This website contains problems from math contests. Problems and corresponding tags were obtained from the Art of Problem Solving website.

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Found problems: 75

2000 AMC 12/AHSME, 25

Eight congruent equilateral triangles, each of a different color, are used to construct a regular octahedron. How many distinguishable ways are there to construct the octahedron? (Two colored octahedrons are distinguishable if neither can be rotated to look just like the other.) [asy]import three; import math; size(180); defaultpen(linewidth(.8pt)); currentprojection=orthographic(2,0.2,1); triple A=(0,0,1); triple B=(sqrt(2)/2,sqrt(2)/2,0); triple C=(sqrt(2)/2,-sqrt(2)/2,0); triple D=(-sqrt(2)/2,-sqrt(2)/2,0); triple E=(-sqrt(2)/2,sqrt(2)/2,0); triple F=(0,0,-1); draw(A--B--E--cycle); draw(A--C--D--cycle); draw(F--C--B--cycle); draw(F--D--E--cycle,dotted+linewidth(0.7));[/asy]$ \textbf{(A)}\ 210 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 560 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 840 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ 1260 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 1680$

2015 USAJMO, 6

Steve is piling $m\geq 1$ indistinguishable stones on the squares of an $n\times n$ grid. Each square can have an arbitrarily high pile of stones. After he finished piling his stones in some manner, he can then perform [i]stone moves[/i], defined as follows. Consider any four grid squares, which are corners of a rectangle, i.e. in positions $(i, k), (i, l), (j, k), (j, l)$ for some $1\leq i, j, k, l\leq n$, such that $i<j$ and $k<l$. A stone move consists of either removing one stone from each of $(i, k)$ and $(j, l)$ and moving them to $(i, l)$ and $(j, k)$ respectively, or removing one stone from each of $(i, l)$ and $(j, k)$ and moving them to $(i, k)$ and $(j, l)$ respectively. Two ways of piling the stones are equivalent if they can be obtained from one another by a sequence of stone moves. How many different non-equivalent ways can Steve pile the stones on the grid?

2014 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 2

There are $10$ people who want to choose a committee of 5 people among them. They do this by first electing a set of $1, 2, 3,$ or $4$ committee leaders, who then choose among the remaining people to complete the 5-person committee. In how many ways can the committee be formed, assuming that people are distinguishable? (Two committees that have the same members but different sets of leaders are considered to be distinct.)

2024 AMC 10, 22

A group of $16$ people will be partitioned into $4$ indistinguishable $4$-person committees. Each committee will have one chairperson and one secretary. The number of different ways to make these assignments can be written as $3^r M,$ where $r$ and $M$ are positive integers and $M$ is not divisible by $3.$ What is $r?$ $\textbf{(A) }5 \qquad\textbf{(B) }6\qquad\textbf{(C) }7\qquad\textbf{(D) }8\qquad\textbf{(E) }9$

2014 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 13

An auditorium has two rows of seats, with $50$ seats in each row. $100$ indistinguishable people sit in the seats one at a time, subject to the condition that each person, except for the first person to sit in each row, must sit to the left or right of an occupied seat, and no two people can sit in the same seat. In how many ways can this process occur?

2015 AMC 10, 22

Eight people are sitting around a circular table, each holding a fair coin. All eight people flip their coins and those who flip heads stand while those who flip tails remain seated. What is the probability that no two adjacent people will stand? $\textbf{(A) }\dfrac{47}{256}\qquad\textbf{(B) }\dfrac{3}{16}\qquad\textbf{(C) }\dfrac{49}{256}\qquad\textbf{(D) }\dfrac{25}{128}\qquad\textbf{(E) }\dfrac{51}{256}$

2013 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 8

In a game, there are three indistinguishable boxes; one box contains two red balls, one contains two blue balls, and the last contains one ball of each color. To play, Raj first predicts whether he will draw two balls of the same color or two of different colors. Then, he picks a box, draws a ball at random, looks at the color, and replaces the ball in the same box. Finally, he repeats this; however, the boxes are not shuffled between draws, so he can determine whether he wants to draw again from the same box. Raj wins if he predicts correctly; if he plays optimally, what is the probability that he will win?

2007 USA Team Selection Test, 6

For a polynomial $ P(x)$ with integer coefficients, $ r(2i \minus{} 1)$ (for $ i \equal{} 1,2,3,\ldots,512$) is the remainder obtained when $ P(2i \minus{} 1)$ is divided by $ 1024$. The sequence \[ (r(1),r(3),\ldots,r(1023)) \] is called the [i]remainder sequence[/i] of $ P(x)$. A remainder sequence is called [i]complete[/i] if it is a permutation of $ (1,3,5,\ldots,1023)$. Prove that there are no more than $ 2^{35}$ different complete remainder sequences.

2015 USAMO, 4

Steve is piling $m\geq 1$ indistinguishable stones on the squares of an $n\times n$ grid. Each square can have an arbitrarily high pile of stones. After he finished piling his stones in some manner, he can then perform [i]stone moves[/i], defined as follows. Consider any four grid squares, which are corners of a rectangle, i.e. in positions $(i, k), (i, l), (j, k), (j, l)$ for some $1\leq i, j, k, l\leq n$, such that $i<j$ and $k<l$. A stone move consists of either removing one stone from each of $(i, k)$ and $(j, l)$ and moving them to $(i, l)$ and $(j, k)$ respectively, or removing one stone from each of $(i, l)$ and $(j, k)$ and moving them to $(i, k)$ and $(j, l)$ respectively. Two ways of piling the stones are equivalent if they can be obtained from one another by a sequence of stone moves. How many different non-equivalent ways can Steve pile the stones on the grid?

2011 AIME Problems, 12

Six men and some number of women stand in a line in random order. Let $p$ be the probability that a group of at least four men stand together in the line, given that every man stands next to at least one other man. Find the least number of women in the line such that $p$ does not exceed 1 percent.

2010 Contests, 3

Let $n > 1$ be a positive integer. A 2-dimensional grid, infinite in all directions, is given. Each 1 by 1 square in a given $n$ by $n$ square has a counter on it. A [i]move[/i] consists of taking $n$ adjacent counters in a row or column and sliding them each by one space along that row or column. A [i]returning sequence[/i] is a finite sequence of moves such that all counters again fill the original $n$ by $n$ square at the end of the sequence. [list] [*] Assume that all counters are distinguishable except two, which are indistinguishable from each other. Prove that any distinguishable arrangement of counters in the $n$ by $n$ square can be reached by a returning sequence. [*] Assume all counters are distinguishable. Prove that there is no returning sequence that switches two counters and returns the rest to their original positions.[/list] [i]Mitchell Lee and Benjamin Gunby.[/i]

2013 ELMO Shortlist, 8

We define the [i]Fibonacci sequence[/i] $\{F_n\}_{n\ge0}$ by $F_0=0$, $F_1=1$, and for $n\ge2$, $F_n=F_{n-1}+F_{n-2}$; we define the [i]Stirling number of the second kind[/i] $S(n,k)$ as the number of ways to partition a set of $n\ge1$ distinguishable elements into $k\ge1$ indistinguishable nonempty subsets. For every positive integer $n$, let $t_n = \sum_{k=1}^{n} S(n,k) F_k$. Let $p\ge7$ be a prime. Prove that \[ t_{n+p^{2p}-1} \equiv t_n \pmod{p} \] for all $n\ge1$. [i]Proposed by Victor Wang[/i]

2005 National Olympiad First Round, 8

How many natural number triples $(x,y,z)$ are there such that $xyz = 10^6$? $ \textbf{(A)}\ 568 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 784 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 812 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 816 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 824 $

2012 Online Math Open Problems, 45

Let $K_1, K_2, K_3, K_4, K_5$ be 5 distinguishable keys, and let $D_1, D_2, D_3, D_4, D_5$ be $5$ distinguishable doors. For $1 \leq i \leq 5$, key $K_i$ opens doors $D_{i}$ and $D_{i+1}$ (where $D_6 = D_1$) and can only be used once. The keys and doors are placed in some order along a hallway. Key\$ha walks into the hallway, picks a key and opens a door with it, such that she never obtains a key before all the doors in front of it are unlocked. In how many orders can the keys and doors be placed such that Key\$ha can open all of the doors? [i]Author: Mitchell Lee[/i] [hide="Clarifications"] [list=1][*]The doors and keys are in series. In other words, the doors aren't lined up along the side of the hallway. They are blocking Key\$ha's path to the end, and the only way she can get past them is by getting the appropriate keys along the hallway. [*]The doors and keys appear consecutively along the hallway. For example, she might find $K_1 D_1 K_2 D_2 K_3 D_3 K_4 D_4 K_5 D_5$ down the hallway in that order. Also, by "she never obtains a key before all the doors in front of it are unlocked," we mean that she cannot obtain a key before all the doors appearing before the key are unlocked. In essence, it merely states that locked doors cannot be passed. [*]The doors and keys do not need to alternate down the hallway.[/list][/hide]

1997 AMC 8, 20

A pair of 8-sided dice have sides numbered 1 through 8. Each side has the same probability (chance) of landing face up. The probability that the product of the two numbers that land face-up exceeds 36 is $\textbf{(A)}\ \dfrac{5}{32} \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ \dfrac{11}{64} \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ \dfrac{3}{16} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \dfrac{1}{4} \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ \dfrac{1}{2}$

2007 Putnam, 3

Let $ k$ be a positive integer. Suppose that the integers $ 1,2,3,\dots,3k \plus{} 1$ are written down in random order. What is the probability that at no time during this process, the sum of the integers that have been written up to that time is a positive integer divisible by $ 3$ ? Your answer should be in closed form, but may include factorials.

2005 AIME Problems, 5

Robert has 4 indistinguishable gold coins and 4 indistinguishable silver coins. Each coin has an engraving of one face on one side, but not on the other. He wants to stack the eight coins on a table into a single stack so that no two adjacent coins are face to face. Find the number of possible distinguishable arrangements of the 8 coins.

2012 Purple Comet Problems, 8

Seven boys and three girls are playing basketball. I how many different ways can they make two teams of five players so that both teams have at least one girl?

2000 AMC 10, 13

There are $5$ yellow pegs, $4$ red pegs, $3$ green pegs, $2$ blue pegs, and $1$ orange peg on a triangular peg board. In how many ways can the pegs be placed so that no (horizontal) row or (vertical) column contains two pegs of the same color? [asy] unitsize(20); dot((0,0)); dot((1,0)); dot((2,0)); dot((3,0)); dot((4,0)); dot((0,1)); dot((1,1)); dot((2,1)); dot((3,1)); dot((0,2)); dot((1,2)); dot((2,2)); dot((0,3)); dot((1,3)); dot((0,4));[/asy] $\text{(A)}\ 0\qquad\text{(B)}\ 1\qquad\text{(C)}\ 5!\cdot4!\cdot3!\cdot2!\cdot1!\qquad\text{(D)}\ \frac{15!}{5!\cdot4!\cdot3!\cdot2!\cdot1!}\qquad\text{(E)}\ 15!$

2018 PUMaC Combinatorics B, 3

In an election between $\text{A}$ and $\text{B}$, during the counting of the votes, neither candidate was more than $2$ votes ahead, and the vote ended in a tie, $6$ votes to $6$ votes. Two votes for the same candidate are indistinguishable. In how many orders could the votes have been counted? One possibility is $\text{AABBABBABABA}$.

2003 AMC 12-AHSME, 20

How many $ 15$-letter arrangements of $ 5$ A's, $ 5$ B's, and $ 5$ C's have no A's in the first $ 5$ letters, no B's in the next $ 5$ letters, and no C's in the last $ 5$ letters? $ \textbf{(A)}\ \sum_{k\equal{}0}^5\binom{5}{k}^3 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\ 3^5\cdot 2^5 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\ 2^{15} \qquad \textbf{(D)}\ \frac{15!}{(5!)^3} \qquad \textbf{(E)}\ 3^{15}$

2013 AMC 12/AHSME, 15

Rabbits Peter and Pauline have three offspring—Flopsie, Mopsie, and Cotton-tail. These five rabbits are to be distributed to four different pet stores so that no store gets both a parent and a child. It is not required that every store gets a rabbit. In how many different ways can this be done? $\textbf{(A)} \ 96 \qquad \textbf{(B)} \ 108 \qquad \textbf{(C)} \ 156 \qquad \textbf{(D)} \ 204 \qquad \textbf{(E)} \ 372 $

2012 AMC 12/AHSME, 11

Alex, Mel, and Chelsea play a game that has $6$ rounds. In each round there is a single winner, and the outcomes of the rounds are independent. For each round the probability that Alex wins is $\frac{1}{2}$, and Mel is twice as likely to win as Chelsea. What is the probability that Alex wins three rounds, Mel wins two rounds, and Chelsea wins one round? $ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac{5}{72}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{5}{36}\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ \frac{1}{6}\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{1}{3}\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 1 $

2002 AIME Problems, 9

Let $\mathcal{S}$ be the set $\{1,2,3,\ldots,10\}.$ Let $n$ be the number of sets of two non-empty disjoint subsets of $\mathcal{S}.$ (Disjoint sets are defined as sets that have no common elements.) Find the remainder obtained when $n$ is divided by $1000.$

2014 AMC 12/AHSME, 13

A fancy bed and breakfast inn has $5$ rooms, each with a distinctive color-coded decor. One day $5$ friends arrive to spend the night. There are no other guests that night. The friends can room in any combination they wish, but with no more than $2$ friends per room. In how many ways can the innkeeper assign the guests to the rooms? $\textbf{(A) }2100\qquad \textbf{(B) }2220\qquad \textbf{(C) }3000\qquad \textbf{(D) }3120\qquad \textbf{(E) }3125\qquad$