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Mathematics Trust

Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad

Hamilton paper

© 2023 UK Mathematics Trust

Solutions

These are polished solutions and do not illustrate the process of failed ideas and rough work by
which candidates may arrive at their own solutions.
It is not intended that these solutions should be thought of as the ‘best’ possible solutions and
the ideas of readers may be equally meritorious.

Enquiries about the Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad should be sent to:

UK Mathematics Trust, School of Mathematics, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
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Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton paper 2023 Solutions

1. Susie thinks of a positive integer 𝑛. She notices that, when she divides 2023 by 𝑛, she is
left with a remainder of 43. Find how many possible values of 𝑛 there are.

Solution
Since Susie’s number leaves a remainder of 43 when dividing it into 2023, we know that

2023 = 𝑘𝑛 + 43

where 𝑘 is an integer. Also, note that 𝑛 > 43, because the remainder needs to be smaller than
the number Susie divides by.
Hence 𝑘𝑛 = 1980, so Susie’s number could be any factor of 1980 which is larger than 43.
1980 = 22 × 32 × 5 × 11.
Now we could just write a list of all the factors of 1980, but it’s a little quicker to recognise that,
aside from 44 × 45, each pair of factors of 1980 will contribute exactly one possible value of 𝑛.
We can count the total number of factors by product of the numbers one higher than each of the
powers of the prime factorisation. The total number of factors of 1980 is (2 + 1)(2 + 1)(1 +
1)(1 + 1) = 36. In each pair apart from 44 and 45, one is above 43. This leads to the total
number of possible values of 𝑛 being 19.
For reference although not required by the question, those numbers are 1980, 990, 660, 495,
396, 330, 220, 198, 180, 165, 132, 110, 99, 90, 66, 60, 55, 45 and 44.

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Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton paper 2023 Solutions

2. The two positive integers 𝑎, 𝑏 with 𝑎 > 𝑏 are such that 𝑎% of 𝑏% of 𝑎 and 𝑏% of 𝑎%
of 𝑏 differ by 0.003. Find all possible pairs (𝑎, 𝑏).

Solution
𝑎 𝑏 𝑎2 𝑏 𝑎𝑏 2
𝑎% of 𝑏% of 𝑎 is 100 × 100 ×𝑎 = 10000 . Similarly, 𝑏% of 𝑎% of 𝑏 is 10000 .
This leads to
𝑎 2 𝑏 − 𝑎𝑏 2
= 0.003
10000
𝑎𝑏(𝑎 − 𝑏) = 30

Since 𝑎 and 𝑏 are integers, we know 𝑎, 𝑏 and 𝑎 − 𝑏 are all factors of 30.
Further, we know that 𝑎 < 10, since if 𝑎 ≥ 10 then one of 𝑏 and 𝑎 − 𝑏 ≥ 5, which would make
the product too big.
We also
√3 know√3 that 𝑎 (being the largest of the three numbers 𝑎, 𝑏 and 𝑎 − 𝑏) must be greater
than 30 > 27 = 3.
Hence 𝑎, being a factor of 30 between 3 and 10, can only be 5 or 6.
If 𝑎 = 5, then
𝑏(5 − 𝑏) = 6
𝑏 2 − 5𝑏 + 6 = 0
(𝑏 − 2)(𝑏 − 3) = 0
𝑏 = 2 or 𝑏 = 3

If instead 𝑎 = 6, then
𝑏(6 − 𝑏) = 5
𝑏 2 − 6𝑏 + 5 = 0
(𝑏 − 1)(𝑏 − 5) = 0
𝑏 = 1 or 𝑏 = 5

Hence, in total, there are four possible pairs of (𝑎, 𝑏): (5, 2), (5, 3), (6, 1) and (6, 5).

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Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton paper 2023 Solutions

3. The 𝑛th term of a sequence is the first non-zero digit of the decimal expansion of √1 .
𝑛
How many of the first one million terms of the sequence are equal to 1?

Solution
1
In the first one million terms, 0.001 ≤ √ ≤ 1.
𝑛
If the first non-zero digit is 1, we have four inequalities which satisfy the question.

1
1≤ √ <2 (1)
𝑛
1
0.1 ≤ √ < 0.2 (2)
𝑛
1
0.01 ≤ √ < 0.02 (3)
𝑛
1
0.001 ≤ √ < 0.002 (4)
𝑛

1
Inequality (1) gives < 𝑛 ≤ 1.
4
Inequality (2) gives 25 < 𝑛 ≤ 100.
Inequality (3) gives 2500 < 𝑛 ≤ 10000.
Inequality (4) gives 250000 < 𝑛 ≤ 1000000.
Adding up the number of integers in each solution set gives the total number of solutions as
1 + 75 + 7500 + 750000 = 757576.

© 2023 UK Mathematics Trust www.ukmt.org.uk 4

Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton paper 2023 Solutions

4. In the parallelogram 𝐴𝐵𝐶𝐷, a line through 𝐴 meets

𝑅
𝐵𝐷 at 𝑃, 𝐶𝐷 at 𝑄 and 𝐵𝐶 extended at 𝑅. Prove
 2
𝑃𝑄 𝑃𝐷 𝐷
that = . 𝐶
𝑃𝑅 𝑃𝐵 𝑄
𝑃

𝐴 𝐵

Solution
∠𝑃 𝐴𝐵 = ∠𝑃𝑄𝐷 by alternate angles.
∠𝑃𝐵𝐴 = ∠𝑃𝐷𝑄 by alternate angles.
Therefore, triangles 𝑃 𝐴𝐵 and 𝑃𝑄𝐷 are similar because they have the same angles.
𝑃 𝐴 𝑃𝐵
So = .
𝑃𝑄 𝑃𝐷
∠𝑃 𝐴𝐷 = ∠𝑃𝑅𝐵 by alternate angles.
∠𝑃𝐷 𝐴 = ∠𝑃𝐵𝑅 by alternate angles.
Therefore, triangles 𝑃 𝐴𝐷 and 𝑃𝑅𝐵 are similar because they have the same angles.
𝑃 𝐴 𝑃𝑅
So = .
𝑃𝐷 𝑃𝐵
𝑃𝑅 × 𝑃𝐷 𝑃𝐵 × 𝑃𝑄
These equations give us 𝑃 𝐴 = = .
𝑃𝐵 𝑃𝐷
 2
𝑃𝑄 𝑃𝐷
This rearranges to give = .
𝑃𝑅 𝑃𝐵

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Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton paper 2023 Solutions

5. Mickey writes down on a board 𝑛 consecutive whole numbers the smallest of which
is 2023. He then replaces the largest two numbers on the board with their difference,
reducing the number of numbers on the board by one. He does this repeatedly until
there is only a single number on the board. For which values of 𝑛 is this last remaining
number 0?

Solution
Note that subtracting two numbers and replacing by the difference does not change the parity
of the sum of the numbers: If both numbers are odd or both numbers are even then both their
sum and their difference are even; if one is odd and one is even then both their sum and their
difference are odd.
This means if the total sum originally is odd, the last number must be odd and therefore cannot
be 0. This happens whenever 𝑛 is 1 more than a multiple of 4 or 2 more than a multiple of 4, so
these values of 𝑛 cannot leave 0 as the remaining number.
The largest two numbers on the board are consecutive, so are replaced by 1. Since 1 is never
going to be larger than any number already on the board, the remaining largest two numbers
will again be consecutive and be replaced by 1 until there are not two of the original list to
remove.
If 𝑛 is a multiple of 4, all the original numbers will have been replaced by an even number of
1’s left on the board. These will all be removed in pairs and replaced by 0’s. The difference
between the 0’s will be 0’s, so the last number on the board will be 0.
If 𝑛 is three more than a multiple of 4, all the original numbers except 2023 will have been
replaced by an odd number of 1’s left on the board. Whenever the board contains a number of
1’s and a larger number, 𝑘, the larger number, 𝑘, and a 1 are replaced by 𝑘 − 1 until there are
only 1’s left or there is only one number left. If 𝑛 < 4047, there will be fewer than 2023 1’s left
on the board with 2023, so there will be one number greater than 1 left on the board when all
the 1’s have been removed. If 𝑛 ≥ 4047, there will be at least 2023 1’s left with 2023, so the
board will get down to only 1’s. As explained above, the last number must be even and cannot
be greater than 1, so it must end with a 0.
The possible values of 𝑛 are all multiples of 4 and all numbers at least 4047 which are three
more than a multiple of 4.

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Intermediate Mathematical Olympiad Hamilton paper 2023 Solutions

6. Find all triples (𝑚, 𝑛, 𝑝) which satisfy the equation

𝑝 𝑛 + 3600 = 𝑚 2

where 𝑝 is prime and 𝑚, 𝑛 are positive integers.

Solution
Rearranging the equation we get 𝑝 𝑛 = 𝑚 2 − 3600 = (𝑚 − 60)(𝑚 + 60).
Clearly, both (𝑚 − 60) and (𝑚 + 60) must be factors of 𝑝 𝑛 . Since 𝑝 is prime, the only factors
of 𝑝 𝑛 are 1 and integer powers of 𝑝, so both brackets can only be 1 or an integer power of 𝑝.
If 𝑚 − 60 = 1, then 𝑚 + 60 = 121, giving the solution 𝑝 = 11, 𝑛 = 2 and 𝑚 = 61.
If 𝑚 − 60 ≠ 1, then 𝑝 divides 𝑚 − 60 and 𝑚 + 60, so 𝑝 divides the difference between them,
120. Therefore 𝑝 can be only 2, 3 or 5.
If 𝑝 = 2, we are looking for two powers of 2 which differ by 120. Since the larger one must be
at least 120 and beyond 128 the difference between powers of 2 is larger than 120, the only
solution is 𝑚 + 60 = 128 and 𝑚 − 60 = 8. This gives a solution of 𝑝 = 2, 𝑛 = 10 and 𝑚 = 68.
If 𝑝 = 3, we are looking for two powers of 3 which differ by 120. Since the larger one must be
at least 120 and beyond 81 the difference between powers of 3 is larger than 120, there is no
solution in this case.
If 𝑝 = 5, we are looking for two powers of 5 which differ by 120. Since the larger one must be
at least 120 and beyond 125 the difference between powers of 5 is larger than 120, the only
solution is 𝑚 + 60 = 125 and 𝑚 − 60 = 5. This gives a solution of 𝑝 = 5, 𝑛 = 4 and 𝑚 = 65.
The solutions are (𝑚, 𝑛, 𝑝) = (61, 2, 11), (65, 4, 5) or (68, 10, 2).

© 2023 UK Mathematics Trust www.ukmt.org.uk 7