2007IMSO Math-Essay
2007IMSO Math-Essay
Answer the following 10 questions, and show your detailed solution in the space
provided after each question. Each question is worth 4 points.
Time limit: 60 minutes.
4. Two candles have different lengths and thicknesses. The longer one can burn for
7 hours and the shorter one for 10 hours. After 3 hours’ burning, both candles
have the same length. What was the shorter candle’s length divided by the longer
candle’s length?
5. John had a summer job on a farm. He had four bags of potatoes to weight but
each bag weighed more than 60 kg and less than 100kg , the scale only weighed
in excess of 100kg. He solved the problem by weighing the bags two at a time.
He found the weightings to be 124, 132, 134, 138, 140, 148. What was the
weight of the lightest bag, in kilograms?
6. Here is the plan of a building which has a courtyard with two entrance gates.
Passers-by can look through the gates but may not enter. Dimensions of the
building are give in metres, and all corners are right angles. What is the area, in
square metres, of that part of the courtyard which cannot be seen by passers-by?
60 Gate 80
20 20 20
60
80 40 40
30
20 20 20
60 Gate 80
Q R
10. The four circles represent cinder paths. The four cyclists started at noon. Each
person rode round a different circle, one at the rate of six miles an hour, another
at the rate of nine miles an hour, another at the rate of twelve miles an hour, and
the fourth at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. They agreed to ride until all met at
the center, from which they started, for the fourth time. The distance round each
circle was exactly one-third of a mile. When did they finish their ride?