New York City Interscholastic Mathematics League

Senior B Division Spring 2022

PART 1 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes
S22SB01 Triangle ABC has side lengths AB = 15, BC = 25, and CA = 20. 4 equally spaced points are chosen
along BC . Let these points be D, E, F, G. From each of D, E, F, G, two rays are drawn, one parallel to
AB , and the other to AC , as shown below. What is the area of the shaded region? Note that the diagram
is not otherwise drawn to scale.

S22SB02 The function f (x) takes the integer x, and puts a copy of x at the end of it, and returns the number given
by reading this from left to right. For example, f (3) = 33, and f (34) = 3434. How many positive
integers x < 50 are there such that f (x) has twice as many factors as x?

PART 2 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB03 The positive integers a, b, c are such that a + b + c = 9. What is the maximum value for ab + bc + ca?

S22SB04 In regular hexagon ABCDEF , perpendicular segments are drawn from A to F E √ and ED (possibly
outside of the hexagon). The sum of the lengths of these perpendicular segments is 3 3. What is the area
of the hexagon?

PART 3 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB05 A store sells donuts in boxes of 3, 7, and 8. What is the largest number of donuts which cannot be bought
by only buying donuts in these box sizes? For example, you cannot buy exactly 4 donuts.

S22SB06 Let a 5-digit number be written ABCDE . How many such 5-digit numbers are there such that A > B ≥
C > D ≥ E?
 Senior B Contest 1 Solutions
1. Triangle ABC has side lengths AB = 15, BC = 25, and CA = 20. 4 equally spaced points are chosen along BC .
Let these points be D, E, F, G. From each of D, E, F, G, two rays are drawn, one parallel to AB , and the other to
AC , as shown below. What is the area of the shaded region? Note that the diagram is not otherwise drawn to scale.

Solution. 78 Note that each of the shaded triangles in the bottom row of the figure are congruent, since they all
share one side in common, and are all similar to ABC , since the other two sides are parallel to the sides of ABC .
As a result, each of the parallelograms in the figure are also all congruent. Additionally, each of the triangles is half
the area of one of the parallelograms. Let the area of one of these parallelograms be x. The shaded area then takes up
6.5x
12.5x
= 13
25
of the area of the triangle.
The area of the triangle is 150, since it is right, so the shaded area is 78.
2. The function f (x) takes the integer x, and puts a copy of x at the end of it, and returns the number given by reading
this from left to right. For example, f (3) = 33, and f (34) = 3434. How many positive integers x < 50 are there
such that f (x) has twice as many factors as x?
Solution. 49 Note that for 1 digit numbers, f (x) = 11x. For 2 digit numbers, f (x) = 101. In both cases,
f (x) multiplies x by a prime number, and in particular, a prime number which could not be a factor of x. Then, every
factor of x is also a factor of f (x). However, for each factor n of x, f (x) also has the factor 11n or 101n, depending
on the number of digits x has. Note that because our observation that 11, 101 are not factors of x, 11n, 101n are
factors of f (x) but not x for 1 and 2-digit x, respectively. Then, in all cases, f (x) always has twice as many factors
as x, so all 49 positive integers have the property that f (x) has twice as many factors as x.
3. The positive integers a, b, c are such that a + b + c = 9. What is the maximum value for ab + bc + ca?
Solution. 27 The intuition behind this problem is to notice given a fixed sum of two numbers, the maximum
possible product for them occurs when both numbers are the same. Then, it would make intuitive sense that this could
also occur for a symmetric sum of 3 products when all 3 values are the same, and indeed, 27 is value for this sum when
a = b = c.
In order to see this more rigorously, let’s consider the case where a, b, c are not all the same. Then, without loss
of generality, let a ̸= b, and b > a. Let’s consider what would happen if we replaced a, b both with a+b 2
. Let
a′ , b′ = a+b
2
, and c′
= c. Then, a + b + c = 9, and a′ + b′ + c′ = 9.
We now compare ab + bc + ca to a′ b′ + b′ c′ + c′ a′ . Note that a′ b′ ≥ ab, since a′ + b′ = a + b, and a′ = b′ . One
quick justification for this to let a′ , b′ be the lengths of some rectangle, and a, b be the lengths of another. Across all
rectangles with the same perimeter, a square has the largest area.
Then, bc + ca = c(a + b), and b′ c′ + c′ a′ = c′ (a′ + b′ ), so the rest of the sum is equal. As a result, whenever a, b, c
are not all the same, we can always improve the sum (or at least keep it the same) by making 2 of a, b, c the same. If
we repeat this process, we will arrive at the values a = b = c.

4. In regular hexagon ABCDEF , perpendicular segments are drawn from √ A to F E and ED (possibly outside of the
hexagon). The sum of the lengths of these perpendicular segments is 3 3. What is the area of the hexagon?
√
Solution. 6 3
 Let the base of the height from A to F E be P , as shown in the diagram above. Then, m∠AF P = 60◦ , so
m∠P AF = 30◦ . Additionally, we have that F AE is a isoceles triangle, so m∠F AE = 30◦ . Thus, m∠EAB =
90◦ . Since AB||ED, ∠AED is right.
√
Then, the problem tells us that P A + AE =√3 3. However, as noticed earlier, P AE is a 30◦ − 60◦ − 90◦ triangle.
Then, we have that AE = 2P A, so P A = 3. Then since P AF is also a 30◦ − 60◦ − 90◦ triangle, we have that
F A = 2.
Then, to find the area of the hexagon, we can split it into 6 equilateral triangles each with side length 2.
√
The area is thus 6 3.

5. A store sells donuts in boxes of 3, 7, and 8. What is the largest number of donuts which cannot be bought by only
buying donuts in these box sizes? For example, you cannot buy exactly 4 donuts.
Solution. 5 Note that as soon as we have 3 consecutive numbers of donuts we can buy, we can buy any number of
donuts greater than these 3 numbers, by just buying those numbers, and then the appropriate number of boxes of donuts
of size 3. To give an example, if we could buy 30, 31, 32 donuts, then we can buy 30+3, 31+3, 32+3, 30+6, 31+6
donuts, and so on.
Then, we just have to check for the smallest list of 3 consecutive number of donuts which is purchasable. This ends up
being 6 = 3 + 3, 7 = 7, 8 = 8. Now we just need to check that we cannot buy 5 donuts, which is indeed not possible.
6. Let a 5-digit number be written ABCDE . How many such 5-digit numbers are there such that A > B ≥ C >
D ≥ E?
Solution. 792 We will use the ‘stars and bars’ method for this problem. We can imagine having 7 stars, and 5
bars. We claim that every arrangement of stars and bars corresponds uniquely to one 5-digit number satisfying the
property above.
Given an arrangement of stars and bars, we will translate it to a number as follows: the number of stars to the right of
the bar furthest to the right is the ones digit. Then, the number of stars to the right of the bar second from the right
is the tens digit. The number of stars to the right of the bar third from the right plus one, is the hundreds digit. The
number of stars to the right of the bar fourth from the right plus one is the thousands digit. The number of stars to
the right of the bar fifth from the right plus two, is the then thousands digit.
To give an example: ∗| ∗ | ∗ ∗|| ∗ | ∗ ∗ corresponds to the number 86432.
Note first that every number we generate this way is a valid 5-digit number, since the largest digit would be 9 (at most
7 stars to the right of any bar, since there are 7 total stars, and an additional plus 2). It also satisfies the conditions,
since our adding 1 starting from the third bar ensures that C > D . (and adding 2 starting from the fifth bar ensures
that A > B ). Because all the bars to the left of a bar contain at least as many stars to the right, all of the ≥ conditions
are satisfied.
Now, we check that every 5-figit number satsifying this condition can be written in this form. We can see this by
reversing our algorithm to convert a string of stars and bars to numbers. We will at most need 7 stars for any 5-digit
number, because of the +2, +1 that we add to the number of stars to the right of certain bars.
12


The answer is then 5
= 792, since that is the number of ways to arrange 7 stars, and 5 bars.
 New York City Interscholastic Mathematics League
Senior B Division Spring 2022
PART 1 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes
S22SB07 There are four non-negative real numbers a, b, c, d such that a + b ≤ 6, b + c ≤ 3, c + d ≤ 4, What is
the maximum possible value of a + b + c?

S22SB08 How many ways are there to line up 4 people, all of different heights, into two lines so that both lines are in
height order from shortest to tallest? Both lines must contain at least one person, and the order of the lines
with respect to each other is unimportant. In other words, if A, B are in the first line, and C, D are in the
second that is counted as the same as C, D being in the first line, and A, B in the second.

PART 2 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB09 Compute 20233 − 20223 − 3 · 20212 − 9 · 2020.
S22SB10 In the diagram below, trapezoid ABCD has sides AB||CD, and 5|AB| = |CD|. Point E is chosen
such that 2|DE| = 3|EC|. Point G is the intersection of the extensions of EA and CB , and Point F is
the intersection of the extensions of DA and EB . If the area of F AB is 9, compute the area of triangle
GAB .

PART 3 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

⌢ ⌢
S22SB11 In the figure below, arcs AC and CB are each quarter circle arcs of a circle with radius 6, centered at O1
⌢
and O2 , respectively. Additionally, CO1 B is a right angle. E is the midpoint of arc AC , and F is the
⌢
midpoint of CB . Find the area of the shaded region.

S22SB12 Compute
98
X (−1)n
.
n=1
(n)(n + 2)
Express your answer as a fraction in simplest form.
 Senior B Contest 2 Solutions
1. There are four non-negative real numbers a, b, c, d such that
a + b ≤ 6,
b + c ≤ 3,
c + d ≤ 4,
What is the maximum possible value of a + b + c?
Solution. 9 Note that since all of the numbers are non-negative, we have a + b + c ≤ a + b + c + d, and
a + b + c ≤ a + b + b + c Then, adding the first and third, and first and second inequalities give us an upper bound
of 10 and 9 for a + b + c, respectively. We take the lower of the 2 upper bounds and see if it is achievable. Let
a = 6, b = 0, c = 3, d = 0. Then, all the inequalities are satisfied and a + b + c = 9, as desired.
2. How many ways are there to line up 4 people, all of different heights, into two lines so that both lines are in height
order from shortest to tallest? Both lines must contain at least one person, and the order of the lines with respect to
each other is unimportant. In other words, if A, B are in the first line, and C, D are in the second that is counted as
the same as C, D being in the first line, and A, B in the second.
Solution. 7 Let the four people be named A, B, C, D, and let this be their order from shortest to tallest. Note
that if we take a subset of these four people to be in a line, they have a fixed order relative to each other. Then, the
answer is just the number of subsets we can take from 4 people (the people we do not choose will be on the other line).
Since both lines must have one person, we cannot take all 4 people. We leave A to be in the first line. Then, for each
of the other 3, they can be on the second line, or not. However, we cannot have all of them not being on the second
line. This gives 23 − 1 = 7 possibilities.

3. Compute 20233 − 20223 − 3 · 20212 − 9 · 2020.

Solution. 16 Let x = 2022. Then, we can write this expression as (x + 1)3 − x3 − 3(x − 1)2 − 9(x − 2).
Expanding this out gives us that this expressions is equal to x3 + 3x2 + 3x + 1 − x3 − 3x2 + 6x − 3 − 9x + 18 = 16.
4. In the diagram below, trapezoid ABCD has sides AB||CD , and 5|AB| = |CD|. Point E is chosen such that
2|DE| = 3|EC|. Point G is the intersection of the extensions of EA and CB , and Point F is the intersection of
the extensions of DA and EB . If the area of F AB is 9, compute the area of triangle GAB .

Solution. 18 Let AB = x. Then, CD = 5x, so DE = 3x, and EC = 2x. Note that since AB||CD,
△F AB and △F DE are similar. Then, the ratio of their areas is 91 , so the area of ABED is 8 · 9 = 72. Now, note
that ABED and BCEA are trapezoids who share a height. Then, the ratio of their areas is the ratio of the sums of
(3+1)x
their bases, which is (2+1)x = 43 . Thus, the area of ABCE is 34 (72) = 54. Finally, note that △GAB and △GEC
are also similar. Thus, the ratio of the areas of △GAB and quadrilateral ABCE is 31 . This gives that the area of
GAB is 54 3
= 18.
⌢ ⌢
5. In the figure below, arcsAC and CB are each quarter circle arcs of a circle with radius 6, centered at O1 and O2 ,
⌢ ⌢
respectively. Additionally, CO1 B is a right angle. E is the midpoint of arc AC , and F is the midpoint of CB . Find
the area of the shaded region.
 Solution. 18 Note that if we cut this shape along CO1 , and paste the left part so that A lies on B and C stays
where it is, the shaded area forms half a square. The square has area 62 = 36, so the area of the shaded region is
36
2
= 18.
98
P (−1)n
6. Compute (n)(n+2)
. Express your answer as a fraction in simplest form.
n=1
−4949 (−1)n (−1)n 1 1


Solution. 19800
Note that we can write (n)(n+2) = 2 n+2
− n
.

Then, if we write out a couple of the terms, ignoring the factor of 21 , we found out that we actually have a telescoping
sequence:

1
−1 + 3
1 1
+ 2
− 4
1 1
− 3
+ 5
...
1 1
+ 96
− 98
1 1
− 97
+ 99
1 1
+ 98
− 100

−4949
Adding everything together gives −1 + 21 + 99
1 1
− 100 = 9900
. We then multiply this by the 12 we factored out earlier
−4949
to get 19800
.
 New York City Interscholastic Mathematics League

Senior B Division Spring 2022

PART 1 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes
S22SB13 What is the largest number of lattice points a line which is not vertical drawn in the box with corners
(0, 0), (4, 0), (4, 8), (0, 8) can pass through? (If the line passes through lattice points on the corner or
edge of this box, include them in your count.)

S22SB14 A sphere of radius 2 shares a center with a 5 × 5 × 5 cube. Eight spheres, each of radius r, are placed such
that the center each of each sphere is at one of the corners of the cube. If all of these 8 spheres are tangent
to the sphere at the center of the cube, what is the value of r ? Express your answer in simplest form.

PART 2 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB15 How many factors of 7! = 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 are not positive integer powers of a prime number? (For
example, 25 = 52 is a positive integer power of a prime, but 1 = 50 is not.)
√
S22SB16 Isosceles right triangle ABC with sides AB = 12, BC = 12, AC = 12 2, as shown below, has an
infinite zig-zag drawn, going through points A = D0 , B = E0 , D1 , E1 , D2 , E2 , . . . . Each Ei is chosen so
that Ei−1 Ei = Ei C . Similarly, each Di is chosen so that Di−1 Di = Di C . Find the area of the shaded
region (the sum of the areas of Ei−1 Di Ei for all integer i > 0).

PART 3 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB17 What is the largest integer value of a that makes the following statement true? The quadratic equation
0 = ax2 + 330x + 2000 has 2 real solutions.

S22SB18 There are two microorganisms on a horizontal number line, one located at 0, and the other at 1. (0 is to
the left of 1.) At a given step, each microorganism randomly chooses to move one unit to the right or to the
left. After 5 steps, what is the probability that the microorganism originally on 0 is now exactly one unit
to the right of the microorganism originally on 1?
 Senior B Contest 3 Solutions
1. What is the largest number of lattice points a line which is not vertical drawn in the box with corners (0, 0), (4, 0), (4, 8), (0,
can pass through? (If the line passes through lattice points on the corner or edge of this box, include them in your
count.)
Solution. 4 We can have a line passing through 4 lattice points by just picking the line y = 1. We cannot have a
line passing through 5 lattice points. If it did, then by the pidgeonhole principle, there must be two lattice points the
line passes through with the same x-coordinate. The only line which can do this is a vertical line.
2. A sphere of radius 2 shares a center with a 5 × 5 × 5 cube. Eight spheres, each of radius r , are placed such that the
center each of each sphere is at one of the corners of the cube. If all of these 8 spheres are tangent to the sphere at the
center of the cube, what is the value of r ? Express your answer in simplest form.
√
5 3−4
Solution. 2
We can consider the longest diagonal in the cube. This diagonal passes through the center of two
of the spheres centered at the corner of the cube, and the center of the sphere at the center of the cube. Then, since
the center sphere is tangent to the other two, the sum of the lengths of the distances between the centers
√ of the spheres
√ 5 3−4
must equal the length of this diagonal. Then, we have r+2+2+r = 52 + 52 + 52 , or r = 2
, as desired.

3. How many factors of 7! = 7 · 6 · 5 · 4 · 3 · 2 · 1 are not positive integer powers of a prime number? (For example,
25 = 52 is a positive integer power of a prime, but 1 = 50 is not.)
Solution. 52 We use complementary counting. First, write 7! = 24 · 32 · 5 · 7. In total, there are then 5 · 3 · 2 · 2
factors – we get this number from, for each prime, we pick the number of that prime we want to multiply to get the
factor, from 0 up to the total number of primes dividing 7!. The ones that are prime powers are of the form pn , where
n > 1, so there are 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 8 of them. This gives us 52 factors which are not powers of a prime.
√
4. Isosceles right triangle ABC with sides AB = 12, BC = 12, AC = 12 2, as shown below, has an infinite zig-zag
drawn, going through points A = D0 , B = E0 , D1 , E1 , D2 , E2 , . . . . Each Ei is chosen so that Ei−1 Ei = Ei C .
Similarly, each Di is chosen so that Di−1 Di = Di C . Find the area of the shaded region (the sum of the areas of
Ei−1 Di Ei for all integer i > 0).

Solution. 24 First, we just consider the area of E0 D1 E1 . Note that it is 41 of the area of ABC , since it has
half the height, and also half the base. Similarly, DE1 C also takes up 14 of the area of ABC . We can use similar
reasoning, since all the triangles in D1 E1 C are similar to the ones in ABC , to conclude that E1 D2 E2 is then 14 of
the area of D1 E1 C .
Then, if we let the area of ABC be x, the sum of the area we want is an infinite geometric series with ratio 14 . Plugging
x
this into the formula for geometric series, we have the sum equals 4
1 = x3 .
1− 4
1
We can compute the area of ABC , which is 2
· 12 · 12. Plugging this in for x gives us 24, as desired.
5. What is the largest integer value of a that makes the following statement true? The quadratic equation 0 = ax2 +
330x + 2000 has 2 real solutions.
Solution. 13 In order to guarantee 2 real solutions, we need to ensure the discriminant is greater than 0. Then,
3302
we need to find the largest a such that 3302 − 4 ∗ 2000 ∗ a > 0, or a < 4∗2000 . To do this computation quickly:
332
note we can immediately cancel out some of the 0s from the numerator and denominator, to get 4∗20 . Then, we can
2 2 1089
write 33 = 9 · 11 = 9 · 121 = 1089. Then, we have a < 80 , which turns out to be a little more than 13. Then
we have our answer a = 13.
6. There are two microorganisms on a horizontal number line, one located at 0, and the other at 1. (0 is to the left of 1.)
At a given step, each microorganism randomly chooses to move one unit to the right or to the left. After 5 steps, what
is the probability that the microorganism originally on 0 is now exactly one unit to the right of the microorganism
originally on 1?
105
Solution. 512
In order for the microorganism originally on the right to end up on the left, the microorganism on
the right must have taken exactly one more step to the left than the one who started on the left. We first count the
number of ways the organisms could have done this. In total, the two microorganisms each take 5 steps. Let’s call
the microorganism which
started on 0 Alice, and the one which started on 1 Bob. Then, if Bob takes only one step
5
to the left, there are 1 ways for Bob to pick which of its steps was to the left (the rest are automatically to the
5


right). Then, Alice must have taken all 5 steps to the right, and there are 0 ways to choose this. This puts Alice on
0 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5, and Bob on 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 − 1 = 4, as desired.
We can repeat this casework, with all the possible numbers of steps Alice and Bob could have taken.
5 5



If Bob takes n steps to the left, Alice can take n − 1 steps to the left. This gives n
choices for Bob, and n−1
choices for Alice.
5

5
5

5
5

5
5

5
5

5

Adding all of these up gives 0 1
+ 1 2
+ 2 3
+ 3 4
+ 4 5
. We can compute directly to find out the
sum is 210.
Then the total number of places Alice and Bob could have ended up is 25 · 25 , since they each have 5 steps with 2
possibilities per step.
210 105
Putting these into a fraction gives 1024 = 512
, as desired.
 New York City Interscholastic Mathematics League

Senior B Division Spring 2022

PART 1 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes
p √ √ √
S22SB19 Simplify the expression 12 + 2 6 + 2 14 + 2 21 to have no nested radicals.

S22SB20 Charles walks 5 kilometers around a path shaped like a regular octagon with a side length of 2 kilometers,
starting at a vertex. Find the distance he is from his original starting point in simplest form, with no nested
radicals.

PART 2 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB21 The polynomial x3 + 4x + 1 has roots r, s, and t. Find p(1), where p is the degree 3 monic polynomial
with roots r 2 , s2 , and t2 .

S22SB22 Compute the value of 1 · 2 + 2 · 3 + 3 · 4 + · · · 49 · 50.

PART 3 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB23 Square ABCD has sidelength 8, and circles of radius 8 is centered at C and D, and the circles intersect
at point E inside the square. Find the area of △ECD .

S22SB24 a, b, and c are integers chosen uniformly from the set {0, 1, 2, . . . , 14, 15}. Given that the sum a + b + c
is odd, find the probability a + b + c = 15.
 Senior B Contest 4 Solutions
p √ √ √
1. Simplify the expression 12 + 2 6 + 2 14 + 2 21 to have no nested radicals.
√ √ √
Solution. 2 + 3 + 7 We can see that the inside of the radical looks close to the form 2ab + 2ac + 2bc,
√ √ √
which is seen in the expansion of (a + b + c)2 . Matching by setting
√ a = √ 2, b =
√ 3, and c = 7, we can see that
the inside expression matches, so the entire expression is equal to 2 + 3 + 7.
2. Charles walks 5 kilometers around a path shaped like a regular octagon with a side length of 2 kilometers, starting at
a vertex. Find the distance he is from his original starting point in simplest form, with no nested radicals.
√ √
Solution. 6+ 3

As seen in the diagram, we are trying to find the length of AI . Since the
q octagon is regular, △BCJ is 45 − 45 − 90,
√ √ √ p √
so BJ = CJ = √2 = 2. By the Pythagorean theorem, AI = (2 + 2)2 + (1 + 2)2 = 9 + 6 2 =
√ √ 2
6 + 3.
3. The polynomial x3 + 4x + 1 has roots r, s, and t. Find p(1), where p is the degree 3 monic polynomial with roots
r2 , s2 , and t2 .
Solution. 24 Since p is monic, by the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra p(1) = (1 − r2 )(1 − s2 )(1 − t2 ) =
(1 + r)(1 + s)(1 + t)(1 − r)(1 − s)(1 − t). If our original polynomial was q(x), we can see that this is equal to
q(1) · −q(−1), also by the Fundamental Theorem. This gives p(1) = (1 + 4 + 1) · −1 · (−1 − 4 + 1) = 24.
4. Compute the value of 1 · 2 + 2 · 3 + 3 · 4 + · · · 49 · 50.
Solution. 41650 Note that n · (n − 1) = n2 − n, so the expression is equal to 502 − 50 + 492 − 49 + · · · +
22 − 2 + 12 − 1 (We can append 1 · 0 to the front of the original expression freely). Seeing that we need to find a
way to compute the difference between n2 − n, we might look towards (n − 1)3 , since it has a −3n2 + 3n, which is
close. Note that n3 − (n − 1)3 = 3n2 − 3n + 1. Summing up 503 − (50 − 1)3 + 493 − (49 − 1)3 + · · · 23 −
(2 − 1)3 + 13 − (1 − 1)3 telescopes, yielding just 503 . If we make the earlier mentioned substitution, we get that
503 = 3(502 − 50 + 492 − 49 + · · · + 22 − 2 + 12 − 1) + 50, so we get that the desired expression is equal to
503 −50
3
= 41650.
2 3 4 50





The question can also be solved by realizing the expression is equal to 2 · ( 2 + 2 + 2 + · · · + 2 ), and then
51


applying the hockey stick identity to get 2 · 3 = 41650.

5. Square ABCD has sidelength 8, and circles of radius 8 is centered at C and D, and the circles intersect at point E
inside the square. Find the area of △ECD .
√
Solution. 16 3 Let E ′ be the intersection of the circles outside the square. The base of the triangle is 8, and we
need to find the height. Let F be the midpoint of AB and G be the midpoint of CD , and we can see that F G passes
2
through E by symmetry. By power of a point, AF = F E · F E ′ Note that F E ′ = F E + 2EG. Letting EG = x,
we have F E = 8 − x, and √ substituting into the equation from power of a point gives√42 = (8 − x)((8
√ − x) + 2x) →
2 2 1
16 = 8 − x → x = 4 3. Since x is the height of the triangle, the area is 8 · 4 3 · 2 = 16 3.
6. a, b, and c are integers chosen uniformly from the set {0, 1, 2, . . . , 14, 15}. Given that the sum a + b + c is odd,
find the probability a + b + c = 15.
17 P(a+b+c is odd|a+b+c=15)P(a+b+c=15)
Solution. 256
By Bayes’ rule, P(a + b + c = 15 | a + b + c is odd) = P(a+b+c is odd)
=
P(a+b+c=15)
P(a+b+c is odd)
a + b + c = 15 then it is always odd. The probability that a + b + c = 15 is equal to the
since if
number of ways for a + b + c to be
15 over all possible triples of (a, b, c). The latter is 163 , since each variable
17
has 16 choices, and the former is 2 by stars and bars. The probability a + b + c is odd is just 21 , since a + b
can be anything, then there’s a 12 c will be the correct parity to make a + b + c odd. This gives a final answer of
17·16
·2 17 17
2
163
= 162
= 256
.
 New York City Interscholastic Mathematics League

Senior B Division Spring 2022

PART 1 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes
S22SB25 10 people are sitting at a circular table. How many ways are there to choose 3 people such that none of
them are sitting next to each other?
√
S22SB26 Find the largest integer that is less than (2 + 3)6 .

PART 2 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB27 Right triangle ABC has a right angle at B and a 15◦ angle at C . D is the foot of the altitude from B to
AC . If AC = 72, compute the length of BD.

S22SB28 Compute the value of

∞
X 2n + 6 2 n
· ( ) .
n=1
n2 + n 3
.

PART 3 Spring 2022 Time: 10 Minutes

S22SB29 Find the largest positive integer k such that 3256 − 1 is a multiple of 2k .

S22SB30 A circle has points A, B , C , D, and E on it, in that order, and BE intersects AC and AD at points
X and Y respectively. X bisects AC , Y bisects AD, and X and Y trisect BE . If AB = 12, find the
length of AC .
 Senior B Contest 5 Solutions
1. 10 people are sitting at a circular table. How many ways are there to choose 3 people such that none of them are
sitting next to each other?
Solution. 110 There are 10 ways to choose 3 people such that they are next to each other, and there are
10


3
= 120 ways to choose 3 people overall, giving 120 − 10 = 110 ways to choose the people.
√
2. Find the largest integer that is less than (2 + 3)6 .
√ √ √
Solution. 2701 Note that since 3 ≈ 1.7, 2 − 3 ≈ .3, so (2 − 3)6 < 1. Thus, we can show that
√ √
(2 + 3)6 + (2 − 3)6 is an integer, and our answer is that integer minus one. We can expand both terms and
√ k 6

6


add, and the odd terms with a 3 with an odd k will cancel out, leaving 2(26 + 2 · 24 · 3 + 4 · 22 · 32 + 33 .
Computing this value gives 2702, and subtracting one gives 2701.

3. Right triangle ABC has a right angle at B and a 15◦ angle at C . D is the foot of the altitude from B to AC . If
AC = 72, compute the length of BD.
Solution. 18 Let M be the midpoint of AC , and connect M and B . Note that △BM C is isosceles, so
∠M BC = 15◦ , so ∠BM C = 150◦ , and thus ∠AM B = 30◦ . Since ∠BDC is right, △BDM is a 30 − 60 − 90
right triangle, and sincer BM = M C = 36, we have BD = 18.
4. Compute the value of
∞
X 2n + 6 2
· ( )n .
n=1
n2 +n 3
.
Solution. 4 We can try to decompose the fraction using partial fractions. Let n2n+6 A B
2 +n = n+1 + n . Multiplying

each side by n(n + 1) yields 2n + 6 = A(n) + B(n + 1), and matching coefficients and solving yields A = −4
and B = 6. We can now simplify our expression, as
2n + 6 2 n
·( ) =
n2 + n 3
6 2 n 4 2 n
( ) − ( ) =
n 3 n+1 3
6 2 n 6 2 n+1
( ) − ( ) .
n 3 n+1 3
6
Note that replacing n with n + 1 creates a term that cancels out with the − n+1 ( 23 )n+1 , so the entire sum simplifies
as a telescoping sum to n6 ( 23 )n when n = 1, and plugging in yields 4.

5. Find the largest positive integer k such that 3256 − 1 is a multiple of 2k .

Solution. 10 Factoring using difference of squares repeatedly, we get that the expression is equal to (3128 +
1)(364 + 1) · · · (32 + 1)(3 + 1)(3 − 1). For each term besides the last two, since 3 ≡ −1 mod 4, we can see that
each term is 2 mod 4, so each one only contributes 1 factor of 2. The penultimate term is 4 which gives 2 factors of
2, and the last term contributes one additional factor, giving a total of 10 factors of 2 in the expression, which is the
largest value of k we can pick.

6. A circle has points A, B , C , D , and E on it, in that order, and BE intersects AC and AD at points X and Y
respectively. X bisects AC , Y bisects AD , and X and Y trisect BE . If AB = 12, find the length of AC .
√
Solution. 12 2 Let AX = x1 , AY = x2 and XY = y . By power of a point, x21 = y(2y) and x22 = y(2y),
so x1 = x2 , and let x = x1 for short. Extend AB to M and AE to N such that N and M are on line CD . By
SAS , △AXY ∼ △ACD with a ratio of 1 : 2, and by our choice of M and N , △ABE ∼ △AM N . with the
same ratio. By power of a point, M B · M A = M C · M D . M B = AB = 12, and M C = CD = 2XY = y .
Plugging in yields 12 · 24 = 2y(4y), which gives y = 6. Let F be the foot
√ √ from A to
√ of the perpendicular √BE ,
note that BF = 9 √ 2 2
By the Pythagorean theorem, AF = 12 − 9 = 3 7, and AX = 63 + 9 = 6 2, so
AC = 2AX = 12 2.