) 3 (e) 4

Answer: (c)
Solution:
𝑃(𝑥) = (𝑥 − 1)(𝑥 + 1)(𝑥 2 + 𝑥 + 5). This gives 2 real roots. The correct answer is (c).

4. In parallelogram ABCD, ∠𝐵𝐶𝐷 = 120°, ∠𝐴𝐷𝐵 = 50°, and ∠𝐴𝐶𝐵 = 40°. If a point E is chosen on
diagonal BD such that 𝐴𝐵 = 𝐵𝐸, determine the measure of ∠𝐴𝐸𝐷.
(a) 80° (b) 85° (c) 90° (d) 95° (e) 100°
 Answer: (d)

Solution:
∠𝐷𝐵𝐶 = 50∘ giving ∠𝐴𝐵𝐸 = 10∘ . Since 𝐴𝐵 = 𝐵𝐸, Δ𝐴𝐵𝐸 is isosceles. Thus, ∠𝐵𝐴𝐸 = ∠
𝐴𝐸𝐵 = 85. This gives ∠𝐴𝐸𝐷 = 180 − 85 = 𝟗𝟓∘ . The correct answer is (d).

5. A student got an average score of 94 in her six tests with each test having 100 as the highest
possible score. If the student got different scores for all the tests, what is the smallest possible
score she could have gotten in a test?
(a) 71 (b) 74 (c) 77 (d) 78 (e) 79

Answer: (b)
Solution:
The maximum total scores the student can get in her five tests is 490. This gives the minimum
score equal to 94(6) − 490 = 74. The correct answer is (b).

6. Determine the remainder when 20232023 is divided by 8.

(a) 3 (b) 4 (c) 5 (d) 6 (e) 7

Answer: (e)
Solution:
2023 = 7(𝑚𝑜𝑑 8), 20232 = 1 (𝑚𝑜𝑑 8). Therefore, 20232023 = 7 (𝑚𝑜𝑑 8). The correct answer
is (e).

7. A microwave is on sale for 20% off the original price. A store-wide sale results in an additional
reduction of 25%. What is the total discount based on the original price?
(a) 30% (b) 32% (c) 34% (d) 36% (e) 40%

Answer: (e)
Solution:
 Let 𝑥 be the original price. The first discount is 0.8x. The second discount is 0.8x(0.75) =0.6x.
Therefore, the total discount is 40%. The correct answer is (e).

8. Three positive integers whose mean is 49/3 form a geometric progression. If the sum of their
reciprocals is 1/4, what is the value of largest integer in the progression?
(a) 24 (b) 28 (c) 30 (d) 34 (e) 36

Answer: (b)
Solution:
1 1 1 1 𝑥 2 +𝑥+1 1
𝑎 + 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑎𝑥 2 = 49. Also, 𝑎 + 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑎𝑥 2 = 4 ⟹ 𝑎𝑥 2
= 4.
49/𝑎 1
= 4 → 𝑎2 𝑥 2 = 196 → 𝑎𝑥 = 14. With this, the only possible case is when 𝑎 = 7, 𝑥 = 2. Thus,
𝑎𝑥 2
the numbers are 7, 14, 28. The correct answer is (b).

9. A unit sphere is inscribed in a cube such that each face of the cube touches a point on the sphere.
If each of the four vertices of one face of the cube is connected to the center of the sphere, a
pyramid is formed. Find the surface area of this pyramid.
(a) 4 (b) 4√2 (c) 4/3 (d) 4 + 4√2 (e) 16√2

Answer: (d)
Solution:
1
𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 = 22 = 4. Lateral area = 4 ∗ 2 (2)(√2) = 4√2. Thus, the correct answer is (𝒅).

100
10. Suppose 𝑛 is an integer such that 𝑛+9 is a positive integer. If you randomly choose a value of 𝑛
from all its possible values, what is the probability that it is a negative integer?
(a) 2/9 (b) 1/3 (c) 4/9 (d) 5/9 (e) 7/9

Answer: (a)
Solution:
The total number of divisors of 100 is 9. Factors of 100 less than 9 is 1,2,4,5. This gives 4/9. Thus,
the correct answer is (c).
OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS:

11. How many positive integer factors does 47 − 46 − 3 have?

Answer: 32
Solution:
46 (4 − 1) − 3
3(46 − 1)
Using difference of two cubes, 3(43 + 1)(43 − 1). Furthermore, it is equivalent to
33 (5)(7)(13)
Hence, the number of positive integer factors is (4)(2)(2)(2) = 32. The correct answer is 32.

12. The positive integer 𝑛 is the smallest multiple of 15 such that every digit of 𝑛 is either 8 or 0.
𝑛
Compute 16.

Answer: 555
Solution:
Any multiple of 15 is a multiple of 3 and a multiple of 5.
Any multiple of 5 ends in 0 or 5; since 𝑛 only contains the digits 0 and 8, the units digit of 𝑛 must
be 0.
If 𝑛 has 𝑎 digits equal to 8, the sum of the digits of 𝑛 is 8𝑎. This means that 𝑎 = 3 to be divisible
by 3. Therefore, the smallest number which meets these requirements is 8880.
8880
= 555.
16
The correct answer is 𝟓𝟓𝟓.

13. A crew of seven mechanics can fix four cars in exactly nine days. At this same rate, how many
mechanics are needed in a crew to fix 12 cars in exactly 6 days if half of this crew will need to
stop working after the first 3 days?

Answer: 42
Solution:
 𝑥
7(9) 𝑥(3) (2) (3)
= +
4 12 12
Solving for 𝑥 gives 𝑥 = 42. The correct answer is 𝟒𝟐.

14. Determine the largest number of 6 𝑖𝑛 × 7 𝑖𝑛 × 8 𝑖𝑛 solid rectangular prisms that can be fitted
inside a 1.75 𝑓𝑡 × 2.5 𝑓𝑡 × 2.5 𝑓𝑡 box.

Answer: 54
Solution:
21 × 30 × 30
= 3 × 5 × 3 = 45
7×6×8
6 × 21 × 30
= 1×3×3= 9
6×7×8
The correct answer is 54.

15. Given that 𝑓(𝑥 − 1) = 𝑓(𝑥 + 1) + 4𝑥 and 𝑓(0) = 22023 . If 𝑓(𝑥) is a quadratic function, the value
of 𝑓(2023) can be expressed as 𝑚2023 − 𝑛2 . Determine the value of 𝑚 + 𝑛.

Answer: 2025
Solution:
𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑎𝑥 2 + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐
𝑓(0) = 𝑐 = 22023
Thus, 𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑎𝑥 2 + 𝑏𝑥 + 22023
Also, 𝑓(0 − 1) − 𝑓(0 + 1) = 4(0) ⟹ 𝑓(−1) − 𝑓(1) = 0. This gives 𝑓(−1) = 𝑓(1).
𝑎 + 𝑏 + 22023 = 𝑎 − 𝑏 + 22023
⇒𝑏=0
𝑓(𝑥) = 𝑎𝑥 2 + 22023
If 𝑥 = 1 𝑓(0) − 𝑓(2) = 4
𝑓(2) = 22023 − 4 = 4𝑎 + 22023
𝑎 = −1
 Thus,
𝑓(𝑥) = −𝑥 2 + 22023
𝑓(2023)2 = −20232 + 22023 = 22023 − 20232
Therefore, 𝑚 + 𝑛 = 2 + 2023 = 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

16. Five integers form an arithmetic sequence with a common difference of 5. What is the least
possible value of the product of the 1st and the 4th term of this sequence?

𝟐𝟐𝟓
Answer: − 𝟒

Solution:
Let the numbers be
𝑥 − 10, 𝑥 − 5, 𝑥, 𝑥 + 5, 𝑥 + 10
𝑃14 = (𝑥 − 10)(𝑥 + 5) = 𝑥 2 − 5𝑥 − 50
5 2 25
𝑃14 = (𝑥 − ) − 50 −
2 4
5 2 225
𝑃14 = (𝑥 − ) −
2 4
𝟐𝟐𝟓
The correct answer is − .
𝟒

17. Two identical circles intersect so that their centers and the points at which they intersect form
a square of side 4 cm. Find the area in sq.cm. of the portion that is common to the circles.

Answer: 𝟖𝝅 − 𝟏𝟔
Solution
 AO = O’B = 4 cm
Area of the square = 16 𝑐𝑚2
𝜋𝑟 2
Area of sector 𝐴𝑂𝐵 = = 4𝜋
4

𝜋𝑟 2
Area of sector 𝐴𝑂′ 𝐵 = = 4𝜋
4

Required area = 8𝜋 − 16
The correct answer is 𝟖𝝅 − 𝟏𝟔.

18. Three identical circles of radius 1 cm are tangent to each other externally such that any two of
these circles only touch each other at exactly one point. If they are inscribed in a triangle, find
the area of the triangle in sq.cm.

Answer: 𝟒√𝟑 + 𝟔

This gives the side of the triangle equal to 2 + 2√3.

Therefore, its area is
𝑠 2 √3
𝐴= = 4√3 + 6 𝑐𝑚2
4
The correct answer is 𝟒√𝟑 + 𝟔.
19. Justine draws 5 hats randomly from a bag containing 6 red hats and 5 yellow hats. Find the
probability that at most 3 yellow hats are drawn.

𝟒𝟑𝟏
Answer: 𝟒𝟔𝟐
Solution:
(55)(60) (54)(61) 431
1− − =
(11
5
) (11
5
) 462
𝟒𝟑𝟏
The correct answer is 𝟒𝟔𝟐.

20. Let the product and sum of the digits of a positive number 𝑛 be 𝑃(𝑛) and 𝑆(𝑛), respectively. For
example, 𝑃(24) = 8 and 𝑆(24) = 6. Suppose 𝑛 is a two-digit number such that 𝑛 = 𝑆(𝑛) + 𝑃(𝑛),
what is the units digit of 𝑛?

Answer: 9
Solution:
Let 𝑎 and 𝑏 as the tens and units digits of 𝑛, respectively.
Thus, 𝑛 = 10𝑎 + 𝑏. This follows that
10𝑎 + 𝑏 = 𝑎𝑏 + 𝑎 + 𝑏
9𝑎𝑏 = 𝑎𝑏
𝑏 = 9, 𝑎 ≠ 0
Therefore, the units digit is 9.
The correct answer is 𝟗.

21. Two integers satisfy the following conditions: 𝑎𝑏 = 30!, 𝑎 > 1, 𝑏 > 1 and gcd(𝑎, 𝑏) = 1.
𝑎
Determine the number of possible values for 𝑏.

Answer: 1274
Solution:
30! = 226 314 57 74 112 132 171 191 231 291
The set of prime factors of 30! Is 𝑆 = {2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29} (10 elements). Since 𝑎 and 𝑏
are co-primes, their prime factors must be in two disjoint subsets of 𝑆 and the union of these
two disjoint subsets must be 𝑆. This means that the number of unordered pairs (𝑎, 𝑏) is the
number of proper partitions of 𝑆 into two non-empty disjoint subsets.
 5
10!
∑ = 10 + 45 + 120 + 210 + 252 = 637.
𝑥! (10 − 𝑥)!
𝑥=1
Since the two numbers have different prime factors, they cannot be equal so each unordered
pair (𝑎, 𝑏) generated 2 values for 𝑎/𝑏 giving a total of
2(637) = 𝟏𝟐𝟕𝟒
The correct answer is 𝟏𝟐𝟕𝟒.

𝑎+4 𝑏+9 𝑎+5 𝑎

22. Let 𝑎, 𝑏, and 𝑐 be real numbers such that = 𝑐−3 = . Determine the value of 𝑏.
2 𝑐−5

𝟏
Answer: 𝟐

Solution:
Since the first and third fractions are equal, adding their numerators and denominators
produces another fraction equal to the others. That is,
𝑎 + 4 + 𝑎 + 5 2𝑎 + 9
= .
2+𝑐−5 𝑐−3
This gives,
2𝑎 + 9 = 𝑏 + 9
𝒂 𝟏
=
𝒃 𝟐
𝟏
The correct answer is 𝟐.

23. Determine the minimum value of 𝑥 such that for all nonnegative 𝑎, 𝑎 ≥ 14√𝑎 − 𝑥.

Answer: 49
Solution:
2
𝑥 ≥ 14√𝑎 − 𝑎 = 49 − (√𝑎 − 7)
Minimum value of 𝑥 can be achieved when 𝑎 = 49 giving 𝑥 = 49.
The correct answer is 𝟒𝟗.
24. Let 𝑋, 𝑌 and Z be three distinct vertices of a unit cube. Determine the number of different values
∠𝑋𝑌𝑍 can take.

Answer: 5
Solution:
In a unit cube, there are 3 types of triangles with side lengths equal to (1,1, √2), (1, √2, √3), and
(√2, √2, √2). Together, they generate the angles.
45 − 45 − 90, 90 − 2 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒𝑠, 60 − 60 − 60
In total, there are 5 different angles.
The correct answer is 𝟓.

25. Point 𝑃 is on circle 𝑂 and is inscribed in a square whose distance is 2 and 4 units from the two
closest sides of the square. Determine the area of the square.

Answer: 400
Solution:
Let 𝑟 be radius of the circle. Consider a right triangle 𝐵𝑂𝑃, with hypotenuse 𝑂𝑃: 𝑂𝑃 = 𝑟, 𝐵𝑂 =
𝑟 − 2 and 𝑃𝐵 = 𝑅 − 4.
(𝑟 − 2)2 + (𝑟 − 4)2 = 𝑟 2
This gives 𝑟 = 10 since 𝑟 > 2.
Hence, the required area is
(2𝑟)2 = 400
The correct answer is 𝟒𝟎𝟎.

26. What is the largest number of consecutive positive odd integers that add up to 2023?

Answer: 17
Solution:
2023 = 1 × 2023 = 7 × 289 = 17 × 119
The correct answer is 17.
27. Find the area of a triangle whose altitudes are of length 15, 21 and 35.

Answer: 𝟐𝟒𝟓√𝟑
Solution:
2𝐴 2𝐴 2𝐴
Let 𝐴 be the area of the triangle. Then the sides are given by 15 , 21 and 35 . hence, The triangle is
1 1 1
similar to a triangle whose lengths are 15 , 21 and 35 which is similar to a 3,5,7 triangle. Let the
sides by 3𝑘, 5𝑘 and 7𝑘. Then the angle between the sides of length 3k and 5k is equal to 120, so
15√3 (3𝑘)(35) 105𝑘
the area is 𝑘 2. But the area can also be calculated as = . Solving for 𝑘 gives 𝑘 =
4 2 2
14√3
.
3

Hence, the area is 245√3.

The correct answer is 𝟐𝟒𝟓√𝟑.

28. Given that 2023! × 𝑎 = 1, express the sum of

1 2 3 2020 2021
+ + +⋯+ +
2! 3! 4! 2021! 2022!
in terms of 𝑎 and without the factorial sign.

Answer: 𝟏 − 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑𝒂
Solution:
1 2 3 2020 2021
Let 𝑆 = 2! + 3! + 4! + ⋯ + 2021! + 2022!

The 𝑛th term of the series can be written as

𝑛
𝑎𝑛 =
(𝑛 + 1)!
1 1
𝑎𝑛 = −
𝑛! (𝑛 + 1)!
Thus,
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
𝑆=( − ) + ( − ) + ( − ) + ⋯( − )
1! 2! 2! 3! 4! 4! 2021 2022!
1
𝑆 =1−
2022!
 2023
𝑆 =1−
2023!
𝑆 = 1 − 2023𝑎
The correct answer is 𝟏 − 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑𝒂.

29. What is the probability that in a randomly chosen arrangement of the numbers and letters in
“PHIMO2023,” one can read either “PHIMO” or “2023” from left to right? (For example, in
“3PH0I22MO,” one can read “PHIMO.”)

𝟕𝟏
Answer: 𝟏𝟒𝟒𝟎

Solution:
4!
To read “PHIMO”, there are (59) ways to place the letters, and ways to place the numbers.
2
(94)
Similarly, there are 5! arrangements where one can read “2023”. The number of
2
9!
arrangements in which one can read both is just (59). The total number of arrangements is 2!, thus
the answer is

4! (49)
(59) 2 + 2 5! − (59) 71
=
9! 1440
2!
𝟕𝟏
The correct answer is 𝟏𝟒𝟒𝟎.

30. Compute the 3-digit positive integer which has exactly 29 positive proper divisors (For example,
1, 2, and 3 are positive proper divisors of 6, but 6 itself is not).

Answer: 720
Solution:
720 = 24 32 5
Total number of divisors = 5(3)(2)=30
Total number of proper divisors = 30-1=29
The correct answer is 𝟕𝟐𝟎.