Solutions

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

Part A
1.

In 1998, the population of Canada was 30.3 million. Which number is the same as 30.3 million?
(B) 303 000 000 (C) 30 300
(D) 303 000
(E) 30 300 000 000
(A) 30 300 000
Solution
In order to find what number best represents 30.3 million, it is necessary to multiply 30.3 by 1 000 000 .
This gives the number 30 300 000 .
ANSWER: (A)

2.

What number should be placed in the box to make

(A) 10

(B) 4

(C) 5

6
1
! ?
20
2
(D) 34

(E) 14

Solution
Expressing
So

3.

1
2

as a fraction with denominator 20, we get

10
.
20

6 
10
. Comparing the numerators, 6 
= 10 , so the number to place in the box is 4.
!
20
20
ANSWER: (B)

The value of 3 v 4 2 8 z 2 is
(A) 44
(B) 12

(C) 20

(D) 8

(E) 140

Solution
Evaluating, 3 v 4 2 8 z 2
! 48 4
! 44.
4.

ANSWER: (A)

When a number is divided by 7, the quotient is 12 and the remainder is 5. The number is
(A) 47
(B) 79
(C) 67
(D) 119
(E) 89
Solution
Since the quotient is 12 and the remainder is 5, then the number is 7 v 12  5 ! 89 .
ANSWER: (E)

5.

If 2 x 5 ! 15 , the value of x is
(A) 5
(B) 5

(C) 10

(D) 0

(E) 10

Solution
Since 2 x 5 ! 15 , then 2 x 5  5 ! 15  5
2 x ! 20
2 x 20
!
2
2
x ! 10.

ANSWER: (C)
9

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

6.

Solutions

The area of the entire figure shown is

(A) 16
(B) 32
(C) 20
(D) 24
(E) 64

Solution
Each of the three small triangles is an isosceles right angled triangle having a side length of 4. The area
of each small triangle is thus

7.

1
4 4 ! 8 .
2

The total area is 3 v 8 or 24.

The bar graph shows the hair colours of the

campers at Camp Gauss. The bar corresponding
to redheads has been accidentally removed. If
50% of the campers have brown hair, how many
of the campers have red hair?
(A) 5
(B) 10
(C) 25
(D) 50
(E) 60

ANSWER: (D)

Campers Hair Colour

25
20
Number
15
of
People
10
5
Green Black Brown

?
Red

Hair Colour
Solution
From the graph, we can see that there are 25 campers with brown hair. We are told that this represents
50% of the total number of campers. So in total there are then 2 v 25 or 50 campers. There is a total
of 15 campers who have either green or black hair. This means that 50 25  15 or 10 campers have
red hair.
ANSWER: (B)

8.

A fair die is constructed by labelling the faces of a wooden cube with the numbers 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, and 3.
If this die is rolled once, the probability of rolling an odd number is
(A)

5
6

(B)

4
6

(C)

3
6

(D)

2
6

(E)

1
6

Solution
There are six different equally likely possibilities in rolling the die. Since five of these are odd numbers,
the probability of rolling an odd number is five out of six or 5 .
6

10

ANSWER: (A)

Solutions
9.

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

In the square shown, the numbers in each row, column, and

diagonal multiply to give the same result. The sum of the
two missing numbers is
(A) 28
(B) 15
(C) 30
(D) 38
(E) 72

12 1 18
9

4
3

Solution
The numbers in each row, column and diagonal multiply to give a product of 12 1 18 or 216. We
are now looking for two numbers such that 12 9  ! 216 and 1 6  ! 216 . The required
numbers are 2 and 36 which have a sum of 38.
ANSWER: (D)

10.

Rowena is able to mow

2
5

of a lawn in 18 minutes. If she began the job at 10:00 a.m., and mowed at

this same constant rate, when did she finish mowing the entire lawn?
(A) 10:08 a.m.
(B) 11:30 a.m.
(C) 10:40 a.m.
(D) 10:25 a.m.

(E) 10:45 a.m.

Solution
Since Rowena can mow

2
5

of the lawn in 18 minutes, she can mow

1
5

of the lawn in 9 minutes. This

tells us that it takes her 5 v 9 ! 45 minutes to mow the whole lawn. So if she starts at 10:00 a.m., she
finishes at 10:45 a.m.
ANSWER: (E)

Part B
11.

In a class of 25 students, each student has at most one pet. Three-fifths of the students have cats, 20%
have dogs, three have elephants, and the other students have no pets. How many students have no pets?
(A) 5
(B) 4
(C) 3
(D) 2
(E) 1
Solution
3

20

Three-fifths of 25 is 5 v 25 ! 15, so 15 students have cats. Twenty percent of 25 is 100 v 25 ! 5 v 25 ! 5 ,

so 5 students have dogs. This tells us that 15  5  3 ! 23 students have pets. So there are 2 students
without pets.
ANSWER: (D)

12.

A prime number is called a Superprime if doubling it, and then subtracting 1, results in another prime
number. The number of Superprimes less than 15 is
(A) 2
(B) 3
(C) 4
(D) 5
(E) 6
Solution
The only possible candidates for Superprimes are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13 since they are the only prime
numbers less than 15. If we double each of these numbers and then subtract 1 we get 3, 5, 9, 13, 21
and 25. Three of these results are prime numbers. So there are only three Superprimes.
ANSWER: (B)

11

Solutions

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

13.

Laura earns $10/hour and works 8 hours per day for 10 days. She first spends 25% of her pay on food
and clothing, and then pays $350 in rent. How much of her pay does she have left?
(A) $275
(B) $200
(C) $350
(D) $250
(E) $300
Solution
In 10 days, Laura works 8 v 10 ! 80 hours. So in these 10 days, she earns 80 v $10 ! $800 . Since
25% = 1 , she spends
4

1
4

v $800 ! $200 on food and clothing, leaving her with $600.

If she spends $350 on rent, she will then have $600 $350 or $250 left.

14.

ANSWER: (D)

A rectangular sign that has dimensions 9 m by 16 m has a square advertisement painted on it. The border
around the square is required to be at least 1.5 m wide. The area of the largest square advertisement
that can be painted on the sign is
(A) 78 m 2

(B) 144 m 2

(C) 36 m 2

(D) 9 m 2

(E) 56.25 m 2

Solution
If the 9 v 16 rectangle has a square painted on it such that the square must have a border of width
1.5 m this means that the square has a maximum width of 9 1.5 1.5 ! 6 . So the largest square has
ANSWER: (C)
an area of 6 m v 6 m or 36 m 2 .

15.

The surface area of a cube is 24 cm 2 . The volume of this cube is

(A) 4 cm 3

(B) 24 cm 3

(C) 8 cm 3

(D) 27 cm 3

(E) 64 cm 3

Solution
A cube has six square faces of equal area, so each of these faces has area
tells us that the side length of the cube must be 2 cm.

1
6

v 24 cm 2 ! 4 cm 2 . This

The volume of the cube is

2 cm v 2 cm v 2 cm ! 8 cm .
3

16.

In the diagram, the value of x is

(A) 30
(B) 40
(D) 50
(E) 45

ANSWER: (C)

xr

(C) 60

30r

Solution
All angles in an equilateral triangle are 60r.
The triangle next to the equilateral triangle is isosceles, so let
each of the remaining angles be y .
The angles in a triangle add to 180r, so yr  yr  30r ! 180r
2 yr  30r ! 180r
yr ! 75r.
12

yr

xr
yr

60r
30r
60r

60r

Solutions

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

The angles in a straight line add to 180r, so

x r  yr  60r ! 180r, yr ! 75r
x r  75r  60r ! 180r
x r ! 45r

17.

ANSWER: (E)

Daniels age is one-ninth of his fathers age. One year from now, Daniels fathers age will be seven
times Daniels age. The difference between their ages is
(A) 24
(B) 25
(C) 26
(D) 27
(E) 28
Solution
Let Daniels age be d. Then Daniels fathers age is 9d .
In one year, Daniels age will be d  1 and Daniels fathers will be 9d  1.
So 9d  1 ! 7 d  1

9 d  1 ! 7d  7
2d ! 6
d ! 3.
Therefore, now Daniels age is 3 and Daniels fathers age is 27, so the difference between their ages
is 24.
ANSWER: (A)

18.

Two squares are positioned, as shown. The smaller square

has side length 1 and the larger square has side length 7. The
length of AB is
(A) 14

(B) 113

(D)

(E)

85

(C) 10

72

Solution
From A, along the side of the small square, we extend side
AD so that it meets the big square at C as shown.
The length of AC is the sum of the side lengths of the
squares, i.e. 7  1 ! 8 .
The length of BC is the difference of the side lengths so
BC = 6.
By Pythagoras, AB ! 8  6 ! 100 , AB ! 10.
2

6
A

D
1
1

C
1

ANSWER: (C)

19.

Anne, Beth and Chris have 10 candies to divide amongst themselves. Anne gets at least 3 candies, while
Beth and Chris each get at least 2. If Chris gets at most 3, the number of candies that Beth could
get is
(A) 2
(B) 2 or 3
(C) 3 or 4
(D) 2, 3 or 5
(E) 2, 3, 4 or 5
13

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

Solutions

Solution
If Anne gets at least 3 candies and Chris gets either 2 or 3 this implies that Beth could get as many as
5 candies if Chris gets only 2. If Chris and Anne increase their number of candies this means that Beth
could get any number of candies ranging from 2 to 5.
ANSWER: (E)

20.

What number should be placed in the box to make 10 4 v 100
! 1000 6 ?

(A) 7

(B) 5

(C) 2

(D)

3
2

(E) 10

Solution
Since 1000 has 3 zeros, 1000 6 has 18 zeros, so the left side should have 18 zeros too. The number 10 4
has 4 zeros, so that leaves 14 zeros for the number 100
. Since 100 has 2 zeros, the number in the box
should be 7.
ANSWER: (A)

Part C
21.

Lines PS , QT and RU intersect at a common point O, as

shown. P is joined to Q, R to S, and T to U, to form triangles.
The value of P  Q  R  S  T  U is
(A) 450r
(B) 270r
(C) 360r
(D) 540r
(E) 720r

U
O

R
S
Solution
We know that POQ  POU  UOT ! 180r because when added they form a straight line. Since
POU ! ROS (vertically opposite angles), therefore POQ  ROS  UOT ! 180r .
Thus the sum of the remaining angles is just 3 v 180r 180r ! 360r since there are 180r in each of the
three given triangles.
ANSWER: (C)

22.

Sixty-four white 1 v 1 v 1 cubes are used to form a 4 v 4 v 4 cube, which is then painted red on each
of its six faces. This large cube is then broken up into its 64 unit cubes. Each unit cube is given a score
as follows:
Exact number of faces painted red
Score
3
3
2
2
1
1
0
7
The total score for the 4 v 4 v 4 cube is
(A) 40
(B) 41
(C) 42
(D) 43
(E) 44

14

Solutions

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

Solution
First, we deal with the positive points. There is one point assigned for each red face. On each face of
the large cube, there will be 16 red faces of 1 v 1 v 1 cubes. This gives 6 v 16 ! 96 red faces on 1 v 1 v 1
cubes in total. So there are 96 positive points. However, there will be 2 v 2 v 2 ! 8 unit cubes which
have no paint, and these will account for 8 v  7 ! 56 points.
Then the point total for the cube is 96   56 ! 40 . (Notice that it was not necessary that we consider
cubes with paint on either 3 sides or 2 sides if we use this method.)
ANSWER: (A)

23.

The integers 2, 2, 5, 5, 8, and 9 are written on six cards, as

shown. Any number of the six cards is chosen, and the sum
of the integers on these cards is determined. Note that the
integers 1 and 30 cannot be obtained as sums in this way.
How many of the integers from 1 to 31 cannot be obtained
as sums?
(A) 4
(B) 22
(C) 8
(D) 10
(E) 6

Solution
First, we observe that the sum of the digits on all 6 cards is 31.
Next, we see that if we cannot get a sum of S, then we cannot get a sum of 31 S . This is an important
point. If we could get 31 S , then we could take the cards not used and their digits would add to S.
Simply stated, our inability to get S means that we would be unable to get 31 S .
So we need to check which sums from 1 to 15 cannot be obtained, and then double this total number.
Checking possibilities, we see that we can get 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 but cannot get 1,
3, 6. From above, we thus cannot get 31 1 = 30, 31 3 = 28 or 31 6 = 25.
So there are 6 sums that cannot be obtained.
ANSWER: (E)

24.

A triangle can be formed having side lengths 4, 5 and 8. It is impossible, however, to construct a triangle
with side lengths 4, 5 and 9. Ron has eight sticks, each having an integer length. He observes that he
cannot form a triangle using any three of these sticks as side lengths. The shortest possible length of
the longest of the eight sticks is
(A) 20
(B) 21
(C) 22
(D) 23
(E) 24
Solution
If Ron wants the three smallest possible lengths with which he cannot form a triangle, he should start
with the lengths 1, 1 and 2. (These are the first three Fibonacci numbers). If he forms a sequence by
adding the last two numbers in the sequence to form the next term, he would generate the sequence:
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21. Notice that if we take any three lengths in this sequence, we can never form a
triangle. The shortest possible length of the longest stick is 21.
ANSWER: (B)

15

Solutions

2001 Gauss Contest - Grade 8

25.

Tony and Maria are training for a race by running all the way up and down a 700 m long ski slope. They
each run up the slope at different constant speeds. Coming down the slope, each runs at double his or
her uphill speed. Maria reaches the top first, and immediately starts running back down, meeting Tony
70 m from the top. When Maria reaches the bottom, how far behind is Tony?
(A) 140 m
(B) 250 m
(C) 280 m
(D) 300 m
(E) 320 m
Solution
When Tony and Maria meet for the first time, Tony has run 700 70 ! 630 m.
At this point, Maria has run 700 m up the hill and then 70 m at double the speed back down the hill.
This takes her the same amount of time as if she had run 700 m up the hill and then 35 m more at the
same speed.
In effect, she has run 735 m, while Tony has run 630 m. So the ratio of their speeds is

735 7105 7
!
! .
630 6105 6

This means that for every 6 metres that Tony covers, Maria will cover 7 metres.
If we think of both runners as running at constant speeds, Maria runs 700  2 700 ! 1050 m at a
1

constant speed over the course of the race. In effect, we are saying that she would run the equivalent
of 1050 m at the same constant speed at which she ran up the hill.
She runs

7
6

as fast as Tony. In the time that Maria runs 1050 m, Tony runs

6
7

v 1050 m ! 900 m at a

constant speed.
So in this new way of looking at the race, Tony is 150 m behind Maria.
But this 150 m is in the new way of looking at things, so Tony is actually 2 v 150 m ! 300 m behind
Maria.
ANSWER: (D)

16