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$
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 $
2008 AIME Problems, 12
There are two distinguishable flagpoles, and there are $ 19$ flags, of which $ 10$ are identical blue flags, and $ 9$ are identical green flags. Let $ N$ be the number of distinguishable arrangements using all of the flags in which each flagpole has at least one flag and no two green flags on either pole are adjacent. Find the remainder when $ N$ is divided by $ 1000$.
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]
2014 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 7
Six distinguishable players are participating in a tennis tournament. Each player plays one match of tennis against every other player. The outcome of each tennis match is a win for one player and a loss for the other players; there are no ties. Suppose that whenever $A$ and $B$ are players in the tournament for which $A$ won (strictly) more matches than $B$ over the course of the tournament, it is also the case that $A$ won the match against $B$ during the tournament. In how many ways could the tournament have gone?
2012 AMC 8, 10
How many 4-digit numbers greater than 1000 are there that use the four digits of 2012?
$\textbf{(A)}\hspace{.05in}6 \qquad \textbf{(B)}\hspace{.05in}7 \qquad \textbf{(C)}\hspace{.05in}8 \qquad \textbf{(D)}\hspace{.05in}9 \qquad \textbf{(E)}\hspace{.05in}12 $
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 $
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}$
2006 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 5
Fifteen freshmen are sitting in a circle around a table, but the course assistant (who remains standing) has made only six copies of today’s handout. No freshman should get more than one handout, and any freshman who does not get one should be able to read a neighbor’s. If the freshmen are distinguishable but the handouts are not, how many ways are there to distribute the six handouts subject to the above conditions?
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?
2005 AIME Problems, 2
A hotel packed breakfast for each of three guests. Each breakfast should have consisted of three types of rolls, one each of nut, cheese, and fruit rolls. The preparer wrapped each of the nine rolls and once wrapped, the rolls were indistinguishable from one another. She then randomly put three rolls in a bag for each of the guests. Given that the probability each guest got one roll of each type is $\frac{m}{n}$, where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime integers, find $m+n$.
2008 AMC 10, 22
Three red beads, two white beads, and one blue bead are placed in a line in random order. What is the probability that no two neighboring beads are the same color?
$ \textbf{(A)}\ \frac{1}{12} \qquad
\textbf{(B)}\ \frac{1}{10} \qquad
\textbf{(C)}\ \frac{1}{6} \qquad
\textbf{(D)}\ \frac{1}{3} \qquad
\textbf{(E)}\ \frac{1}{2}$
2015 AMC 10, 20
Erin the ant starts at a given corner of a cube and crawls along exactly $7$ edges in such a way that she visits every corner exactly once and then finds that she is unable to return along an edge to her starting point. How many paths are there meeting these conditions?
$ \textbf{(A) }\text{6}\qquad\textbf{(B) }\text{9}\qquad\textbf{(C) }\text{12}\qquad\textbf{(D) }\text{18}\qquad\textbf{(E) }\text{24} $
2010 ELMO Problems, 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]
2007 Purple Comet Problems, 16
We have some identical paper squares which are black on one side of the sheet and white on the other side. We can join nine squares together to make a $3$ by $3$ sheet of squares by placing each of the nine squares either white side up or black side up. Two of these $3$ by $3$ sheets are distinguishable if neither can be made to look like the other by rotating the sheet or by turning it over. How many distinguishable $3$ by $3$ squares can we form?
2006 AIME Problems, 8
There is an unlimited supply of congruent equilateral triangles made of colored paper. Each triangle is a solid color with the same color on both sides of the paper. A large equilateral triangle is constructed from four of these paper triangles. Two large triangles are considered distinguishable if it is not possible to place one on the other, using translations, rotations, and/or reflections, so that their corresponding small triangles are of the same color.
Given that there are six different colors of triangles from which to choose, how many distinguishable large equilateral triangles may be formed?
2004 Purple Comet Problems, 17
We want to paint some identically-sized cubes so that each face of each cube is painted a solid color and each cube is painted with six different colors. If we have seven different colors to choose from, how many distinguishable cubes can we produce?
2002 AMC 10, 3
Mary typed a six-digit number, but the two $1$s she typed didn't show. What appeared was $2002$. How many different six-digit numbers could she have typed?
$\textbf{(A) }4\qquad\textbf{(B) }8\qquad\textbf{(C) }10\qquad\textbf{(D) }15\qquad\textbf{(E) }20$
2006 AMC 12/AHSME, 25
How many non-empty subsets $ S$ of $ \{1, 2, 3, \ldots, 15\}$ have the following two properties?
(1) No two consecutive integers belong to $ S$.
(2) If $ S$ contains $ k$ elements, then $ S$ contains no number less than $ k$.
$ \textbf{(A) } 277\qquad \textbf{(B) } 311\qquad \textbf{(C) } 376\qquad \textbf{(D) } 377\qquad \textbf{(E) } 405$
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]
$\text{(A)}\ 0\qquad\text{(B)}\ 1\qquad\text{(C)}\ 5!\cdot4!\cdot3!\cdot2!\cdot1!\qquad\text{(D)}\ \frac{15!}{5!\cdot4!\cdot3!\cdot2!\cdot1!}\qquad\text{(E)}\ 15!$
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.)
2020 AIME Problems, 5
Six cards numbered 1 through 6 are to be lined up in a row. Find the number of arrangements of these six cards where one of the cards can be removed leaving the remaining five cards in either ascending or descending order.
2008 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 1
Four students from Harvard, one of them named Jack, and five students from MIT, one of them named Jill, are going to see a Boston Celtics game. However, they found out that only $ 5$ tickets remain, so $ 4$ of them must go back. Suppose that at least one student from each school must go see the game, and at least one of Jack and Jill must go see the game, how many ways are there of choosing which $ 5$ people can see the game?
2018 PUMaC Combinatorics A, 2
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 $\text{AABBABBABABA}$.
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?