Homemade Problems

Homemade Problem Collection
David Altizio
Last Updated September 13, 2023
Abstract
This document is a fairly comprehensive (though not exhaustive) list of problems I have pro-
posed for various competitions. Problem statements are mostly unchanged from their original
versions; however, many problem statements are modified to remove answer extraction clauses of
the form “ m
n , find m + n”. Exceptionally nice problems are marked with a star (F).
Contents
1 Algebra 2
2 Combinatorics 14
3 Geometry 19
4 Number Theory 38
5 Miscellaneous/Undergraduate 46
6 Links to Solutions 50
List of Common Acronyms

• AIME: American Invitational Mathematics Exam
• AMC: American Mathematics Competition
• AMSP: AwesomeMath Summer Program
• ARML: American Regional Mathematics League
• IMO: International Mathematical Olympiad
• NIMO: National Internet Math Olympiad (now defunct)
1
David Altizio Homemade Problem Collection Page 2
1 Algebra
1. (AMC 10A 2021) What is the value of
21+2+3 − (21 + 22 + 23 )?
2. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) For all real numbers a and b, let
a+b
aZb= .
a−b
Compute 1008 Z 1007.
20112 − 19832
3. (Various Contests)1 Determine the value of .
2011 + 1983
4. (AMC 10A 2018) Sangho uploaded a video to a website where viewers can vote that they like or
dislike a video. Each video begins with a score of 0, and the score increases by 1 for each like
vote and decreases by 1 for each dislike vote. At one point Sangho saw that his video had a score
of 90, and that 65% of the votes cast on his video were like votes. How many votes had been cast
on Sangho’s video at that point?
5. (Mock AMC 12 2012) A set of 31 real numbers has a sum of 104. A new set is formed by taking
each number in the old set and increasing it by 3. For instance, a 1 in the old set would become
a 4 in the new set. What is the sum of the numbers in the new set?
6. (NICE Fall 2021) For each complex number p not equal to 0 or 1, let p0 denote the complex
number for which
1 1
+ = 1.
p p0
There are precisely two complex numbers p satisfying ( p1 )0 = 1
p0 . What are they?2
7. (Mock AIME I 2015) David, Justin, Richard, and Palmer are demonstrating a “math magic”
concept in front of an audience. There are four boxes, labeled A, B, C, and D, and each one
contains a different number. First, David pulls out the numbers in boxes A and B and reports
that their product is 14. Justin then claims that the product of the numbers in boxes B and C is
16, and Richard states the product of the numbers in boxes C and D to be 18. Finally, Palmer
announces the product of the numbers in boxes D and A. What is this product?3
8. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) On a 30 question test, Question 1 is worth one point, Question
2 is worth two points, and so on up to Question 30. David takes the test and afterward finds
out he answered nine of the questions incorrectly. However, he was not told which nine were
incorrect. What is the highest possible score he could have attained?4
1 Okay sure, this problem is definitely not original, but I’ve used it probably at least three times for three different contests
and changed the year each time, so I figured I might as well put it here. (As a side note, the number 1983 was chosen because
that was the year of the very first AIME!)
2 Here, p0 is called the Hölder conjugate of p. This often shows up in real analysis (e.g. Hölder’s Inequality, which is itself
useful in a variety of situations).
3 This problem achieved a 100% success rate among users who submitted for grading. Hooray!
4 The legendary 420 problem!
9. (NIMO 23) For real numbers x and y, define
1
∇(x, y) = x − .
y
Compute
∇(2, ∇(2, ∇(2, . . . ∇(2, ∇(2, 2)) . . .))) .
| {z }
2016 ∇s
10. (NIMO April 2017) For rational numbers a and b with a > b, define the fractional average of a and
b to be the unique rational number c with the following property: when c is written in lowest
terms, there exists an integer N such that adding N to both the numerator and denominator of
c gives a, and subtracting N from both the numerator and denominator of c gives b. What is the
fractional average of 71 and 10
1
?
11. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Points A(0, 0) and B(1, 1) are located on the parabola y = x2 . A third
point C is positioned on this parabola between A and B such that AC = CB = r. What is r 2 ?
12. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) The solutions in z to the equation

2
337

z+ =1
z
form the vertices of a quadrilateral in the complex plane. Compute the area of this quadrilat-
eral.5
13. (AMC 12B 2022) The graph of the parabola y = x2 + 2x − 15 intersects the x-axis at points A and
C and the y-axis at point B. What is tan(∠ABC)?
√
14. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Suppose x > 1 is a real number such that x + 1x = 22. What is x2 − x12 ?
15. (Brilliant.org) Find the positive integer x such that

1 1 1 1
= 2 + 2 + 2 .
10x x + x x + 3x + 2 x + 5x + 6
16. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Suppose a and b are real6 numbers that satisfy the system of equations
a + b = 9,
a(a − 2) + b(b − 2) = 21.
What is ab?
17. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let P (x) be a quadratic polynomial with real coefficients such that P (3) =
7 and
P (x) = P (0) + P (1)x + P (2)x2
for all real x. What is P (−1)?
18. Two problems about the difference between roots of a quadratic.

5 The choice of 337 came from the fact that this was the second half of a relay question.
6 Note: they’re not actually real
(a) (AMSP Team Contest 2015) A line passing through the point (0, 3) intersects the graph of
y = x2 in two distinct points. The positive difference in x-coordinates of these two points is
5. Compute the positive difference between the points’ y-coordinates.
(b) (RHS Guts Round 2015) There exists a positive real number a such that the equation
ax2 = x + a
has two real solutions with the property that the larger one is 5 more than the smaller one.
What is a2 ?
19. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let P (x) = x2 + 4x + 1. What is the product of all real solutions to the
equation P (P (x)) = 0?
20. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Construction Mayhem University7 has been on a mission to expand and
improve its campus! The university has recently adopted a new construction schedule where a
new project begins every two days. Each project will take exactly one more day than the previous
one to complete (so the first project takes 3, the second takes 4, and so on.)
Suppose the new schedule starts on Day 1. On which day will there first be at least 10 projects
in place at the same time?
21. (NIMO April 2017) Nonzero real numbers a, b, c satisfy the equations a2 + b2 + c2 = 2915 and
(a − 1)(b − 1)(c − 1) = abc − 1. Compute a + b + c.
22. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Suppose P (x) is a quadratic polynomial with integer coefficients satisfy-
ing the identity
P (P (x)) − P (x)2 = x2 + x + 2016
for all real x. What is P (1)?
23. (NIMO 29) Let {an } be a sequence of integers such that a1 = 2016 and
an−1 + an
= n2 − n + 1
2
for all n ≥ 1. Compute a100 .
(1+`)2 13
F 24. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let ` be a real number satisfying the equation 1+` 2
= 37 . Then
(1 + `)3 m
=
1 + `3 n
where m and n are positive relatively prime integers. Find m + n.
25. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) 2018 little ducklings numbered 1 through 2018 are standing in a line,
with each holding a slip of paper with a nonnegative number on it; it is given that ducklings
1 and 2018 have the number zero. At some point, ducklings 2 through 2017 simultaneously
change their number to equal the average of the numbers of the ducklings to their immediate
left and right. Suppose the new numbers on the ducklings sum to 1000. What is the maximum
possible sum of the original numbers on all 2018 slips?8
7 Sorry CMU!
8 The wording here is clarified to reflect the original intention of the problem. Apologies for any confusion!
26. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Let p and q be real numbers with |p| < 1 and |q| < 1 such that
p + pq + pq2 + pq3 + · · · = 2 and q + qp + qp2 + qp3 + · · · = 3.
What is 100pq?
27. (AMC 10A 2022) Daniel finds a rectangular index card and measures its diagonal to be 8 cen-
timeters. Daniel then cuts out equal squares of side 1 cm at two opposite corners of the index
√
card and measures9 the distance between the two closest vertices of these squares to be 4 2
centimeters, as shown below. What is the area of the original index card?
1
8 1
√
4 2
28. (Mock AMC 12 2012) The polynomial x3 − Ax + 15 has three real roots. Two of these roots sum
to 5. What is |A|?
29. Two logarithm problems with a very similar flavor.
(a) (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Suppose x and y are real numbers such that logx (y) = 6 and
log2x (2y) = 5. What is log4x (4y)?
(b) (Mock AIME I 2015) Suppose that x and y are real numbers such that logx 3y = 20 13 and
2 a
log3x y = 3 . The value of log3x 3y can be expressed in the form b where a and b are positive
relatively prime integers. Find a + b.
30. (ARML Local 2019) Compute the maximum value of the function f (x) = sin x + sin(x + arccos 47 )
as x varies over all real numbers.
31. (NIMO 16) Let a and b be positive real numbers such that ab = 2 and
a b 7
2
+ 2
= .
a+b b+a 8
Find a6 + b6 .
32. (AMC 12B 2022) Suppose x and y are positive real numbers such that
xy = 264 and (log2 x)log2 y = 27 .
What is the greatest possible value of log2 y?
33. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) For all real numbers r, denote by {r} the fractional part of r, i.e. the
unique real numbern s ∈ [0, o 1)n suchothat r − s is an integer. How many real numbers x ∈ [1, 2)
satisfy the equation x 2018 = x2017 ?
√
9 Yes, I know, measuring a distance to be 4 2 centimeters is unrealistic. This was a situation where more “realistic”
numbers made the problem uglier.
34. (Carnegie Mellon 2020) For all real numbers x, let P (x) = 16x3 − 21x. What is the sum of all
possible values of tan2 θ, given that θ is an angle satisfying
P (sin θ) = P (cos θ)?
35. (AIME 2022) Quadratic polynomials P (x) and Q(x) have leading coefficients of 2 and −2, respec-
tively. The graphs of both polynomials pass through the two points (16, 54) and (20, 53). Find
P (0) + Q(0).
36. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) There exists exactly one polynomial g(z) with nonnegative coeffi-
cients such that
g(z)g(−z) = z4 − 47z2 + 1
for all z. Find this polynomial.10
37. (NIMO 29) Let {ai }∞
i=0 be a sequence of real numbers such that
∞
X xn
= a0 + a1 x + a2 x2 + a3 x3 + · · ·
1 − xn
n=1
for all |x| < 1. Find a1000 .

38. (ARML Local 2018) Suppose a, b, and c are real numbers such that a, b, c and a, b+1, c+2 are both
geometric sequences in their respective orders. Find the smallest possible value of (a + b + c)2 .
39. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Suppose x, y, and z are nonzero complex numbers such that (x + y +
z)(x2 + y 2 + z2 ) = x3 + y 3 + z3 . Compute
!
1 1 1 11
(x + y + z) + + .
x y z
40. (NIMO 18) There exists a unique strictly increasing arithmetic sequence {ai }100
i=1 of positive inte-
gers such that
a1 + a4 + a9 + · · · + a100 = 1000,
where the summation runs over all terms of the form ai 2 for 1 ≤ i ≤ 10. Find a50 .12
41. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) A line with negative slope passing through the point (18, 8) intersects
the x and y axes at (a, 0) and (0, b) respectively. What is the smallest possible value of a + b?13
n2
42. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) For each positive integer n, let an = . Furthermore, let P and Q
2n + 1
be real numbers such that
P = a1 a2 . . . a2013 , Q = (a1 + 1)(a2 + 1) . . . (a2013 + 1).
What is the sum of the digits of b Q

P c? (Note: bxc denotes the largest integer ≤ x.)
10 The number of submissions during the contest which had the polynomial written in terms of x as opposed to in terms
of z was quite surprising.
11 This may seem incredibly high placement given the fact this was problem 2 on the team round, but the latter placement
was because I figured teams could easily fakesolve it by say plugging x = y = 1 and I didn’t want to remove the beauty of the
problem statement by adding in an unnecessary “maximum” clause.
12 Inspired from what eventually would become NIMO 24 #1, hence the dual authorship with Tony Kim
13 Compare with 2016 Spring OMO #5. Fortunately, no harm was done, although I became very scared when I first saw
the connection.
43. (NICE Spring 2021)14 Suppose x and y are nonzero real numbers satisfying the system of equa-
tions
3x2 + y 2 = 13x,
x2 + 3y 2 = 14y.
Find x + y.
44. (NIMO 27) Suppose there exist constants A, B, C, and D such that
! ! ! !
4 n n n n
n =A +B +C +D
4 3 2 1
holds true for all positive integers n ≥ 4. What is A + B + C + D?15
45. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Suppose a, b, and c are nonzero real numbers such that
1 2 7 1
bc + = ca + = ab + = .
a b c a+b+c
Find a + b + c.
46. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Suppose A and B are angles such that
cos(A) + cos(B) = 54 ,
cos(2A) + cos(2B) = 19 .
If cos(3A)+cos(3B) is written as a fraction in lowest terms, what is the sum of the numerator and
denominator?16
47. (AMC 10A 2019) Let p, q, and r be the distinct roots of the polynomial x3 − 22x2 + 80x − 67. It is
given that there exist real numbers A, B, and C such that
1 A B C
= + +
s3 − 22s2 + 80s − 67 s−p s−q s−r
1
for all s < {p, q, r}. What is A + B1 + C1 ?
48. (NIMO 24) Let f be the quadratic function with leading coefficient 1 whose graph is tangent to
p
that of the lines y = −5x + 6 and y = x − 1. The sum of the coefficients of f is q , where p and q are
positive relatively prime integers. Find 100p + q.17
14 An extensive account of the creation of this problem can be found here.
15 This problem has interesting ties to Linear Algebra, since the sequence of polynomials x = x(x−1)···(x−k+1) can be
k k
viewed as a basis of the set of all finite-degree polynomials in R. (The Fibonacci polynomials question later in this section
also revolves around this idea.)
16 This is a bit computational. This was still relatively early on in my problem writing days, so I don’t think I had mastered
the art of picking nice numbers at this point....
17 This was originally intended as a calculus problem. Then I realized the non-calculus solution was shorter.
49. (NIMO 15) Let S = {1, 2, . . . , 2014}. Suppose that

X
i |T | = p + qi
T ⊆S
√
where p and q are integers, i = −1, and the summation runs over all 22014 subsets of S. Find
the remainder when |p| + |q| is divided by 1000. (Here |X| denotes the number of elements in a
set X.)
50. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Determine the value of the sum
X
ij(−1)i+j .
1≤i<j≤50
51. (Problem Stash 2) Let a, b, and c be nonzero real numbers such that a + b + c = 0 and
28(a4 + b4 + c4 ) = a7 + b7 + c7 .
Find a3 + b3 + c3 .
52. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Suppose P is a quintic polynomial with real coefficients with P (0) = 2
and P (1) = 3 such that |z| = 1 whenever z is a complex number satisfying P (z) = 0. What is the
smallest possible value of P (2) over all such polynomials P ?
53. (AMC 12A 2020) Let (an ) and (bn ) be the sequences of real numbers such that
(2 + i)n = an + bn i
√
for all integers n ≥ 0, where i = −1. What is
∞
X an bn
?
7n
n=0
54. (NIMO 18) Find the sum of all positive integers 1 ≤ k ≤ 99 such that there exist positive integers
a and b with the property that
x100 − axk + b = (x2 − 2x + 1)P (x)
for some polynomial P with integer coefficients.
55. (The CALT18 ) Suppose u and v are complex numbers satisfying the system of equations
(u − 1)(v − 1) = 9 and u3 − u2 = v3 − v2
Find the sum of all possible values of |u|2 + |v|2 .

18 A mock competition run by two users on AoPS.
P∞ 2k 1
√
56. (ARML Local 2019)19 Given that k=0 k 5k = 5, compute the value of the sum
∞ !
X 2k + 1 1
.
k 5k
k=0
57. (Problem Stash 1) Find the maximum possible value of nj=1 |zj |2 over all sequences z1 , z2 , . . . , zn
P
of complex numbers with nonnegative real parts satisfying
n
X n
X
zj = 5 and zj2 = 7.
j=1 j=1
58. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) Suppose x and y are real numbers such that
√
x2 + xy + y 2 = 2 and x2 − y 2 = 5.
Pn √
The sum of all possible distinct values of |x| can be written in the form i=1 ai , where each of
the ai is a rational number. What is ni=1 ai ?
P
59. (Mock AIME I 2013) Let Tn denote the nth triangular number, i.e. Tn = 1+2+3+· · ·+n. Compute20
∞ X
∞ !k
X 3
.
Ti
i=3 k=1
60. (Problem Stash 2) Suppose α, β, and γ are real numbers satisfying the system of equations
cos α cos(β − γ) = 38 ,
cos β cos(γ − α) = 12 ,
cos γ cos(α − β) = 34 .
Find the minimum possible value of cos(2γ).
61. (Mock AIME II 2012) There exist real values of a and b such that a + b = n, a2 + b2 = 2n, and
a3 + b3 = 3n for some value of n. Let S be the sum of all possible values of a4 + b4 . Find S.
62. Two similar-looking Vieta problems.
(a) (NICE Spring 2021) Let r1 , r2 , and r3 be the roots of the polynomial x3 − x + 1. Find
1 1 1
+ + .
r12 + r1 + 1 r22 + r2 + 1 r32 + r3 + 1
19 An exercise toward the end of A First Course in Complex Analysis guides readers through a proof of the sum P∞ 2k xk =
k=0 k
√ 1 using the identity
1−4x
(z + 1)n
! Z
n 1
= dz,
k 2πi γ zk+1
where γ is any simple closed piecewise smooth path with 0 in its interior. This problem was born out of exploring this
technique to try to evaluate different yet similar sums of binomial coefficients.
20 I find it interesting how the 3 is so important here; replacing it with any other number will break the intended solution.
(b) (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let r1 , r2 , . . . , r20 be the roots of the polynomial x20 − 7x3 + 1. Find
1 1 1
+ + ··· + .
r12 + 1 r22 + 1 2
r20 +1
63. (ARML Local 2018) For all nonnegative integers c, let f (c) denote the unique real number x
satisfying the equation
x4 + x5 − 48
= c.
x9 − 1
Compute f (0)f (1)f (2) · · · f (47).21
64. (AOIME22 2020) Let P (x) = x2 − 3x − 7, and let Q(x) and R(x) be two quadratic polynomials also
with the coefficient of x2 equal to 1. David computes each of the three sums P + Q, P + R, and
Q + R and is surprised to find that each pair of these sums has a common root, and these three
common roots are distinct. If Q(0) = 2, then find R(0).
65. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Across all x ∈ R, find the maximum value of the expression
sin x + sin 3x + sin 5x.
66. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Suppose x and y are real numbers which satisfy the system of equations
17 23
x2 − 3y 2 = and 3x2 − y 2 = .
x y
Find x2 + y 2 .
F 67. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Suppose a, b, c, and d are positive real numbers which satisfy the system
of equations
(a + b)(c + d) = 143,
(a + c)(b + d) = 150,
(a + d)(b + c) = 169.
Find the smallest possible value of a2 + b2 + c2 + d 2 .23
68. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) The parabola P given by equation y = x2 is rotated some acute angle θ
clockwise about the origin such that it hits both the x and y axes at two distinct points. Suppose
the length of the segment P cuts the x-axis is 1. What is the length of the segment P cuts the
y-axis?
69. (Carnegie Mellon 2018, with Keerthana Gurushankar) Let a be a complex number, and set α, β,
and γ to be the roots of the polynomial x3 − x2 + ax − 1. Suppose
(α 3 + 1)(β 3 + 1)(γ 3 + 1) = 2018.
Compute the product of all possible values of a.24
21 I originally submitted this to the NIMO database in June 2015! I think I intended for it to be a Summer Contest question,
which is why it went unused for so long.
22 a replacement for the AIME II, where the “O” stands for “online”
23 Inspired simultaneously by NIMO 19 #7 and AMST 2016 Algebra #9. Also compare with 2016 Japan Mathematical
Olympiad Preliminary #7 apparently??
24 More specifically, Keerthana came up with the original setup of looking at Q(α 3 + 1); I turned the problem in a new
direction by adding another layer to the computation of the product.
70. (NIMO 15) For all positive integers k, define f (k) = k 2 + k + 1. Compute the largest positive
integer n such that
2
2015f (12 )f (22 ) · · · f (n2 ) ≥ f (1)f (2) · · · f (n) .
71. (AIME 2020) 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 .
72. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) It is given that the roots of the polynomial P (z) = z2019 −1 can be written
in the form zk = xk + iyk for 1 ≤ k ≤ 2019. Let Q denote the monic polynomial with roots equal
to 2xk + iyk for 1 ≤ k ≤ 2019. Compute Q(−2).
F 73. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Suppose P is a cubic polynomial satisfying P (0) = 3 and
(x3 − 2x + 1 − P (x))(2x3 − 5x2 + 4 − P (x)) ≤ 0
for all x ∈ R. Determine all possible values of P (−1).25
74. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Suppose a0 , a1 , . . . , a2018 are integers such that
2018
X
(x2 − 3x + 1)1009 = ak xk
k=0
for all real numbers x. Compute the remainder when a20 + a21 + · · · + a22018 is divided by 2017.26
75. (Mock AIME I 2015) Suppose α, β, and γ are complex numbers that satisfy the system of equa-
tions
α + β + γ = 6,
α + β 3 + γ 3 = 87,
3
(α + 1)(β + 1)(γ + 1) = 33.

1
Find α + β1 + γ1 .
F 76. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Let a, b, and c be complex numbers satisfying the system of equations
a b c
+ + = 9,
b+c c+a a+b
a2 b2 c2
+ + = 32,
b+c c+a a+b
a3 b3 c3
+ + = 122.
b+c c+a a+b
Find abc.27
25 This was directly inspired by trying to generalize AIME 2010.I.6 to the case where the parabolas do not share a common
vertex.
26 This problem was the result of spending about a month trying to find a clever use of generating functions. While this
result is nothing new (e.g. the OEIS pages for sequences A002426 and A082758 cross-reference each other), I’ve never seen
this exact idea in a contest setting before, so it’s all good.
27 This problem exemplifies perhaps what is one of the biggest consistent flaws over lots of my problems: interesting initial
ideas but somewhat computational finishes.
77. (Mock AIME I 2013) Let a, b, and c be the roots of the equation x3 + 2x − 1 = 0, and let X and Y
a b c
be the two possible values of + + . Find (X + 1)(Y + 1).
b c a
78. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Suppose a1 , a2 , . . ., a10 are nonnegative integers such that
10
X 10
X
ak = 15 and kak = 80.
k=1 k=1
P10 2a .
Let M and m denote the maximum and minimum respectively of k=1 k k Compute M − m.28
79. (ARML Local 2018) It is given that there exist real numbers a0 , . . . , a18 such that
sin2 (10x)
= a0 + a1 cos(x) + a2 cos(2x) + · · · + a18 cos(18x)
sin2 (x)
for all x with sin x , 0. Compute a20 + a21 + · · · + a218 .29
80. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) The polynomial P (x) = x3 − 6x − 2 has three real roots, α, β, and γ.
Depending on the assignment of the roots, there exist two different quadratics Q such that the
graph of y = Q(x) pass through the points (α, β), (β, γ), and (γ, α). What is the larger of the two
values of Q(1)?30
F 81. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Let

10
Y n n−1
P (x) = (x2 − x2 + 1) = (x2 − x + 1)(x4 − x2 + 1)(x8 − x4 + 1) . . . (x1024 − x512 + 1).
n=1
When P (x) is expanded, how many terms does it contain?31
F 82. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Let c denote the largest possible real number such that there exists a
nonconstant polynomial P with
P (z2 ) = P (z − c)P (z + c)
for all z. Compute the sum of all values of P ( 13 ) over all nonconstant polynomials P satisfying
the above constraint for this c.32
83. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let P be the unique parabola in the xy-plane which is tangent to the
x-axis at (5, 0) and to the y-axis at (0, 12). We say a line ` is P -friendly if the x-axis, y-axis, and
P divide ` into three segments, each of which has equal length. Find the sum of the slopes of all
P -friendly lines.
28 This was A6 until about a week or two before the contest. It seems that I heavily underestimated the difficulty of this
problem.
29 This problem is a small adaptation of a lemma from a 21-723 Advanced Real Analysis homework assignment. More
specifically, the calculation in this question can be used to show that the Fejér kernel forms an approximate identity, which
in turn can be used to show convergence results of Fourier series in certain Lp spaces.
30 Heavily inspired by Problem 8.63 in Intermediate Algebra.
31 This is probably one of the only problems I’ve ever written for which I knew the answer but not the formal solution
while the contest was active.
32 I’m still surprised that a nonzero value of c exists. Perhaps one of my favorite algebra problems I’ve ever written.
84. (TSTST 2023, with Evan Chen) Suppose a, b, and c are three complex numbers with product 1.
Assume that none of a, b, and c are real or have absolute value 1. Define
1 1 1 a b c

p = (a + b + c) + + + and q = + + .
a b c b c a
Given that both p and q are real numbers, find all possible values of the ordered pair (p, q).33
85. (NICE Fall 2021) A long time ago, David conjured a math problem to use for a contest and wrote
it down on a piece of paper. However, he soon lost the paper and hence completely forgot about
the problem. Years later, he rediscovers this piece of paper, but it got smudged, and now some
parts of the problem are obscured:
Suppose a, b, c, and d are nonnegative real numbers such that
ab + bc + ac = and bc + cd + bd = .
Determine the smallest possible value of a + b + c + d.
Unfortunately, David does not remember much about this problem; he only recalls √ that the two
obscured numbers were positive integers, and that the answer to the problem was 6 3. He then
turns sour, as he realizes that it is impossible to uniquely reconstruct the problem with this given
information.
Determine the sum of all possible values for the larger of the two obscured integers. (These
integers are allowed to be equal, in which case the common value should be added to the sum.)
F 86. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Denote by F0 (x), F1 (x), . . . the sequence of Fibonacci polynomials, which
satisfy the recurrence F0 (x) = 1, F1 (x) = x, and Fn (x) = xFn−1 (x)+Fn−2 (x) for all n ≥ 2.34 It is given
that there exist integers λ0 , λ1 , . . ., λ1000 such that
1000
X
x1000 = λi Fi (x)
i=0
for all real x. For which integer k is |λk | maximized?35
33 Inspired by trying to construct an AIME-style Vieta question. Evan noticed a mistake in my original statement/proof
and formulated this version in response.
34 In reality, the indices are shifted up by one (so e.g. F (x) = 1), but this interpretation makes the problem statement
1
easier to write since deg Fi (x) = i for all i ≥ 0
35 This, like all the other #10s which appeared on Carnegie Mellon in 2016, took me several days to solve. I was very much
okay with putting problems on the test that did take me multiple days to solve because of the very high skill cap of the
contestants coming. Indeed, a few people almost solved this one completely!
2 Combinatorics
1. (Problem Stash 2) A new disease dubbed sineavirus has arrived! Symptoms include a fear of
trigonometry, and so we want to detect it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, these symptoms do
not show as soon as the virus infects the body. Indeed, for every integer n ≥ 1, the probability
that symptoms show36 on the nth day is 21n . (Symptoms do not show on the 0th day.)
Suppose a patient is infected on a Sunday. What is the probability that this person’s symptoms
first show on a Thursday?
2. (NIMO Summer Contest 2016) Evan writes a computer program that randomly rearranges the
digits 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 to create a five-digit number with no leading zeroes. If he executes this
program once, what is the probability the program outputs an integer divisible by 4?37
3. (ARML Local 2018) The ARML Local staff have ranked each of the 10 individual problems in
order of difficulty from 1 to 10. They wish to order the problems such that the problem with
difficulty i is before the problem with difficulty i + 2 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ 8. Compute the number of
orderings of the problems that satisfy this condition.38
4. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) A regular 2013-gon is placed in the plane in general position. A family
of lines is drawn on this plane such that no two lines are parallel, and for every vertex A of the
2013-gon, there exists a line that passes through A. What is the smallest number of possible
lines in the family?
5. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015, with Tony Kim) The NIMO problem writers have invented a new
chess piece called the Oriented Knight. This new chess piece has a limited number of moves: it
can either move two squares to the right and one square upward or two squares upward and
one square to the right. How many ways can the knight move from the bottom-left square to the
top-right square of a 16 × 16 chess board?39
6. (NIMO 30) David draws a 2 × 2 grid of squares in chalk on the sidewalk outside NIMO HQ. He
then draws one arrow in each square, each pointing in one of the four cardinal directions (north,
south, east, west) parallel to the sides of the grid. In how many ways can David draw his arrows
such that no two of the arrows are pointing at each other?
7. (NIMO 21) In the Fragmented Game of Spoons, eight players sit in a row, each with a hand of four
cards. Each round, the first player in the row selects the top card from the stack of unplayed
cards and either passes it to the second player, which occurs with probability 21 , or swaps it with
one of the four cards in his hand, each card having an equal chance of being chosen, and passes
the new card to the second player. The second player then takes the card from the first player
and chooses a card to pass to the third player in the same way. Play continues until the eighth
player is passed a card, at which point the card he chooses to pass is removed from the game
and the next round begins. To win, a player must hold four cards of the same number, one of
each suit.
During a game, David is the eighth player in the row and needs an Ace of Clubs to win. At the
start of the round, the dealer picks up a Ace of Clubs from the deck. Suppose that Justin, the
36 To clarify: this is the probability symptoms show for the first time; these probabilities sum to 1 on purpose.
37 This was a dropped Carnegie Mellon 2016 problem. I’m not sure why this didn’t make the test; my best guess is that we
had other problems which probably fit better in the early spots.
38 Originally a proposal for NIMO Summer Contest 2017 (with the appropriate flavortext modifications of course)
39 Heavily inspired by a NIMO proposal from Tony, hence the dual authorship
fifth player, also has a Ace of Clubs, and that all other Ace of Clubs cards have been removed.
Find the probability that David is passed an Ace of Clubs during the round.
8. (USAMTS 2020-2021) Infinitely many math beasts stand in a line, all six feet apart, wearing
masks, and with clean hands. Grogg starts at the front of the line, holding n pieces of candy,
n ≥ 1, and everyone else has none. He passes his candy to the beasts behind him, one piece each
to the next n beasts in line. Then, Grogg leaves the line. The other beasts repeat this process:
the beast in front, who has k pieces of candy, passes one piece each to the next k beasts in line,
and then leaves the line. For some values of n, another beast, besides Grogg, temporarily holds
all the candy. For which values of n does this occur?
9. (AMC 10A/12A 2023) What is the number of ways the numbers from 1 to 14 can be split into 7
pairs such that for each pair, the greater number is at least 2 times the smaller number?
10. (Carnegie Mellon 2020) David is taking a true/false exam with 9 questions. Unfortunately, he
doesn’t know the answer to any of the questions, but he does know that exactly 5 of the answers
are True. In accordance with this, David guesses the answers to all 9 questions, making sure
that exactly 5 of his answers are True. What is the probability he answers at least 5 questions
correctly?
11. (NIMO April 2017) Two neighboring towns, MWMTown and NIMOTown, have a strange re-
lationship with regard to weather. On a certain day, the probability that it is sunny in either
1
town is 23 greater than the probability of MWMTown being sunny, and the probability that it is
sunny in MWMTown, given that it is sunny in NIMOTown, is 12 23 . What is the probability that it
is sunny in NIMOTown?40
12. (AMC 10A 2021) How many ways are there to place 3 indistinguishable red chips, 3 indistin-
guishable blue chips, and 3 indistinguishable green chips in the squares of a 3 × 3 grid so that no
two chips of the same color are directly adjacent to each other, either vertically or horizontally?
F 13. (NICE Spring 2021) Ethan draws a 2 × 6 grid of points on a piece of paper such that each pair
of adjacent points is distance 1 apart. How many ways can Ethan divide the 12 points into six
pairs such that the distance between the points in each pair is in the interval [2, 4)?
14. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Mr. Mebane’s Preschool WOOT class is taking a class photograph.
There are five boys in the class, and they are 48, 49, 50, 51, and 52 inches tall. In the class
photograph, they are to sit themselves in five chairs positioned in a row. In how many ways can
Mr. Mebane’s students seat themselves such that no boy sits next to another boy who is exactly
one inch taller than himself?
15. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) DG chooses a three-element subset of the set {−10, −9, −8, . . . , 8, 9, 10}.
What is the probability that the three elements in his subset sum to zero?
16. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) On a blackboard lies 50 magnets in a line numbered from 1 to
50, with different magnets containing different numbers. David walks up to the blackboard
and rearranges the magnets into some arbitrary order. He then writes underneath each pair of
consecutive magnets the positive difference between the numbers on the magnets. Compute the
expected number of times he writes the number41 1.
40 oops this is super contrived but whatever
41 Not just the digit!
17. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Emily draws six dots on a piece of paper such that no three lie on a
straight line, then draws a line segment connecting each pair of dots. She then colors five of
these segments red. Her coloring is said to be red-triangle-free if for every set of three points
from her six drawn points there exists an uncolored segment connecting two of the three points.
In how many ways can Emily color her drawing such that it is red-triangle-free?
18. (Problem Stash 1) Let T denote the set of tilings of a 1×12 board using only 1×1 and 1×2 pieces.
For each tiling T ∈ T , let f (T ) denote the number of times a 1 × 1 square immediately precedes
a 1 × 2 domino. What is X
f (T )?
T ∈T
19. (NIMO April 2017) Twenty lamps are placed on the vertices of a regular 20-gon. The lights turn
on and off according to the following rule: if, in second k the two lights adjacent to a light L are
either both on or both off, L is on in second k + 1; otherwise, L is off in second k + 1. Let N denote
the number of possible original settings of the lamps so that after four moves all lamps are on.
What is the sum of the digits of N ?
20. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) There are 100 lightbulbs B1 , . . . , B100 spaced evenly around a circle in
this order. Additionally, there are 100 switches S1 , . . . , S100 such that for all 1 ≤ i ≤ 100, switch Si
toggles the states of lights Bi−1 and Bi+1 (where here B101 = B1 ). Suppose David chooses whether
to flick each switch with probability 21 . What is the expected number of lightbulbs which are on
at the end of this process given that not all lightbulbs are off?
21. (AIME 2018) Find the number of functions f from {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6} to the integers such that
f (0) = 0, f (6) = 12, and
|x − y| ≤ f (x) − f (y) ≤ 3|x − y|
for all x and y in {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.
22. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Compute the number of rearrangements a1 , a2 , . . . , a2018 of the sequence
1, 2, . . . , 2018 such that ak > k for exactly one value of k.
23. (Problem Stash 2) A new new disease dubbed cosineavirus has arrived! Symptoms include a fear
of trigonometry, and so we want to detect it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, these symptoms
do not show as soon as the virus infects the body. Indeed, for every integer n ≥ 1, the probability
1
that symptoms show on the nth day is n(n+1) . (Symptoms do not show on the 0th day.)
Suppose patient zero is infected on Day 0, and each day thereafter one new person is infected.
What is the expected number of days after Day 0 until someone first shows symptoms?42
F 24. (AIME 2023) 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. One way to do this is shown below. Find the number of positive
integer divisors of N .
1 3 5 7 9 11
2 4 6 8 10 12
42 The inspiration should be fairly clear :). In particular, this was inspired from thinking about disease spread, especially
from the 2-14 day incubation period of the novel coronavirus.
25. (NIMO 18) In a 4×4 grid of unit squares, five squares are chosen at random. Find the probability
that no two chosen squares share a side.43
26. (USAMTS 2017-2018) Let n be a positive integer. Aavid has a card deck consisting of 2n cards,
each colored with one of n colors such that every color is on exactly two of the cards. The 2n
cards are randomly ordered in a stack. Every second, he removes the top card from the stack
and places the card into an area called the pit. If the other card of that color also happens to be
in the pit, Aavid collects both cards of that color and discards them from the pit.
Of the (2n)! possible original orderings of the deck, determine how many have the following
property: at every point, the pit contains cards of at most two distinct colors.
27. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) For how many permutations π of {1, 2, . . . , 9} does there exist an integer
N such that
N ≡ π(i) (mod i) for all integers 1 ≤ i ≤ 9?44
28. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let F be a family of subsets of {1, 2, . . . , 2017} with the following prop-
erty: whenever S1 and S2 are two elements of F with S1 ( S2 , the quantity |S2 \ S1 | is odd.
Compute the largest number of subsets F may contain.45
F 29. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Consider an undirected, connected graph G with vertex set {v1 , v2 , . . . , v6 }.
Starting at the vertex v1 , an ant uses a DFS algorithm to traverse through G under the condition
that if there are multiple unvisited neighbors of some vertex, the ant chooses the vi with smallest
i. How many possible graphs G are there satisfying the following property: for each 1 ≤ i ≤ 6,
the vertex vi is the i th new vertex the ant traverses?46
30. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) For all positive integers m ≥ 1, denote by Gm the set of simple graphs
with exactly m edges. Find the number of pairs of integers (m, n) with 1 < 2n ≤ m ≤ 100 such
that there exists a simple graph G ∈ Gm satisfying the following property: it is possible to label
the edges of G with labels E1 , E2 , . . ., Em such that for all i , j, edges Ei and Ej are incident if and
only if either |i − j| ≤ n or |i − j| ≥ m − n.47
31. (Problem Stash 2) David has 10 cards in a bowl, with each card containing a distinct integer
between 1 and 10. He separates the cards into 5 bins, numbered 1 through 5, so that each bin
contains exactly two cards; each possible distribution has an equal chance of occurring. Find be
the probability David may visit each of the bins in order and choose one number from each bin
to obtain an increasing sequence.
(For example, if the first bin houses cards 2 and 4 and the second bin houses cards 1 and 3, then
David may pick the 2 and 3 to obtain the desired sequence; however, he can not do this if the
first bin holds cards 3 and 4 while the second holds cards 1 and 2.)
43 Probably one of my most infamous problems to date. I actually liked it, in part because of the method that I found to
enumerating all the cases. But it seems that this opinion was not universal.
44 See here. If you want to get the spirit of this problem without worrying about lots of casework, replace 9 with 6. This is
probably one of the biggest regrets I have with any of my problems.
45 Putting this here because proving the result is somewhat harder than arriving at the answer.
46 Inspired by a 15-210 programming assignment during the F17 semester!
47 This hints at the idea of a line graph, which is a transformation we studied in 15-251 while working with polynomial-
time reductions.
F 32. (IMO 2019)48 The Bank of Bath issues coins with an H on one side and a T on the other. Harry
has n of these coins arranged in a line from left to right. He repeatedly performs the following
operation: if there are exactly k > 0 coins showing H, then he turns over the kth coin from the
left; otherwise, all coins show T and he stops. For example, if n = 3 the process starting with the
configuration T HT would be T HT → HHT → HT T → T T T , which stops after three operations.
(a) Show that, for each initial configuration, Harry stops after a finite number of operations.
(b) For each initial configuration C, let L(C) be the number of operations before Harry stops.
For example, L(T HT ) = 3 and L(T T T ) = 0. Determine the average value of L(C) over all 2n
possible initial configurations C.
48 I’m amazed. This problem is at the end of the combo section not because it’s the hardest problem I’ve written, but
because for now it just feels right here.
3 Geometry
1. (AMC 10A/12A 2021 Fall) Menkara has a 4 × 6 index card. If she shortens the length of one side
of this card by 1 inch, the card would have area 18 square inches. What would the area of the
card be in square inches if instead she shortens the length of the other side by 1 inch?
2. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) The figure to the right depicts two congruent49 triangles with angle
measures 40◦ , 50◦ , and 90◦ . What is the measure of the obtuse angle α formed by the hy-
potenuses of these two triangles?
3. (AMC 12B 2022) In rhombus ABCD, point P lies on segment AD such that BP ⊥ AD, AP = 3,
and P D = 2. What is the area of ABCD?
B C
A P D
4. (JMPSC 2022) David doesn’t know how to use the following semicircular protractor. Help him
find the measure of the indicated red angle, in degrees.50
5. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let 4ABC be an equilateral triangle and P a point on BC. If P B = 50
and P C = 30, compute P A.51
6. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABC be a triangle. Point P lies in the interior of ABC such that
∠ABP = 20◦ and ∠ACP = 15◦ . Compute ∠BP C − ∠BAC.
49 This part is not necessary, but I was worried about possible configuration loopholes that might occur otherwise.
50 This problem is just funny. It doesn’t have a lot of mathematical content, but the setup makes it work.
51 For some reason, I really like this problem. I think it is a very strong opening question.
7. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Let ABC be a triangle with ∠BAC = 117◦ . The angle bisector of ∠ABC
intersects side AC at D. Suppose 4ABD ∼ 4ACB. Compute the measure of ∠ABC, in degrees.
8. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) Suppose ABCD is a convex quadrilateral with ∠ABC = 144◦ , ∠ADC =
105◦ , and AB = BD = DC. Compute ∠BCD − ∠BAD.
9. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with AD = BC = 15 such that the
distance between its bases AB and CD is 7. Suppose further that the circles with diameters AD
and BC are tangent to each other. What is the area of the trapezoid?
10. (NICE Spring 2021) What is the smallest possible area of a rhombus R whose sides have length
5 and whose vertices are all points in the plane with integer coordinates?
11. (JMPSC 2022) Let R be a rectangle. The bisector of one of the right angles of R divides R into
two shapes: a triangle with area 6 and a quadrilateral with area 12. If the perimeter of the
rectangle is P , what is P 2 ?
12. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let ABC be an equilateral triangle with side length 2, and let M be the
midpoint of BC. Points X and Y are placed on AB and AC respectively such that 4XMY is an
isosceles right triangle with a right angle at M. What is the length of XY ?
13. (Problem Stash 2) Two congruent 3 × 11 rectangles fit into a triangle T as shown below. What is
the area of T ?
14. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABCD be a square of side length 1, and let P be a variable point
on CD. Denote by Q the intersection point of the angle bisector of ∠AP B with AB. The set
of possible locations for Q as P varies along CD is a line segment; what is the length of this
segment?
15. (NIMO 28) Trapezoid ABCD is an isosceles trapezoid with AD = BC. Point P is the intersection
of the diagonals AC and BD. If the area of 4ABP is 50 and the area of 4CDP is 72, what is the
area of the entire trapezoid?52
16. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let X and Y be points on semicircle AB with diameter 3. Suppose the
distance from X to AB is 45 and the distance from Y to AB is 41 . Compute
(AX + BX)2 − (AY + BY )2 .

52 Also a dropped Carnegie Mellon problem. I think I took this off because I didn’t feel it was original enough when
compared with some of the other questions on the test.
17. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Rectangle ABCD has AB = 5 and BC = 12. CD is extended to a point
E such that 4ACE is isosceles with base AC. What is the area of triangle ADE?53
18. (AMC 10A 2018) Two circles of radius 5 are externally tangent to each other and are internally
tangent to a circle of radius 13 at points A and B, as shown in the diagram. What is AB?
T1 T2
19. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Triangle ABC has an obtuse angle at ∠A. Points D and E are placed on
BC in the order B, D, E, C such that ∠BAD = ∠BCA and ∠CAE = ∠CBA. If AB = 10, AC = 11, and
DE = 4, determine BC.
20. (TKMT54 ) Suppose AOP S is an isosceles trapezoid with AO k P S, AO = 26, and SP = 36. If the
bisectors of ∠ASP and ∠OP S intersect on AO, compute the area of AOP S.
21. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) Let 4ABC have AB = 3, AC = 5, and ∠A = 90◦ . Point D is the foot
of the altitude from A to BC, and X and Y are the feet of the altitudes from D to AB and AC
respectively. What is XY 2 ?
22. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) Equilateral triangle ABC has side length 6. A circle ω is inscribed
inside 4ABC. A point P is selected randomly on the circumference of ω. What is the probability
that ∠BP C is acute?
√
23. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABC be a triangle with side lengths 5, 4 2, and 7. What is the area
of the triangle with side lengths sin A, sin B, and sin C?
24. (USAMTS 2020-2021) Find distinct points A, B, C, and D in the plane such that the length of
the segment AB is an even integer, and the lengths of the segments AC, AD, BC, BD, and CD
are all odd integers.55
25. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let 4A1 B1 C1 be an equilateral triangle of area 60. Chloe constructs a
new triangle 4A2 B2 C2 as follows. First, she flips a coin. If it comes up heads, she constructs
point A2 such that B1 is the midpoint of A2 C1 . If it comes up tails, she instead constructs A2
such that C1 is the midpoint of A2 B1 . She performs analogous operations on B2 and C2 . What is
the expected value of the area of 4A2 B2 C2 ?
53 This problem appeared on the Mock AMC 12 from 2012 as well; however, when submitting the problem, I accidentally
miscopied and made the base EC instead. This makes the question much easier!
54 Taimur Khalid Math Tournament, a contest on the Art of Problem Solving website I contributed a few questions to
55 This problem, written in 2017, was inspired by Miniature 6 of Jiřı Matoušek’s Thirty-three Miniatures: Mathematical and
Algorithmic Applications of Linear Algebra, which in turn was based on a 1974 article in the American Mathematical Monthly.
This miniature shows that, given six points in the plane, their distances cannot be all odd integers.
26. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let ABC be a triangle. The angle bisector of ∠B intersects AC at point
P , while the angle bisector of ∠C intersects AB at a point Q. Suppose the area of 4ABP is 27, the
area of 4ACQ is 32, and the area of 4ABC is 72. What is the length of BC?56
27. (ARML Local 2018) Circles ω1 and ω2 have radii 5 and 12 respectively and have centers distance
13 apart. Let A and B denote the intersection points of ω1 and ω2 . A line ` passing through A
intersects ω1 again at X and ω2 again at Y such that ∠ABY = 2∠ABX. Compute the length XY .
28. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABC be a triangle with BC = 30, AC = 50, and AB = 60. Circle
ωB is the circle passing through A and B tangent to BC at B; ωC is defined similarly. Suppose
the tangent to (ABC) at A intersects ωB and ωC for the second time at X and Y respectively.
Compute XY .
29. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Let ABCD be a rectangle such that AB = 3 and BC = 4. Suppose that
M and N are the centers of the circles inscribed inside triangles 4ABC and 4ADC respectively.
What is MN 2 ?57
30. (AMC 10B 2021 Fall) In square ABCD, points P and Q lie on AD and AB, respectively. Segments
BP and CQ intersect at right angles at R, with BR = 6 and P R = 7. What is the area of the
square?58
D C
P
7
R
6
A Q B
31. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Right isosceles triangle T is placed in the first quadrant of the coordinate
plane. Suppose that the projection of T onto the x-axis has length 6, while the projection of T
onto the y-axis has length 8. What is the sum of all possible areas of the triangle T ?
32. (Farewell Mock Geometry AMC) Two concentric squares, one of side length 8 and the other of
side length 6, are placed so that corresponding edges are parallel. A third square is placed so
that it is inscribed inside the outer square but circumscribed around the inner square. What is
the area of this third square?59
33. (JMPSC 2022) Two perpendicular chords of a circle ω have√lengths 8 and 10 and intersect at a
point P . The distance from P to the center of the circle is 19. If the area of the circle is Aπ,
what is A?
56 Inspired by 2014 Purple Comet #20.
57 I believe this is the oldest problem in this collection - it’s dated all the way back to 2009!
58 Written at AMSP Cornell 2019 in a Starbucks. This Starbucks is about a 20 minute walk away from the camp, so no
issues with confidentiality here. I quite like this one; it has an elegant presentation that is both surprising (in its minimalism)
and non-computational.
59 Compare with 2015 AMC 8 #25.
34. (Problem Stash 1, AMSP Team Contest 2019) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 13, BC = 14, and
AC = 15. Squares ABDE and ACGF are constructed externally to 4ABC, and lines BG and CD
intersect at point P . Compute the distance from P to the line BC.
F
E
A
G
D P
B C
35. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with AD k BC. Points P and Q are
placed on segments CD and DA respectively such that AP ⊥ CD and BQ ⊥ DA, and point X is
the intersection of these two altitudes. Suppose that BX = 3 and XQ = 1. Compute the largest
possible area of ABCD.
36. (AMC 12A 2021 Fall) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with BC k AD and AB = CD. Points
X and Y lie on diagonal AC with X between A and Y , as shown in the figure. Suppose ∠AXD =
∠BY C = 90◦ , AX = 3, XY = 1, and Y C = 2. What is the area of ABCD? 60
Y X
C A
2 1 3
D
60 I like this problem a lot, but it happened to be quite misplaced. I believe rotating the diagram so that diagonal AC is
horizontal made the problem a bit easier.
37. (Mock AIME I 2015) Let A, B, C be points in the plane such that AB = 25, AC = 29, and ∠BAC <
90◦ . Semicircles with diameters AB and AC intersect at a point P with AP = 20. Find the length
of line segment BC.61
38. (Mock AIME II 2012) Let 4ABC be a triangle, and let IA , IB , and IC be the points where the angle
bisectors of A, B, and C, respectfully, intersect the sides opposite them. Given that AIB = 5,
CIB = 4, and CIA = 3, find the ratio AIC : BIC .
39. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) A rhombus has height 15 and diagonals with lengths in a ratio of 3 : 4.
What is the length of the rhombus?
40. (AMC 10B/12B 2019) Points A(6, 13) and B(12, 11) lie on a circle Ω in the plane. Suppose that
the tangents to Ω from A and B intersect at a point on the x-axis. What is the area of Ω?
41. (Mock AIME II 2012) A circle with radius 5 and center in the first quadrant is placed so that it is
tangent to the y-axis. If the line passing through the origin that is tangent to the circle has slope
1
2 , then find the y-coordinate of the center of the circle.
42. (Farewell Mock Geometry AMC) Let ABCD be a square with side length 4. A circle ω is drawn
inscribed inside this square. Point E is placed on BC such that BE = 1, and line segment DE is
drawn. This line segment intersects ω at distinct points F and G. Find the length FG.
43. (AMC 10B/12B 2021) The figure below is constructed from 11 line segments, each of which has
length 2. What is the area of pentagon ABCDE?
B E
C D
44. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let MAT H be a trapezoid with MA = AT = T H = 5 and MH = 11. Point
S is the orthocenter of 4AT H. Compute the area of quadrilateral MASH.
F 45. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) In acute triangle ABC, points D and E are the feet of the angle bisector
and altitude from A respectively. Suppose that AC − AB = 36 and DC − DB = 24. Compute
EC − EB.62
46. (Mock AMC 12 2012) Right triangle 4ABC has AB = 15, BC = 20, and a right angle at B. Point D
is placed on AC such that 4DAB is isosceles with base AD. The circumcircle of 4DAB intersects
line CB at point E , B. What is BE?63
61 Compare with 2012 (2013?) Winter OMO #19. Oops! No harm done, though.
62 Once again, this is an “easy” problem that I actually enjoy quite a bit. I’m surprised I’ve never seen this relationship
exploited before.
63 I remember when this was one of the problems I was most proud of writing. Oh, how times have changed....
47. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 9, BC = 10, CA = 11, and orthocenter
H. Suppose point D is placed on BC such that AH = HD. Compute AD.
48. (AMC 12A 2021) Suppose that on a parabola with vertex V and a focus F there exists a point A
such that AF = 20 and AV = 21. What is the sum of all possible values of the length FV ?
49. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Let S be the sphere with center (0, 0, 1) and radius 1 in R3 . A plane P is
tangent to S at the point (x0 , y0 , z0 ), where x0 , y0 , and z0 are all positive. Suppose the intersection
of plane P with the xy-plane is the line with equation 2x + y = 10 in xy-space. What is z0 ?64
50. (NIMO 16) Let ABCD be a square with side length 2. Let M and N be the midpoints of BC and
CD respectively, and let X and Y be the feet of the perpendiculars from A to MD and N B, also
respectively. What is the square of the length of segment XY ?
51. (Bridging the Gap) Triangle AEF is a right triangle with AE = 4 and EF = 3. The triangle is
inscribed inside square ABCD with E on BC and F on CD. What is the area of the square?65
52. (NICE Fall 2021, with Linus Tang) A square ABCD is positioned in a corner with vertex O, as
shown below, such that OC = 3 and OD = 4. What is the area of square ABCD? 66
O A
53. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) Square ABCD has side length 10, and point M is the midpoint of
BC. Two circles are inscribed inside the square as shown. What is the ratio of the area of the
larger circle to the area of the smaller one?
B M C
A D
64 Oh my, it’s a coordinate geometry question!

65 Compare with 2015 MATHCOUNTS National Sprint #25. It seems that a lot of people who took the test actually worked
on the problem set - yay!
66 For years, I’ve thought of this problem but didn’t think the system of equations was nice to solve. Turns out it’s nice to
solve.
54. (Mock AMC 12 2012) Two chords are constructed in a circle with radius 4 such that their inter-
section point lies on the circle, and the angle formed by the two chords has measure 30◦ . One of
the chords has length 5. What is the largest possible value for the length of the other chord?
F 55. (NICE Spring 2021) Let ABCD be a parallelogram with ∠BAD < 90◦ . The circumcircle of 4ABD
intersects BC and AC again at E and Q, respectively. Let P be the intersection point of ED with
AC. If AP = 6, P Q = 1, and QC = 3, find the area of parallelogram ABCD.
B E C
3
Q
1
P
A D
56. (USAMTS 2020-2021) Find distinct points A, B, C, and D in the plane such that the length of the
segment AB is an even integer, and the lengths of the segments AC, AD, BC, BD, and CD are all
odd integers. In addition to stating the coordinates of the points and distances between points,
please include a brief explanation of how you found the configuration of points and computed
the distances.67
57. (ARML Local 2019) Let T be an isosceles trapezoid such that there exists a point P in the plane
whose distances to the four vertices of T are 5, 6, 8, and 11. Compute the largest possible ratio
of the length of the longer base of T to the length of its shorter base.
58. (NIMO 19) Let Ω1 and Ω2 be two circles in the plane. Suppose the common external tangent
to Ω1 and Ω2 has length 2017 while their common internal tangent has length 2009. Find the
product of the radii of Ω1 and Ω2 .68
59. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) In 4ABC, AB = 13, AC = 14, and BC = 15. Let M denote the midpoint
of AC. Point P is placed on line segment BM such that AP ⊥ P C. What is the area of 4AP C?
60. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) One deleted scene from the movie Inception involved a square hanging
in mid-air at a certain angle as shown. Scientists tried to determine the dimensions of the square
directly, but to no avail. However, working her magic, a passerby named Ellen was able to extend
the sides of the square until they met the ground at points P , A, G, and E in that order. Simple
measurements showed that P A = 2 and GE = 3. What was the area of the square?
67 It is known (see Putnam 1993 B5) that it is impossible for all six distances to be odd integers. This problem stemmed
from looking at the next best thing.
68 Compare with HMMT Guts 2007 #11.
P A G E
61. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with AD = BC, AB = 6, and
CD = 10. Suppose the distance from A to the centroid of 4BCD is 8. Compute the area of
ABCD.69
62. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 209, AC = 243, and ∠BAC = 60◦ , and
denote by N the midpoint of the major arc BAC
[ of circle (ABC). Suppose the parallel to AB
BX
through N intersects BC at a point X. Compute the ratio XC .
63. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) Let 4ABC be a triangle with AB = 85, BC = 125, CA = 140,
and incircle ω. Let D, E, F be the points of tangency of ω with BC, CA, AB respectively, and
furthermore denote by X, Y , and Z the incenters of 4AEF, 4BFD, and 4CDE, also respectively.
Find the circumradius of 4XY Z.
64. (AMC 12B 2021) 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. See the figure, which also shows the relative locations of these
points.
R
C
Q
D B
P
A
S
Suppose P Q = 6 and RS = 8, and let d denote the length of BD, the longer diagonal of ABCD.
What is d 2 ?
65. (Carnegie Mellon 2016, with Joshua Siktar) Let P be a parallelepiped with side lengths x, y,
and z. Suppose that the four space diagonals of P have lengths 15, 17, 21, and 23. Compute
x2 + y 2 + z2 .70
F 66. (NICE Spring 2021, with Arul Kolla) Let ABC be an isosceles right triangle with AB = AC, and
denote by M the midpoint of BC. Construct rectangle AXBY , with X in the interior of 4ABC,
69 This was written during Geo 2 lecture at AMSP 2015. Also, apparently this has connections to 2011 ISL G4?
70 Joshua raised the question of extending the Parallelogram Law to three dimensions during Vector Analysis recitation.
By the end of the recitation, I realized I had a Carnegie Mellon problem.
such that Y M = 8 and AY 3 + BY 3 = 103 . Find the area of quadrilateral AXBC.71
Y
X
B M C
67. (AIME 2021) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with AD = BC and AB < CD. Suppose that the
distances from A to the lines BC, CD, and BD are 15, 18, and 10, respectively. Find the area of
ABCD.
68. (Carnegie Mellon 2020) Points P and Q lie on a circle ω. The tangents to ω at P and Q inter-
sect at point T , and point R is chosen on ω so that T and R lie on opposite sides of P Q and
∠P QR = ∠P T Q. Let RT meet ω for the second time at point S. Given that P Q = 12 and T R = 28,
determine P S.
69. (AIME 2022) Let ABCD be a parallelogram with ∠BAD < 90◦ . A circle tangent to sides DA, AB,
and BC intersects diagonal AC at points P and Q with AP < AQ, as shown. Suppose √ that AP = 3,
P Q = 9, and QC = 16. Then the area of ABCD 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.
B C
A D
70. (Carnegie Mellon 2020) Two circles ωA and ωB have centers at points A and B respectively and
intersect at points P and Q in such a way that A, B, P , and Q all lie on a common circle ω. The
tangent to ω at P intersects ωA and ωB again at points X and Y respectively. Suppose AB = 17
and XY = 20. Compute the sum of the radii of ωA and ωB .
71. (AMC 12B 2021) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid having parallel bases AB and CD with
AB > CD. Line segments from a point inside ABCD to the vertices divide the trapezoid into
four triangles whose areas are 2, 3, 4, and 5 starting with the triangle with base CD and moving
AB
clockwise as shown in the diagram below. What is the ratio CD ?
71 Arul originally wrote a different problem and put the cubic condition in as a bash deterrent. I saw the cubic condition
and decided to transform the problem into something that used it more effectively.
D C
2
5 3
4
A B
72. (NICE Fall 2021, with Dennis Chen) Let ABC be a triangle with a right angle at B. Circle ω is
tangent to BC at B, and is also tangent to segment AC. Pick a point D on BC, and let AD intersect
ω at two points X and Y . Suppose AX = DY , AD = 42, and BC = 31. Find the area of 4ABC.72
73. (ARML Local 2019) Let Ω be a circle with radius 5, and suppose A, B, C, and D are points on
Ω in that order such that AB = BC = CD = 4. Compute the radius of the circle below, which is
tangent to AC, BD, and minor arc AD.
d
B C
A D
74. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 13, BC = 14, and AC = 15. Denote by ω
its incircle. A line ` tangent to ω intersects AB and AC at X and Y respectively. Suppose XY = 5.
Compute the positive difference between the lengths of AX and AY .
75. (Farewell Geometry Mock AMC) Let S be a square with side length 5. Square S is rotated at
an angle of θ ◦ clockwise about its center, 0 < θ < 45, to form square S 0 . If θ is chosen so that
[S ∪ S 0 ] = 29 72 , what is tan θ? (Note: [X] is defined as the area of region X.)73
F 76. (AMC 12B 2018) Circles ω1 , ω2 , and ω3 each have radius 4 and are placed in the plane so that
each circle is externally tangent to the other two. Points P1 , P2 , and P3 lie on ω1 , ω2 , and ω3
respectively such that P1 P2 = P2 P3 = P3 P1 and line Pi Pi+1 is tangent to ωi for each i = 1, 2, 3, where
P4 = P1 . See the figure below. What is the area of 4P1 P2 P3 ?74
77. (AMC 12B 2019) Let ABCD be a convex quadrilateral with BC = 2 and CD = 6. Suppose that
the centroids of 4ABC, 4BCD, and 4CDA form the vertices of an equilateral triangle. What is
the maximum possible area of ABCD?
72 Dennis was responsible for the configuration in the problem statement, whereas I helped with finding a nice answer
extraction.
73 Compare with 1999 AIME #4.
74 This problem came about while I was waiting for my laundry during freshman year, since at the very beginning of my
college experience I was worried that if I went back to my room I would forget that my clothes were still there. That might
have been a terrific decision - this is one of my favorite problems of all time.
ω1
P1
P3
ω3 ω2
P2
78. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Let 4ABC be a triangle with side lengths a, b, and c. Circle ωA is the
A-excircle of 4ABC, defined as the circle tangent to BC and to the extensions of AB and AC past
B and C respectively. Let TA denote the triangle whose vertices are these three tangency points;
denote TB and TC similarly. Suppose the areas of TA , TB , and TC are 4, 5, and 6 respectively. Find
the ratio a : b : c.
79. (ARML Local 2018) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 5, BC = 12, and an obtuse angle at B. It is
given that there exists a point P in plane ABC for which ∠P BC = ∠P CB = ∠P AB = γ, where γ is
an acute angle satisfying tan γ = 34 . Compute sin ∠ABP .75
F 80. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Two circles ω1 and ω2 are said to be orthogonal if they intersect each
other at right angles. In other words, for any point P lying on both ω1 and ω2 , if `1 is the line
tangent to ω1 at P and `2 is the line tangent to ω2 at P , then `1 ⊥ `2 . (Two circles which do not
intersect are not orthogonal.)
Let 4ABC be a triangle with area 20. Orthogonal circles ωB and ωC are drawn with ωB centered
at B and ωC centered at C. Points TB and TC are placed on ωB and ωC respectively such that ATB
is tangent to ωB and ATC is tangent to ωC . If ATB = 7 and ATC = 11, what is tan ∠BAC?
81. (USAMTS 2018-2019) Cyclic quadrilateral ABCD has AC ⊥ BD, AB+CD = 12, and BC+AD = 13.
Find the greatest possible area of ABCD.76
82. (NIMO 20) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 20, AC = 34, and BC = 42. Let ω1 and ω2 be the
semicircles with diameters AB and AC erected outwards of 4ABC and denote by ` the common
external tangent to ω1 and ω2 . The line through A perpendicular to BC intersects ` at X and BC
at Y . Find the length of XY .77
83. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Cyclic quadrilateral ABCD satisfies ∠ABD = 70◦ , ∠ADB = 50◦ , and BC =
CD. Suppose AB intersects CD at point P , while AD intersects BC at point Q. Compute ∠AP Q −
∠AQP .78
75 The original problem asked to compute BC, which I think is a much more natural question, but then I was reminded
that I can’t do Law of Sines correctly and so the answer to that problem became much messier. Darn. Also, this question
was inspired by Waldemar Pompe and the very strange problems he would give to his Geo 3 class at AMSP Cornell 1 2017.
76 This was written all the way back in the first semester of my freshman year with the intent to submit the problem to
Carnegie Mellon 2016 (and later AMC 2018), but neither of those intentions materialized for reasons I don’t recall.
77 This was way more well received than I expected. In particular, I just expected everyone to straight up blast this problem
with Cartesian. Fortunately, that was not the case.
78 My original solution to this problem used Brokard oooooops
84. (ARML Local 2018) Let ABCD be a rectangle with AB = 15 and BC = 19. Points E and F are
located inside ABCD such that quadrilaterals AECF and BEDF are both parallelograms with
areas 107 and 88 respectively. Compute the maximum possible value of EF.
85. (NICE Spring 2021) David attempts to draw a regular hexagon ABCDEF inscribed in a circle ω
of radius 1. However, while the points A through E are accurately placed, his point F is slightly
off, and so the diagonals AD, BE, and CF do not concur (Fortunately for him, the location of
point F on ω is the only inaccurate part of the diagram). Undeterred by his artistic deficiencies,
David pretends that the diagram is accurate79 by shading in the circumcircle of the triangle
1
bounded by these three line segments, which has radius 24 . He then continues to draw the rest
of the diagram.
Find the area of the hexagon ABCDEF that David actually drew.
86. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) Rectangles ABCD and AP CQ share the same diagonal AC. Suppose
that AB = 7, AD = 4, and AP = 1. Compute the maximum possible area of quadrilateral BP DQ.
87. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) In parallelogram ABCD, angles B and D are acute while angles A and C
are obtuse. The perpendicular from C to AB and the perpendicular from A to BC intersect at a
point P inside the parallelogram. If P B = 700 and P D = 821, what is AC?
88. (NIMO April 2017) Let ABCDE be a convex pentagon inscribed inside a circle of radius√38. Let
I1 and I2 denote the incenters of 4ABD and 4EBD respectively. Suppose that AE = 4 37 and
BC = CD = 57. Over all such pentagons, compute the maximum possible value of I1 I2 .
89. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) In 4ABC, AB = 17, AC = 25, and BC = 28. Points M and N are the
midpoints of AB and AC respectively, and P is a point on BC. Let Q be the second intersection
point of the circumcircles of 4BMP and 4CN P . It is known that as P moves along BC, line P Q
passes through some fixed point X. Compute the sum of the squares of the distances from X to
each of A, B, and C.
F 90. (AIME 2021) 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 Pc Q is 120◦ . Find the distance between
the centers of ω1 and ω2 .
91. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Points A, B, and C lie in the plane such that AB = 13, BC = 14, and
CA = 15. A peculiar laser is fired from A perpendicular to BC. After bouncing off BC, it travels
in a direction perpendicular to CA. When it hits CA, it travels in a direction perpendicular
to AB, and after hitting AB its new direction is perpendicular to BC again. If this process is
continued indefinitely, the laser path will eventually approach some finite polygonal shape T∞ .
What is the ratio of the perimeter of T∞ to the perimeter of 4ABC?80
92. (AIME 2018) Let 4ABC have side lengths AB = 30, BC = 32, and AC = 34. Point X lies in the
interior of BC, and points I1 and I2 are the incenters of 4ABX and 4ACX, respectively. Find the
minimum possible area of 4AI1 I2 as X varies along BC.
79 Big Point Theorem!
80 This was actually written for the 2016 Carnegie Mellon contest, but for a long time my only solution used a nontrivial
fact about Brocard points, and so I didn’t feel comfortable putting the problem on the exam.
93. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Circles ω1 and ω2 intersect at P and Q. The common external tangent `
to the two circles closer to Q touches ω1 and ω2 at A and B respectively. Line AQ intersects ω2
at X while BQ intersects ω1 again at Y . Let M and N denote the midpoints of AY and BX, also
respectively. If AQ = 6, BQ = 7, and AB = 8, then find the length of MN .81
94. (Problem Stash 2) Let T be a triangle with inradius 52 and circumradius 117. Suppose ω is the
unique circle with the property that inversion about√ω sends the incircle of T to the circumcircle
of T . The radius of ω 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.
95. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Points A, B, and C lie on a circle Ω such that A and C are diametrically
opposite each other. A line ` tangent to the incircle of 4ABC at T intersects Ω at points X and
Y . Suppose that AB = 30, BC = 40, and XY = 48. Compute T X · T Y .
96. (AIME 2023) Rhombus ABCD has ∠BAD < 90◦ . There is a point P on the incircle of the rhombus
such that the distances from P to lines DA, AB, and BC are 9, 5, and 16, respectively. Find the
perimeter of ABCD.
97. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 10, AC = 11, and circumradius 6.
Points D and E are located on the circumcircle of 4ABC such that 4ADE is equilateral. Line
BX
segments DE and BC intersect at X. Find XC .
98. (NICE Fall 2021) Let ABC be a triangle with circumcircle Ω. Points M and N are the midpoints
of minor arcs AB
c and AC,
c respectively, and MN intersects AB and AC at P and Q, respectively.
Suppose MP = 1, P Q = 4, and QN = 7. Find the perimeter of 4ABC.82
99. (AMSP Team Contest 2016) Let ABCD be a convex cyclic quadrilateral inscribed in a circle of
radius 30 satisfying DA = DC = 28 and DB = 49. If P is the intersection of lines AC and BD,
compute
AB · BC − AP · P C.83
100. (AIME 2023) Circles ω1 and ω2 intersect at two points P and Q, and their common tangent line
closer to P intersects ω1 and ω2 at points A and B, respectively. The line parallel to line AB
that passes through P intersects ω1 and ω2 for the second time at points X and Y , respectively.
Suppose P X = 10, P Y = 14, and P Q = 5. Find the area of trapezoid XABY .
101. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let ABC be a triangle with incenter I and incircle ω. It is given that
there exist points X and Y on the circumference of ω such that ∠BXC = ∠BY C = 90◦ . Suppose
further that X, I, and Y are collinear. If AB = 80 and AC = 97, compute the length of BC.
102. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Two non-intersecting circles, ω and Ω, have centers Cω and CΩ respec-
tively. It is given that the radius of Ω is strictly larger than the radius of ω. The two common
external tangents of Ω and ω intersect at a point P , and an internal tangent of the two circles
intersects the common external tangents at X and Y . Suppose that the radius of ω is 4, the
circumradius of 4P XY is 9, and XY bisects P CΩ . Compute XY .
81 This was going to be a 2019 AIME submission for a long time, but then I cut it off a few days before proposals were due
in favor of a different problem. Perhaps this is a bit too meaty for Relay though....
82 I personally thought this was very difficult, because the solution I found was somewhat crazy. But apparently easier and
more straightforward solutions exist. This happens a lot with my way of solving geometry problems, which often involves
adding nice points to the diagram.
83 This was planned to be a Carnegie Mellon 2016 problem, but it turns out this is in a vague sense a mashup of 2016
AIME I #6 and 2016 AIME I #15, so my paranoid self dropped the problem.
103. (Northeastern WOOTers Mock AIME I) Let 4ABC be a triangle with AB = 39, BC = 42, and
CA = 45. A point D is placed on the extension of BC past C. Let O1 and O2 be the circumcenters
BD
of 4ABD and 4ACD respectively. If O1 O2 = 29, then find the ratio CD .
104. Two problems involving inscribing shapes into squares.
(a) (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) A hexomino is a geometric shape consisting of six congruent
squares arranged in a pattern such that any two squares that share an edge also share the
two endpoints of this edge. Suppose that a hexomino is inscribed inside a square as shown
below.
What is the ratio of the area of the hexomino to the area of the square?84
(b) (AMC 10B 2021 Fall) A rectangle with side lengths 1 and 3, a square with side length 1, and
a rectangle R are inscribed inside a larger square as shown. What is the sum of all possible
values for the area of R?85
1
1
1 R
1
1 3
3
1
105. (AIME 2021) A convex quadrilateral has area 30 and side lengths 5, 6, 9, and 7, in that order.
Denote by θ the measure of the acute angle formed by the diagonals of the quadrilateral. Find
84 Protip: 6 , 7.
85 This problem is weird. I originally wrote it back in March 2020, in an attempt to create a “low-powered“ problem in the
style of Catriona Shearer (lol). At the time, I remember saying somewhat jokingly that staying inside (from the pandemic)
made me go insane. However, as time moved on, I started to regret more and more submitting this problem to the AMCs.
I felt that this problem was too difficult for the wrong reasons – namely it was hard because it was intimidating, long, and
bashy, not because it was actually creative. Fortunately, that didn’t quite seem to happen, and people liked this problem
more than I thought. (Either that, or the test was so hard that they just didn’t get to it.)
As much as it may seem sometimes like I know what I’m doing, I really don’t, and am probably harsher on myself than
I really deserve to be. This isn’t the first time someone has said something like this (Ankan Bhattacharya has expressed
similar concerns on the AoPS fora), but it’s something I generally don’t mention too much publically. Better late than never,
I suppose.
tan θ. 86
106. (AIME 2022) Let ABCD be a convex quadrilateral with AB = 2, AD = 7, and CD = 3 such that
the bisectors of acute angles ∠DAB and ∠ADC intersect at the midpoint of BC. Find the square
of the area of ABCD.87
107. (AMSP Team Contest 2015) A semicircle ω has radius 1 and diameter AB. Two distinct circles
ω1 and ω2 of a radius r are constructed internally tangent to ω and tangent to the segment AB.
Circle A is then constructed externally tangent to ω1 and ω2 as well as AB, while circle B is
constructed externally tangent to ω1 and ω2 and internally tangent to ω. Suppose circles A and
B are externally tangent to each other. Compute r.
108. (NIMO 30) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 4, AC = 5, BC = 6, and circumcircle Ω. Points E
and F lie on AC and AB respectively such that ∠ABE = ∠CBE and ∠ACF = ∠BCF. The second
intersection point of the circumcircle of 4AEF with Ω (other than A) is P . Find AP 2 .
109. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Suppose ABCD is a convex quadrilateral satisfying AB = BC, AC = BD,
∠ABD = 80◦ , and ∠CBD = 20◦ . What is ∠BCD in degrees?
110. (Problem Stash 1) Let E be an ellipse passing through (0, 0), (0, 5), and (6, 0). Compute the largest
value of d such that the distance from (0, 0) to the center of E is at least d.
111. (NIMO 16) Let 4ABC have AB = 6, BC = 7, and CA = 8, and denote by ω its circumcircle. Let N
be a point on ω such that AN is a diameter of ω. Furthermore, let the tangent to ω at A intersect
BC at T , and let the second intersection point of N T with ω be X. Find the length of AX.
112. (Problem Stash 1) Two perpendicular chords are drawn inside a circle Ω. These two chords di-
vide the interior of Ω into four sectors, labeled S1 through S4 clockwise as shown below. Within
each sector Si a circle ωi is inscribed, touching each of the two chords as well as the circle Ω
internally. Suppose the radii of the circles ω1√, ω2 , and ω3 are 1, 2, and 3 respectively. Find the
m− n
radius of ω4 can be expressed in the form p , where m, n, and p are positive integers with m
and p relatively prime. Find m + n + p.88
113. (Carnegie Mellon 2020) Let E be an ellipse with foci F1 and F2 . Parabola P , having vertex F1 and
focus F2 , intersects E at two points X and Y . Suppose the tangents to E at X and Y intersect on
the directrix of P . Compute the eccentricity of E.
114. (AIME 2018) 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 = 67 . All three
quadrilaterals have the same area K. Find K.
115. (TKMT) Let ABC be a triangle with AB = 3 and AC = 4. Points O and H are the circumcenter
and orthocenter respectively of the triangle. If OH k BC, then find cos A.
86 This problem was originally written in the summer of 2018; I wanted to find a generalization to the fact that AB2 +CD 2 =
AD 2 + BC 2 if and only if AC ⊥ BD. Unfortunately, it seems like some people already knew a bunch of obscure formulas that
made this problem easy. That’s kind of the trade off with writing problems of this style, I guess.
87 This problem was originally phrased in terms of mixtillinear incircles and intended for the Problem Stash. I’m slightly
surprised that nobody found this connection on the AoPS fora.
88 Here the answer extraction clause is kind of necessary: in the intended solution, it’s not obvious how to distinguish
between the two answers you get when solving the quadratic.
S2 S3
S1 S4
F 116. (Carnegie Mellon 2017, with Evan Chen) In triangle ABC with AB = 23, AC = 27, and BC = 20,
let D be the foot of the A altitude. Let P be the parabola with focus A passing through B and
C, and denote by T the intersection point of AD with the directrix of P . Determine the value of
DT 2 − DA2 .
117. (NIMO 18) Let ABC be a non-degenerate triangle with incenter I and circumcircle Γ . Denote
by Ma the midpoint of the arc BC
c of Γ not containing A, and define Mb , Mc similarly. Suppose
4ABC has inradius 4 and circumradius 9. Compute the maximum possible value of
IMa2 + IMb2 + IMc2 .
118. (NIMO 23) Let 4ABC be an equilateral triangle with side length s and P a point in the interior
of this triangle. Suppose that P A, P B, and P C are the roots of the polynomial t 3 − 18t 2 + 91t − 89.
Find s2 .89
119. (NIMO 21, with Evan Chen) Let ABCD be an isosceles trapezoid with AD k BC and BC > AD
such that the distance between the incenters of 4ABC and 4DBC is 16. If the perimeters of
ABCD and ABC are 120 and 114 respectively, then find the area of ABCD.90
120. (AIME 2020) Let ABC be an acute triangle with circumcircle ω and orthocenter H. Suppose the
tangent to the circumcircle of 4HBC at H intersects ω at points X and Y with HA = 3, HX = 2,
HY = 6. Find the area of 4ABC.
121. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let ABC be a triangle with incircle ω and incenter I. The circle ω is
tangent to BC, CA, and AB at D, E, and F respectively. Point P is the foot of the angle bisector
from A to BC, and point Q is the foot of the altitude from D to EF. Suppose AI = 7, IP = 5, and
DQ = 4. Compute the radius of ω.
122. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Triangle ABC satisfies AB = 28, BC = 32, and CA = 36, and M and N
are the midpoints of AB and AC respectively. Let point P be the unique point in the plane ABC
such that 4P BM ∼ 4P N C. What is AP ?91
89 Finding a good polynomial to work with was quite hard. Not only did the numbers need to work out nicely, but I also
needed the three roots to be side lengths of a non-degenerate triangle that didn’t reduce the problem to a trivial case.
90 Evan suggested the reformulation in terms of perimeters. (My original idea was to compute the distance between the
incenters from the identity OI 2 = R(R − 2r).)
91 Compare with Balkan 2009 #2.
123. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Triangle ABC satisfies AB = 104, BC = 112, and CA = 120. Let ω and ωA
denote the incircle and A-excircle of 4ABC, respectively. There exists a unique circle Ω passing
through A which is internally tangent to ω and externally tangent to ωA . Compute the radius of
Ω.92
F 124. (NIMO 21) Triangle ABC has AB = 25, AC = 29, and BC = 36. Additionally, Ω and ω are the
circumcircle and incircle of 4ABC. Point D is situated on Ω such that AD is a diameter of Ω,
and line AD intersects ω in two distinct points X and Y . Compute XY 2 .93
125. (AIME 2019) In acute triangle ABC points P and Q are the feet of the perpendiculars from C to
AB and from B to AC, respectively. Line P Q intersects the circumcircle of 4ABC in two distinct
points, X and Y . Suppose XP = 10, P Q = 25, and QY = 15. Compute AB · AC.
126. (CMC94 2018) Let 4ABC be a triangle with incenter I, and let P be the intersection of line AI
with the circumcircle of 4ABC. Let points X and Y denote the incenters of 4ABP and 4AP C,
respectively. Suppose that XY = 2 and BI 2 + CI 2 = 15. What is cos ∠BAC?
127. (NICE Fall 2021, with Kazi Aryan Amin) Let ABCD be a convex quadrilateral such that
∠ABD = ∠ACD = 90◦ and AB + CD = AD.
Let P be the point on AD satisfying AP = AB and DP = DC. Points O1 and O2 are the circum-
centers of triangles AP C and BP D, respectively, and O1 O2 intersects BC at a point Q. Suppose
O1 Q = 1 and O2 Q = 4. Find AD.95
F 128. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Suppose 4ABC is such that AB = 13, AC = 15, and BC = 14. It is given
that there exists a unique point D on side BC such that the Euler lines of 4ABD and 4ACD are
BD
parallel. Determine the value of CD . (The Euler line of a triangle ABC is the line connecting the
centroid, circumcenter, and orthocenter of ABC.)96
129. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Circles ω1 and ω2 are externally tangent to each other. Circle Ω is
placed such that ω1 is internally tangent to Ω at X while ω2 is internally tangent to Ω at Y .
Line ` is tangent to ω1 at P and ω2 at Q and furthermore intersects Ω at points A and B with
AP < AQ. Suppose that AP = 2, P Q = 4, and QB = 3. Compute the length of line segment XY .
130. (USAMTS 2018-2019) Acute scalene triangle 4ABC has circumcenter O and orthocenter H.
Points X and Y , distinct from B and C, lie on the circumcircle of 4ABC such that ∠BXH =
∠CY H = 90◦ . Show that if lines XY , AH, and BC are concurrent, then OH is parallel to BC.97
92 Written during Geo 2 lecture at AMSP Puget Sound 2016.
93 This is one of my favorite problems I’ve ever written - the key step is quite original, and writing this was probably the
most productive use of an AP Economics class ever. Unfortunately, it was shadowed by, well, the rest of the mess that was
Contest 21. Sigh.
94 Christmas Mathematics Competitions, which was a series of mock exams I was asked to help out with. This problem
was born out of an attempt to explore a configuration found in another proposal for the mock.
95 Aryan was responsible for the geometry configuration, whereas I found an appropriate answer extraction. This one’s
brutal, but I’m very happy with how it turned out. The computation at the end of the official solution is ridiculously clean.
96 This problem was inspired by misreading 2016 OMO Fall #24. It also turns out that this ended up replacing another
Carnegie Mellon proposal, since I ended up using the main observation in that problem when solving this one. This might
be the only reason why I was able to solve this synthetically. It’s also very strange that the resulting equivalence is so nice.
97 This problem was originally considered for the 2018 TSTST but (from what I heard) it was rejected for being slightly
too easy.
131. (Mock AIME I 2015) Let A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 be a hexagon inscribed inside a circle of radius r. Fur-
thermore, for each positive integer 1 ≤ i ≤ 6 let Mi be the midpoint of the segment Ai Ai+1 ,
where A7 ≡ A1 . Suppose that hexagon M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 can also be inscribed inside a circle.
If A1 A2 = A3 A4 = 5 and A5 A6 = 23, then find r.
132. (Mock AIME I 2015) Let 4ABC be a triangle with AB = 13, BC = 14, and CA = 15. Let O denote
its circumcenter and H its orthocenter. The circumcircle of 4AOH intersects AB and AC at D
and E respectively. Compute AD
AE .
98
F 133. (AIME 2022) Two externally tangent circles ω1 and ω2 have centers O1 and O2 , respectively. A
third circle Ω passing through O1 and O2 intersects ω1 at B and C and ω2 at A and D, as shown.
Suppose that AB = 2, O1 O2 = 15, CD = 16, and ABO1 CDO2 is a convex hexagon. Find the area
of this hexagon.99
ω1
BA
ω2
2
15
O1 O2
16 D
C
Ω
F 134. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Let 4ABC be an acute triangle with circumcenter O, and let Q , A
denote the point on (ABC) for which AQ ⊥ BC. The circumcircle of 4BOC intersects lines
AC and AB for the second time at D and E respectively. Suppose that AQ, BC, and DE are
concurrent. If OD = 3 and OE = 7, compute AQ.100
F 135. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let 4ABC be a triangle with AB = 65, BC = 70, and CA = 75. A semicir-
cle Γ with diameter BC is erected outside the triangle. Suppose there exists a circle ω tangent to
AB and AC and furthermore internally tangent to Γ at a point X. Find the length AX.101
F 136. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let 4ABC be a triangle with circumcircle Ω and let N be the midpoint of
the major arc BC.
c The incircle ω of 4ABC is tangent to AC and AB at points E and F respectively.
Suppose point X is placed on the same side of EF as A such that 4XEF ∼ 4ABC. Let N X intersect
P X 102
BC at a point P . If AB = 15, BC = 16, and CA = 17, then compute XN .
98 I was exceedingly lucky with this problem. Everything - the points O and H, the 13-14-15 triangle, etc. - came so
naturally and nicely from the original idea. In other words, this problem basically fell from the sky.
99 This problem was made as a complete meme. I threw together (almost) this configuration not expecting it to work out
nicely. Fortunately, I noticed the main gimmick pretty quickly; if not, I would have definitely moved on before I gave it the
chance it deserved.
100 This problem received the Michael Kural Seal of Approval! One of my favorite proposals of all time.
101 This was probably my favorite problem out of all the ones I wrote for Carnegie Mellon 2016. The intended solution is
very instructive.
102 This problem was primarily written because I thought the then-current #10 (the one a few spots up with the 65-70-75
triangle) was too easy for the #10 spot. It turns out that this was not actually the case. Problem writer bias for the win!
4 Number Theory
1. (AMC 10B 2021) The ages of Jonie’s four cousins are distinct single-digit positive integers. Two
of the cousins’ ages multiplied together give 24, while the other two multiply to 30. What is the
sum of the ages of Jonie’s four cousins?
2. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) David, when submitting a problem for Carnegie Mellon, wrote his an-
swer as 100 yx , where x and y are two positive integers with x < y. Andrew interpreted the ex-
pression as a product of two rational numbers, while Patrick interpreted the answer as a mixed
fraction. In this case, Patrick’s number was exactly double Andrew’s! What is the smallest pos-
sible value of x + y?103
3. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) There exist two distinct positive integers, both of which are divisors of
1010 , with sum equal to 157. What are they?104
4. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Suppose a, b, and c are relatively prime integers such that
a b
=2 and = 3.
b+c a+c
What is the value of |c|?
5. (ARML Local 2019) Compute the number of ordered pairs of positive integers (x, y) that satisfy
the equality xy = 29! .105
6. (ARML Local 2018) Compute the sum of all possible values of a + b, where a and b are integers
such that a > b and a2 − b2 = 2016.
7. (NIMO Summer Contest 2017) If p, q, and r are nonzero integers satisfying
p2 + q2 = r 2 ,
compute the smallest possible value of (p + q + r)2 .
8. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) A list of integers with average 89 is split into two disjoint groups.
The average of the integers in the first group is 73 while the average of the integers in the second
group is 111. What is the smallest possible number of integers in the original list?
9. (NIMO 16) For any interval A in the real number line not containing zero, define its reciprocal to
be the set of numbers of the form 1x where x is an element in A. Compute the number of ordered
pairs of positive integers (m, n) with m < n such that the length of the interval [m, n] is 1010 times
the length of its reciprocal.
10. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Determine all possible values of m + n, where m and n are positive
integers satisfying
lcm(m, n) − gcd(m, n) = 103.
11. (NICE Spring 2021) How many positive integers N ≤ 1000 are there for which N 2 and (N + 1)2
both have at least five positive divisors? It is known there are 168 primes between 1 and 1000.
103 Inspired by something I wrote in my solution to Team #10 from the same contest.
104 Like the 2016 Carnegie Mellon G1, I actually really like this problem as a quirky yet simple opening question.
105 I wrote this all the way back in 2013! I completely forgot about this question until I found it in an archived problem
collection.
12. (The CALT) For all positive integer n, let f (n) denote the closest prime to n. (If two such integers
exist, take the larger of the two.) What is the smallest integer n such that
f (n + 1)2 − f (n)2 = 120?
13. (AMSP Team Contest 2017) Let τ(n) denote the number of positive divisors of n. For example,
τ(6) = 4 since the divisors of 6 are 1, 2, 3, and 6. What is the value of
1 · (−1)τ(1) + 2 · (−1)τ(2) + 3 · (−1)τ(3) + · · · + 100 · (−1)τ(100) ?
14. (The CALT) For each pair (m, n) of non negative integers with m ≤ n, let f (m, n) denote the
remainder when 1 + 7 + . . . + 7n is divided by 1 + 7 + . . . + 7m . Find, with proof, the maximum
possible value of f (m, n) over all pairs (m, n) with 1 ≤ m ≤ n ≤ 100.
15. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Determine the number of ordered pairs of positive integers (m, n) with
1 ≤ m ≤ 100 and 1 ≤ n ≤ 100 such that
gcd(m + 1, n + 1) = 10 gcd(m, n).
16. (NIMO April 2017) Compute the least composite positive integer N such that the sum of all
prime numbers that divide N is 37.
17. Two related problems.
(a) (Mock AMC 12 2012) Let x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 be a sequence of positive integers. Given that
n
X
(3xi + 2xi ) = 930,
i=1
P4
determine i=1 xi .
(b) (AMSP Team Contest 2015) What is the smallest positive integer n such that there exists a
sequence of positive integers x1 , x2 , . . . , xn satisfying
3x1 + 3x2 + · · · + 3xn = 2x1 + 2x2 + · · · + 2xn + 2015?
18. (Problem Stash 2) Let τ(n) denote the number of positive divisors of n. Compute the sum of the
five smallest positive three-digit integers N such that the numbers τ(N ), τ(2N ), and τ(3N ) form
an increasing arithmetic progression.
19. (NIMO April 2017) Compute the least possible value of m + 100n, where m and n are positive
integers such that
12 + 22 + · · · + m2 31
2 2 2
= .
1 + 2 + ··· + n 254
20. (NIMO 30) Suppose a, b and c are positive integers with the property that ab, bc, and ac are
pairwise distinct perfect squares. What is the smallest possible value of a + b + c?106
106 “For some reason, in the test I thought that this problem was harder than 2-7 combined...” -Tristan Shin
21. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Let a1 , a2 , . . . be an infinite sequence of (positive) integers such that k
divides gcd(ak−1 , ak ) for all k ≥ 2. Compute the smallest possible value of a1 + a2 + · · · + a10 .107
22. (Northeastern WOOTers Mock AIME I) It is given that 1812 can be written as the difference of
the cubes of two consecutive positive integers. Find the sum of these two integers.
23. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) For how many triples of positive integers (a, b, c) with 1 ≤ a, b, c ≤ 5 is the
quantity
(a + b)(a + c)(b + c)
not divisible by 4?
24. (RHS Guts Round 2015) Congratulations on making it halfway through the test! I wanted to
reward you with an easy problem, but unfortunately some crazy physicist named Scott Pede108
messed with my computer and now one of the digits on my keypad (not 0, thank goodness)
outputs a \ instead. That’s okay, though, I’ll still put the problem here; after all, you should still
be able to solve it, right?
What is the quotient when 1\4\3 is divided by \1, given that there is no remainder?
25. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Define the sequence {ak } such that ak = 1! + 2! + 3! + · · · + k! for each
positive integer k. (Note: the factorial function x! is defined as the product of the first x positive
integers.) For how many positive integers 1 ≤ n ≤ 2013 does the quantity a1 + a2 + a3 + · · · + an end
in the digit 3?
26. (AIME 2023) Let S be the set of all positive rational numbers r such that when the two numbers
r and 55r are written as fractions in lowest terms, the sum of the numerator and denominator
of one fraction is the same as the sum of the numerator and denominator of the other fraction.
Find the sum of all the elements of S.
27. (Problem Stash 1) Let A denote the set of positive integers a such that
8! 7!
divides .
gcd(a, 8!) gcd(a, 7!)
Compute the density of A, that is, the limit
|A ∩ {1, 2, . . . , n}|
lim .
n→∞ n
28. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let a > 1 be a positive integer. The sequence of natural numbers {an } is
defined as follows: a1 = a and for all n ≥ 1, an+1 is the largest prime factor of a2n − 1. Determine
the smallest possible value of a such that the numbers a1 , a2 , . . . , a7 are all distinct.
29. Two more related problems.
(a) (Mock AMC 12 2012) How many positive integers n exist such that the sum of the first 2n
positive perfect squares is an integer multiple of the sum of the first n positive odd integers?
107 Originally, the problem stated that gcd(a
k−1 , ak ) = k. It turns out that under that condition such a sequence does not
exist. Somehow this got past all of the Carnegie Mellon staff and all but one of our testsolvers. Thanks Ray Li!
108 An amalgamation of the names of two physics teachers in my high school
(b) (Brilliant.org) Compute the sum of all integers n with 1 ≤ n ≤ 100 such that
12 + 22 + · · · + n2
1 + 2 + ··· + n
is an integer.109
30. (AMC 12B 2021 Fall) Let a, b, and c be positive integers such that a + b + c = 23 and
gcd(a, b) + gcd(b, c) + gcd(c, a) = 9.
What is the sum of all possible distinct values of a2 + b2 + c2 ?110

31. (AIME 2022) Find the numberj k jofk positive
j k integers n ≤ 600 whose value can be uniquely deter-
n
mined when the values of 4 , 5 , and n6 are given, where bxc denotes the greatest integer less
n
than or equal to the real number x.111

32. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) Determine the sum of all positive integers n between 1 and 100 inclusive
such that
gcd(n, 2n − 1) = 3.
33. (AMC 10A 2021) Hiram’s algebra notes are 50 pages long and are printed on 25 sheets of paper;
the first sheet contains pages 1 and 2, the second sheet contains pages 3 and 4, and so on. One
day he leaves his notes on the table before leaving for lunch, and his roommate decides to bor-
row some pages from the middle of the notes. When Hiram comes back, he discovers that his
roommate has taken a consecutive set of sheets from the notes and that the average (mean) of
the page numbers on all remaining sheets is exactly 19. How many sheets were borrowed?
34. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) An integer is said to be two-separable if it can be represented as the
product of two positive integers that differ by two. (For example, since 8 = 2 · 4, 8 is two-
separable.) Similarly, an integer is said to be nine-separable if it can be represented as the prod-
uct of two positive integers that differ by 9. What is the sum of all positive integers that are both
two-separable and nine-separable?112
35. (NIMO Summer Contest 2015) It is given that the number 411 + 1 is divisible by some prime
greater than 1000. Determine this prime.
36. (Mock AIME I 2015) In an urn there are a certain number (at least two) of black marbles and
a certain number of white marbles. Steven blindfolds himself and chooses two marbles from
the urn at random. Suppose the probability that the two marbles are of opposite color is 21 . Let
k1 < k2 < · · · < k100 be the 100 smallest possible values for the total number of marbles in the urn.
Compute
k1 + k2 + k3 + · · · + k100 .
109 This is actually not original (although I didn’t realize this at first) - in fact it was a subpart of a Mock AIME problem from
AwesomeMath Cornell 2013. But for some reason it grew extremely popular on Brilliant, which made me quite confused. I
believe this is my most popular problem on the website to date.
110 This problem is a good example showcasing how picking the right numbers can be key. There are two distinct cases to
work through; neither case is particularly annoying, and both yield solutions.
111 Inspired by my time playing Hollow Knight, when I was unsure about how weapon upgrades work. (In particular, d n e
d
is the number of hits it takes to defeat an enemy with n hit points if a weapon deals d hit points as damage.)
112 When I submitted this to Brilliant.org, one of the main complaints about this problem was that it was made less inter-
esting by the fact that only one number worked. Interestingly enough, one of the reasons I liked this problem was because I
found it surprising that only one number worked. Huh.
37. (Mock AIME I 2015) For all points P in the coordinate plane, let P 0 denote the reflection of P
across the line y = x. For example, if P = (3, 1), then P 0 = (1, 3). Define a function f such that for
all points P , f (P ) denotes the area of the triangle with vertices (0, 0), P , and P 0 . Determine the
number of lattice points Q in the first quadrant such that f (Q) = 8!.
38. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) It is given that there exist unique integers m1 , . . . , m100 such that
! ! !
m1 m2 m100
0 ≤ m1 < m2 < · · · < m100 and 2018 = + + ··· + .
1 2 100
Find m1 + m2 + · · · + m100 . 113
39. (NICE Spring 2021) What is the sum of all two-digit primes p for which there exist positive
integers x, y, and D such that
x2 − Dy 2 = (x + 1)2 − D(y + 1)2 = p?
40. (Problem Stash 1) Determine the number of nonzero polynomials P (x) with nonnegative integer
coefficients such that P (1) ≤ 100 and P (n) divides n2020 for infinitely many positive integers n.
F 41. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) One can define the greatest common divisor of two positive rational
numbers as follows: for a, b, c, and d positive integers with gcd(a, b) = gcd(c, d) = 1, write
a c gcd(ad, bc)

gcd , = .
b d bd
For all positive integers K, let f (K) denote the number of ordered pairs of positive rational
numbers (m, n) with m < 1 and n < 1 such that
1
gcd(m, n) = .
K
What is f (2017) − f (2016)?
42. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) On a table are n marbles, each of which has a different integer weight
in the set 1, 2, 3, . . . , n. The marbles are partitioned into three boxes, and the average weight of
the marbles in each box is written on said box. Suppose that the numbers written on the boxes
are 6, 10, and 11. How many possible integer values of n are there?114
43. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Suppose integers a < b < c satisfy
a + b + c = 95 and a2 + b2 + c2 = 3083.
Find c.
44. (Problem Stash 2) Determine the number of ordered quadruples (p, q, r, s) of odd primes such
that
pqrs
(p − 2)(q − 2)(r − 2)(s − 2)
is an integer.
113 The general case of asking to prove that this representation is unique if 100 and 2018 are replaced with general positive
integers is an exercise in the textbook for a course that I TA. I saw this while flipping through the textbook for review
problems and realized that finding the specific representation in a specific case would make a decent contest problem.
114 This problem definitely takes the cake for the problem which was intentionally the most similar to some other problem
from a contest. See here. (It’s worth noting that despite their similarity, the problems are not exactly the same!)
45. (NICE Spring 2021)115 Determine the number of ordered pairs (b, c) of integers with 0 ≤ b ≤ 2016
and 0 ≤ c ≤ 2016 such that 2017 divides x3 − bx2 + c for exactly one integer x with 0 ≤ x ≤ 2016.
46. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) For all positive integers n, let

n 2
X n
f (n) = ϕ(k) .
k
k=1
Compute f (2019)−f (2018). Here ϕ(n) denotes the number of positive integers less than or equal
to n which are relatively prime to n.
47. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Find the largest positive integer N satisfying the following properties:
• N is divisible by 7;
• Swapping the i th and j th digits of N (for any i and j with i , j) gives an integer which is not
divisible by 7.
48. (NIMO April 2017) Let N denote the number of positive integers n between 1 and 1000 inclusive
such that 3n 116

n is odd. What are the last two digits of N ?
1
49. (Mock AIME I 2015) Let f be a function defined along the rational numbers such that f ( m n)= n
for all relatively prime positive integers m and n. Compute the product of all rational numbers
0 < x < 1 such that !
x − f (x) 9
f = f (x) + .
1 − f (x) 52
2020
50. (AIME 2021) Consider the sequence (ak )k≥1 of positive rational numbers defined by a1 = 2021
and for k ≥ 1, if ak = m
n for relatively prime positive integers m and n, then
m + 18
ak+1 = .
n + 19
Determine the sum of all positive integers j such that the rational number aj can be written in
t
the form t+1 for some positive integer t.
51. (USEMO 2020) Which positive integers can be written in the form
lcm(x, y) + lcm(y, z)
lcm(x, z)
for positive integers x, y, z?
52. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Recall that in any row of Pascal’s Triangle, the first and last elements of
the row are 1 and each other element in the row is the sum of the two elements above it from
the previous row. With this in mind, define the Pascal Squared Triangle as follows:
• In the nth row, where n ≥ 1, the first and last elements of the row equal n2 ;
• Each other element is the sum of the two elements directly above it.
115 Originally written for Carnegie Mellon but never got used.
116 This was written all the way back in 2015! It did take me a long time to figure out what to do with the problem, though;
I wasn’t sure if using Lucas killed it too much.
The first few rows of the Pascal Squared Triangle are shown below.
Row 1: 1
Row 2: 4 4
Row 3: 9 8 9
Row 4: 16 17 17 16
Row 5: 25 33 34 33 25
Let Sn denote the sum of the entries in the nth row. For how many integers 1 ≤ n ≤ 106 is Sn
divisible by 13?117
53. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) It is given that there exists a unique triple of positive primes (p, q, r)
such that p < q < r and
p3 + q3 + r 3
= 249.
p+q+r
Find r.
54. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Determine the smallest positive prime p which satisfies the congruence
p + p−1 ≡ 25 (mod 143).
Here, p−1 as usual denotes multiplicative inverse.118
55. (NIMO Summer Contest 2017) For all positive integers n, denote by σ (n) the sum of the positive
divisors of n and νp (n) the largest power of p which divides n. Compute the largest positive
integer k such that 5k divides X
ν3 (d!)(−1)σ (d) ,
d|N
where N = 61999 .
56. (NIMO 23) Let p = 2017 be a prime. Find the remainder when
$ p% $ p% $ p%
2015p
$ %
1 2 3
+ + + ··· +
p p p p
is divided by p. Here b·c denotes the greatest integer function.119
57. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Compute the number of positive integers n ≤ 50 such that there exist
distinct positive integers a, b satisfying
a b 1 1

+ =n + .
b a a b
117 My train of thought for constructing this problem was to go from Valentine’s Day to chocolate assortment triangles to
variants of Pascal’s triangle. Might be one of the strangest origins for a problem I’ve written.
118 I wrote this over a span of two days during vacation after my senior year of high school. Instead of relaxing on the beach,
I did modular arithmetic computations in my head. I’m weird. I imagine some of the beach-goers around me thought so as
well.
119 Another example of a problem that ended up being way more well-received than I expected.
58. (AMM 12239) Determine all positive integers r such that there exist at least two pairs of positive
integers (m, n) satisfying the equation 2m = n! + r.
F 59. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) Let a1 < a2 < · · · < ak denote the sequence of all positive integers between
1 and 91 which are relatively prime to 91, and set ω = e2πi/91 . Define
Y
S= (ωap − ωaq ) .
1≤q<p≤k
Given that S is a positive integer, compute the number of positive divisors of S.120
120 I ended up writing this for the 2017 contest, but I could not solve it at the time; that honor would be bestowed on the
problem about a year later.
5 Miscellaneous/Undergraduate
1. (NICE Spring 2021) In a hat, there are ten slips, each containing a different integer from 1 to 10,
inclusive. David reaches into the hat and keeps for himself two numbers that differ by seven.
Ankan then reaches into the hat and picks two numbers that differ by five. What is the largest
possible sum of the four picked numbers?
2. (AMC 10B/12B 2021 Fall) At noon on a certain day, Minneapolis is N degrees warmer than St.
Louis. At 4:00 the temperature in Minneapolis has fallen by 5 degrees while the temperature
in St. Louis has risen by 3 degrees, at which time the temperatures in the two cities differ by 2
degrees. What is the product of all possible values of N ?121
3. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) David recently bought a large supply of letter tiles. One day he arrives
back to his dorm to find that some of the tiles have been arranged to read Central Michigan
University. What is the smallest number of tiles David must remove and/or replace so that he
can rearrange them to read Carnegie Mellon University?122
4. (AMC 12A 2022) Five rectangles, A, B, C, D, and E, are arranged in a square as shown below.
These rectangles have dimensions 1 × 6, 2 × 4, 5 × 6, 2 × 7, and 2 × 3, respectively. (The figure is
not drawn to scale.) Which of the five rectangles is the shaded one in the middle?
5. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) We are given the following function f , which takes a list of integers and
outputs another list of integers. (Note that here the list is zero-indexed.)
1: FUNCTION f (A)
2: FOR i = 1, . . . , length(A) − 1:
3: A[i] ← A[A[i]]
4: A[0] ← A[0] − 1
5: RETURN A
Suppose the list B is equal to [0, 1, 2, 8, 2, 0, 1, 7, 0]. In how many entries do B and f (B) differ?
6. (JMPSC 2022) Let f (x) be a quadratic with integer coefficients. Suppose there exist positive
primes p < q such that f (p) = f (q) = 87 and f (p + q) = 178. Find p2 + q2 .
121 Written mainly to provide easier problems to the AMC. The original context of this problem involved two people moving
on a number line; I support the change to temperature.
122 This problem was based on an inside joke among CMU students where searching CMU on Google often gives the
“wrong” university. It also was an attempt to give weaker teams something enjoyable to work on.
7. (Problem Stash 1) David is given the diagram shown below. He is able to write down the num-
bers 1 through 5 in each box such that the following two conditions hold:
• Each row and column uses the numbers 1 through 5 exactly once;
• The sum of the numbers in each “cage” (region bounded by a heavy border) is equal to the
number written in the upper left corner of said cage.
When he is finished, David reads from left to right along each long diagonal to obtain two five-
digit numbers. Find their sum.
8. (Carnegie Mellon 2020) Find all sets of five positive integers whose mode, mean, median, and
range are all equal to 5.
9. (Problem Stash 2) Compute the smallest possible value of

Z 10
|x2 − t| dx
0
as t ranges over all real numbers.123
10. (AIME 2022) Twenty distinct points are marked on a circle and labeled 1 through 20 in clockwise
order. A line segment is drawn between every pair of points whose labels differ by a prime num-
ber. Find the number of triangles formed whose vertices are among the original 20 points.124
11. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) How many ordered triples (a, b, c) of integers satisfy the inequality
a2 + b2 + c2 ≤ a + b + c + 2?125
12. (RHS Guts Round 2015) Mr. Douglas, bored of scaring his students with pop trigonometry
quizzes, decides one day to work on a logic puzzle. He is challenged to place each of the digits
123 This generalizes in the following way: if f : [a, b] → R is increasing and differentiable, the quantity b |f (x) − t| dt is
R
a
minimized when t = f ( a+b
2 ). I encountered this fact while proving that x 7→ log |x| is a Bounded Mean Oscillation (BMO)
function for homework.
124 This problem is here because I’m not sure whether to classify it as combinatorics or number theory. In any case, this
problem was originally intended to be a Carnegie Mellon problem.
125 This is in Miscellaneous simply because I’m not sure if it fits in either the Algebra or Number Theory sections. In any
case, the problem is not terribly original anyway.
1 through 8 in the eight boxes below, with one integer per box, such that each bold box contains
an integer equal to the sum of the numbers in the squares immediately adjacent to it. After he
is done, he takes each of the integers in the four bold boxes and multiplies them together. What
is his result?
13. (Ramanujan Contest 2021) Determine all real numbers s such that the infinite series
∞ √
X √ s
n+1− n
n=1
converges.
14. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) You are given the existence of an unsorted sequence a1 , . . . , a5 of five
distinct real numbers. The Erdos-Szekeres theorem states that there exists a subsequence of
length 3 which is either strictly increasing or strictly decreasing. You do not have access to the
ai , but you do have an oracle which, when given two indexes 1 ≤ i < j ≤ 5, will tell you whether
ai < aj or ai > aj . What is the minimum number of calls to the oracle needed in order to identify
one such requested subsequence?
15. (ARML Local 2018) Compute the number of positive integers N between 1 and 100 inclusive
with the property that there exist distinct divisors a and b of N such that a + b is also a divisor
of N .
16. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) How many nonnegative integers with at most 40 digits consisting of
entirely zeroes and ones are divisible by 11?126
17. (NICE Spring 2021) Find positive integers a and b with a < b such that the four intersection
points of the lines y = x+a and y = x+b with the parabola y = x2 are the vertices of a quadrilateral
with area 720.
18. (AMC 10A/12A 2020) There exists a unique strictly increasing sequence of nonnegative integers
a1 < a2 < . . . < ak such that
2289 + 1
= 2a1 + 2a2 + . . . + 2ak .
217 + 1
What is k?
19. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Define {pn }∞ ∞

n=0 ⊂ N and {qn }n=0 ⊂ N to be sequences of natural numbers
as follows:
126 Similarly, although this problem appeared in Combo Individual Finals, I can’t tell whether this should belong in C or
N.
• p0 = q0 = 1;
• For all n ∈ N, qn is the smallest natural number such that there exists a natural number pn
with gcd(pn , qn ) = 1 satisfying
pn−1 pn √
< < 2.
qn−1 qn
Find q3 .
20. (AMC 12A 2021) The five solutions to the equation
(z − 1)(z2 + 2z + 4)(z2 + 4z + 6) = 0
may be written in the form xk + yk i for 1 ≤ k ≤ 5, where xk and yk are real. Let E be the unique
ellipse that passes through the points (x1 , y1 ), (x2 , y2 ), (x3 , y3 ), (x4 , y4 ), and (x5 , y5 ). Find the eccen-
tricity of E.
21. (Illinois Mock Putnam 2019) Find all locally integrable functions g : R → R such that
Z 1 Z 1 !
g(f (x)) dx = g f (x) dx
0 0
for every integrable function f : [0, 1] → R.
22. (Problem Stash 1/Illinois Undergraduate Contest 2020) For each positive integer n, let Un denote
the area enclosed by the graph of |x|n + |y|n = 1. Compute
lim n2 (4 − Un ).
n→∞
23. (Carnegie Mellon 2016)127 For any language L ∈ {0, 1}∗ , define a language L0 which consists of
the set of words of the form
a1 s1,2 a2 s2,3 a3 . . . ak−1 sk−1,k ak
where a1 a2 a3 . . . ak is a word in L. Here, si,j is 1 when ai , aj and zero otherwise. For example,
the word 1101 in L corresponds to the word 1011011 in L0 .
Suppose L is regular. Must L0 also be regular?
127 More specifically, the power round from that year; for information on the terminology used in this problem, see here.
6 Links to Solutions
Here are links to solutions to the majority of the problems organized by source. Some of these redirect
to solutions manuals, while others redirect to various parts of the AoPS community.
• Carnegie Mellon: https://cmimc-official.herokuapp.com/archive
• Mock AIME I 2015: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d66fcsu4hdfmotz/MockAIMEI2015Solutions.

pdf?dl=0
• Mock AMC 10/12 2013: No good source here, since a solutions manual was never written.
Search +Mock +AMC +Problem with author djmathman in the AoPS Advanced search for links to
problem threads.
• NIMO: http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3423_nimo_problems

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List of Common Acronyms

9. (NIMO 23) For real numbers x and y, define

12. (Carnegie Mellon 2018) The solutions in z to the equation

15. (Brilliant.org) Find the positive integer x such that

18. Two problems about the difference between roots of a quadratic.

p + pq + pq2 + pq3 + · · · = 2 and q + qp + qp2 + qp3 + · · · = 3.

29. Two logarithm problems with a very similar flavor.

xy = 264 and (log2 x)log2 y = 27 .

What is the greatest possible value of log2 y?

for all |x| < 1. Find a1000 .

What is the sum of the digits of b Q

holds true for all positive integers n ≥ 4. What is A + B + C + D?15

49. (NIMO 15) Let S = {1, 2, . . . , 2014}. Suppose that

50. (Carnegie Mellon 2016) Determine the value of the sum

x100 − axk + b = (x2 − 2x + 1)P (x)

for some polynomial P with integer coefficients.

Find the sum of all possible values of |u|2 + |v|2 .

Find the minimum possible value of cos(2γ).

62. Two similar-looking Vieta problems.

(x3 − 2x + 1 − P (x))(2x3 − 5x2 + 4 − P (x)) ≤ 0

for all x ∈ R. Determine all possible values of P (−1).25

(α + 1)(β + 1)(γ + 1) = 33.

for all x with sin x , 0. Compute a20 + a21 + · · · + a218 .29

F 81. (Mock AMC 10/12 2013) Let

When P (x) is expanded, how many terms does it contain?31

Suppose a, b, c, and d are nonnegative real numbers such that

Determine the smallest possible value of a + b + c + d.

for all real x. For which integer k is |λk | maximized?35

(AX + BX)2 − (AY + BY )2 .

64 Oh my, it’s a coordinate geometry question!

such that Y M = 8 and AY 3 + BY 3 = 103 . Find the area of quadrilateral AXBC.71

104. Two problems involving inscribing shapes into squares.

IMa2 + IMb2 + IMc2 .

∠ABD = ∠ACD = 90◦ and AB + CD = AD.

7. (NIMO Summer Contest 2017) If p, q, and r are nonzero integers satisfying

compute the smallest possible value of (p + q + r)2 .

f (n + 1)2 − f (n)2 = 120?

1 · (−1)τ(1) + 2 · (−1)τ(2) + 3 · (−1)τ(3) + · · · + 100 · (−1)τ(100) ?

gcd(m + 1, n + 1) = 10 gcd(m, n).

17. Two related problems.

3x1 + 3x2 + · · · + 3xn = 2x1 + 2x2 + · · · + 2xn + 2015?

Compute the density of A, that is, the limit

29. Two more related problems.

gcd(a, b) + gcd(b, c) + gcd(c, a) = 9.

What is the sum of all possible distinct values of a2 + b2 + c2 ?110

than or equal to the real number x.111

Find m1 + m2 + · · · + m100 . 113

46. (Carnegie Mellon 2019) For all positive integers n, let

p + p−1 ≡ 25 (mod 143).

Here, p−1 as usual denotes multiplicative inverse.118

is divided by p. Here b·c denotes the greatest integer function.119

9. (Problem Stash 2) Compute the smallest possible value of

as t ranges over all real numbers.123

19. (Carnegie Mellon 2017) Define {pn }∞ ∞

20. (AMC 12A 2021) The five solutions to the equation

for every integrable function f : [0, 1] → R.

• Carnegie Mellon: https://cmimc-official.herokuapp.com/archive

• Mock AIME I 2015: https://www.dropbox.com/s/d66fcsu4hdfmotz/MockAIMEI2015Solutions.