Olympiad problems

2019 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 1

What is the smallest positive integer that cannot be written as the sum of two nonnegative palindromic integers? (An integer is [i]palindromic[/i] if the sequence of decimal digits are the same when read backwards.)

2019 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 7

Tags: hmmt , geometry , combinatorics

A convex polygon on the plane is called [i]wide[/i] if the projection of the polygon onto any line in the same plane is a segment with length at least 1. Prove that a circle of radius $\tfrac{1}{3}$ can be placed completely inside any wide polygon.

2014 AMC 10, 19

Tags: probability , hmmt , geometry , geometric probability

Two concentric circles have radii $1$ and $2$. Two points on the outer circle are chosen independently and uniformly at random. What is the probability that the chord joining the two points intersects the inner circle? $\textbf{(A) }\frac{1}{6}\qquad\textbf{(B) }\frac{1}{4}\qquad\textbf{(C) }\frac{2-\sqrt{2}}{2}\qquad\textbf{(D) }\frac{1}{3}\qquad\textbf{(E) }\frac{1}{2}\qquad$

2016 HMNT, 2

Tags: hmmt

I have five different pairs of socks. Every day for five days, I pick two socks at random without replacement to wear for the day. Find the probability that I wear matching socks on both the third day and the fifth day.

2012 AMC 10, 23

Tags: geometry , 3d geometry , tetrahedron , pyramid , hmmt , analytic geometry , circumcircle

A solid tetrahedron is sliced off a solid wooden unit cube by a plane passing through two nonadjacent vertices on one face and one vertex on the opposite face not adjacent to either of the first two vertices. The tetrahedron is discarded and the remaining portion of the cube is placed on a table with the cut surface face down. What is the height of this object? $ \textbf{(A)}\ \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{3}\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ \dfrac{2\sqrt{2}}{3}\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 1\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ \dfrac{2\sqrt{3}}{3}\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ \sqrt{2} $

2016 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 2

Tags: hmmt

Point $P_1$ is located $600$ miles West of point $P_2$. At $7:00\text{AM}$ a car departs from $P_1$ and drives East at a speed of $50$mph. At $8:00\text{AM}$ another car departs from $P_2$ and drives West at a constant speed of $x$ miles per hour. If the cars meet each other exactly halfway between $P_1$ and $P_2$, what is the value of $x$?

2012 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 6

Tags: hmmt

Let $a_0=-2,b_0=1$, and for $n\geq 0$, let \begin{align*}a_{n+1}&=a_n+b_n+\sqrt{a_n^2+b_n^2},\\b_{n+1}&=a_n+b_n-\sqrt{a_n^2+b_n^2}.\end{align*} Find $a_{2012}$.

2019 Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament, 10

Tags: hmmt , combinatorics

Fred the Four-Dimensional Fluffy Sheep is walking in 4-dimensional space. He starts at the origin. Each minute, he walks from his current position $(a_1, a_2, a_3, a_4)$ to some position $(x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4)$ with integer coordinates satisfying \[(x_1-a_1)^2 + (x_2-a_2)^2 + (x_3-a_3)^2 + (x_4-a_4)^2 = 4 \quad \text{and} \quad |(x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4) - (a_1 + a_2 + a_3 + a_4)| = 2.\] In how many ways can Fred reach $(10, 10, 10, 10)$ after exactly 40 minutes, if he is allowed to pass through this point during his walk?