1989 AIME Problems

Problem 1
Compute

Solution

Problem 2
Ten points are marked on a circle. How many distinct convex polygons of three or more sides can be
drawn using some (or all) of the ten points as vertices?
Solution
Any subset of the ten points with three or more members can be made into exactly one such polygon.
Thus, we need to count the number of such subsets. There are

member set, but of these

and

total subsets of a ten-

have 0 members,

have 1 member

have 2 members. Thus the answer is

Problem 3
Suppose

is a positive integer and

is a single digit in base 10. Find

if

Solution

Problem 4
If

are consecutive positive integers such that

and

is a perfect square

is a perfect cube, what is the smallest possible value of ?

Solution

Problem 5
When a certain biased coin is flipped five times, the probability of getting heads exactly once is not equal
to

and is the same as that of getting heads exactly twice. Let

the coin comes up heads in exactly

Solution

out of

flips. Find

, in lowest terms, be the probability that

Denote the probability of getting a heads in one flip of the biased coins as . Based upon the problem,

note that

so

. After canceling out terms, we get

. The answer we are looking for is

so

Problem 6
Two skaters, Allie and Billie, are at points
between

and

is

straight line that makes a

of

and

meters. Allie leaves

angle with

, respectively, on a flat, frozen lake. The distance

and skates at a speed of

meters per second on a

. At the same time Allie leaves

, Billie leaves

at a speed

meters per second and follows the straight path that produces the earliest possible meeting of the two

skaters, given their speeds. How many meters does Allie skate before meeting Billie?

Solution

Problem 7
If the integer

is added to each of the numbers

, and

, one obtains the squares of three

consecutive terms of an arithmetic series. Find .

Solution

Problem 8
Assume that

are real numbers such that

Find the value of

Solution

Problem 9
One of Euler's conjectures was disproved in the 1960s by three American mathematicians when they
showed there was a positive integer such that

. Find the value of .

Solution

Problem 10
Let , ,
If

be the three sides of a triangle, and let

, , , be the angles opposite them.

, find

Solution

Solution 1
We can draw the altitude

to , to get two right triangles.

the cotangent. From the definition of area,

, so

Now we evaluate the numerator:

From the Law of Cosines and the sine area formula,

Then

Solution 2

By the Law of Cosines,

Now

, from the definition of

.

Problem 11
A sample of 121 integers is given, each between 1 and 1000 inclusive, with repetitions allowed. The
sample has a unique mode (most frequent value). Let

be the difference between the mode and the

arithmetic mean of the sample. What is the largest possible value of

? (For real ,

is the greatest

integer less than or equal to .)

Solution

Problem 12
Let

be a tetrahedron with

and

, as shown in the figure. Let

edges

and

. Find

be the distance between the midpoints of

Solution

Problem 13
Let

be a subset of

such that no two members of

largest number of elements

differ by

or . What is the

can have?

Solution

Problem 14
Given a positive integer , it can be shown that every complex number of the form
where
integers

and

are integers, can be uniquely expressed in the base

using the

as digits. That is, the equation

is true for a unique choice of non-negative integer

set

, with

. We write

and digits

chosen from the

to denote the base

expansion of

. There are only finitely many integers

that have

four-digit expansions

Find the sum of all such .

Solution

Problem 15
Point

is inside

, and

on

and

. Line segments

, and

(see the figure at right). Given that

, find the area of

are drawn with

,

on

on

Solution

Solution
Solution 1
Because we're given three concurrent cevians and their lengths, it seems very tempting to apply Mass
points. We immediately see that

, and

. Now, we recall that the masses

on the three sides of the triangle must be balanced out, so

Thus,

and

, we see that

and

Applying Stewart's Theorem,

, and

is a median to

and

with sides
.

Solution 2

Using a different form of Ceva's Theorem, we have

, , and

in

. Now notice

, because both triangles share the same base and the

Applying Heron's formula on triangle

,

Recalling that
that

and

Solving
Let

and

be the point on

, we obtain
such that

and

. Since

and

(Midline Theorem)
Also, since
Similarly, we have
is a
of
ratio,

and

, we see that
(

right triangle, so

, etc. (Midline Theorem)

) and thus
(

) is

.
. Therefore, the area

. Using area
.