THE SOUTH AFRICAN MATHEMATICS OLYMPIAD

Senior First Round 2021

Solutions

1. Answer D
One half of 222 is equal to 1
2
× 222 = 2−1 × 222 = 222−1 = 221 .

2. Answer B
Let the numbers be x and y. Then 80 = x2 − y 2 = (x + y)(x − y) and 16 = x + y.
Therefore 80 = 16(x − y), so x − y = 80/16 = 5. (y − x = −5, but only the positive
difference is required.)

3. Answer
√ √A √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √
3 3 + 2 11 − (3 11 − 3) = 3 3 + 2 11 − 3 11 + 3 = 4 3 − 11, so a = −1.

4. Answer D
Let 2023 = x and 2021 = y. Then

20232 − 20212 20232 − 20212 x2 − y 2 x2 − y 2

− = − = (x+y)−(x−y) = 2y = 4042.
2 4044 x−y x+y
Alternatively, the expression is equal to
1 1 2022 − 1
(20232 −20212 )( − ) = (2023+2021)(2023−2021) = (2)(2021) = 4042.
2 4044 4044

5. Answer A
250 = 21 × 53 , so n will divide exactly into 250 only if n = 2a × 5b , where 0 ≤ a ≤ 1
and 0 ≤ b ≤ 3. This gives two choices for a and four choices for b, so the number of
possible values of n is 2 × 4 = 8.

6. Answer C
Suppose there are m marbles in each bag. Then the total number of marbles is 3m
and the number of red marbles is

50% × m + 25% × m + 21% × m = (50 + 25 + 21)m/100 = 96m/100.

The combined percentage of red marbles is (96m/100) ÷ (3m) × 100 = 32.

7. Answer C
Suppose the fish has mass m kg and the man has mass M kg. Then m = 75 + 14 m,
so 34 m = 75, giving m = 43 × 75 = 100. Similarly, M = 100 + 51 M, so 45 M = 100 and
M = 54 × 100 = 125. Therefore M − m = 125 − 100 = 25.

8. Answer E
Substituting x = 8 gives 8♦y = 3(8) − 8y + (8)y = 24. Thus 8♦y = 24 for all real
numbers y, and there are infinitely many solutions.

1
 9. Answer B
Reminder: Percentage change = 100×(New value−Old Value)/(Old Value).
If each side of the cube is increased by 50%, then the new side length is 100+50
100
= 32
times the original length. The volume is therefore multiplied by ( 23 )3 = 27
8
= 3.375,
and the percentage change in volume is 100(3.375 − 1)/1 = 237.5%.

10. Answer E
The fraction of the circle forming the monster is 360−60
360
= 56 , so the length of the
5 5
curved part of the perimeter is 6 (2π) = 3 π. The two radii are each of length 1 , so
the total perimeter is 53 π + 2.

11. Answer D √
By Pythagoras’ theorem, AB 2 = 122 +52 = 169, so AB = 169 = 13. Furthermore,
AM = AC = 12 and BN = BC = 5. Finally, MN = AM + BN − AB =
12 + 5 − 13 = 4.

12. Answer D
r q
3 √
p 3 p 3 p = (p(p.p1/3 )1/3)1/3 = (p(p4/3 )1/3)1/3 = (p(p4/9 ))1/3 = (p13/9)1/3 = p13/27.
√ q √ √
r q
Alternatively, if x = 3
p 3 p 3 p, then x3 = p 3 p 3 p, x9 = p3 p 3 p, and x27 = p9 p3 p =
p9+3+1 = p13 .

13. Answer D
By inspection (or by calculation) it is easy to see that 23 × 54 = 36, 23 × 36 = 24,
and so on. For the tenth term we have to multiply 54 by 32 nine times. This gives

2a 2 9 32
9
210
= 54( ) = 2.3 = ,
3b 3 39 36
so a − b = 10 − 6 = 4.

14. Answer C
Since 4BCD is isosceles, it follows that the external angle at C is equal to 2 ×
6 BDC = 20◦ . Next, the sum of the external angles of any polygon is 360◦ , and the

given polygon is regular, so the number of its sides is 360/20 = 18, and its perimeter
is 18 .

15. Answer C
If Zoliswa runs x minutes till she catches Abbey, then Abbey has run for x + 2
minutes. Since the distances they have travelled are equal, it follows that 13x =
11(x + 2), so 2x = 22 and x = 11.

16. Answer B
It is sufficient to consider only the last (or units, or ones) digits. Any positive power
of 6 ends in 6. The last digits of the powers of 7 cycle in groups of length four:
7, 9, 3, 1, 7, 9, 3, 1, . . ., so 782 has the same last digit as 72 , that is, 9. The required
last digit is the same as that of 6 × 9, which is 4.

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 Alternatively, since the last digit of 6 × 7 is 2, the required answer is the last digit
of 282 , which is the same as the last digit of 22 , since the last digits of the positive
powers of 2 also cycle in groups of length four.
17. Answer C
There are 33 = 27 equally likely ways of making three drawings, with replacement,
from the bag. There are six possible arrangements to get a sum of 6, which is by
drawing 1 and 2 and 3. And one more arrangement is by drawing 2 and 2 and 2.
7
The probability is therefore .
27
18. Answer D
Since 6 QSR = 6 P QS (alternate angles), it follows that 4P QS is similar to 4QSR
(in that order), so SR : QS = QS : P Q = 7 : 5. It follows that SR = 57 QS = 49 5
,
7 28
and similarly QR = 5 P S = 5 . Thus the perimeter of P QRS is equal to
28 49 25 + 28 + 49 + 20 122
5+ + +4= = .
5 5 5 5
19. Answer A
Assuming all 26 letters of the alphabet are used, as well as all ten digits, the present
system allows 262 104 licence plates, while the new system will allow 264 103 . The
ratio is therefore 264−2 : 103−4 = 262 /10.
20. Answer B

By definition of a trapezium, and from the diagram, we have AB k DC, and since
the diagonals are equal, it follows that the diagram is symmetrical, so 4ABZ and
4CDZ are isosceles and similar to each other. Let M and N be the midpoints of
AB and DC respectively (so MZN is perpendicular to both AB and CD), and let
P be the foot of the perpendicular from A to CD. Then DP = 12 (54 − 30) = 12,
so P C = 42. By Pythagoras’ theorem √ in 4AP C we have AP 2 = 562 − 422 =
142 (42 − 32 ) = 142 (7), so AP = 14 7. By similar triangles,
MZ AB 30 5 MZ MZ 5
= = = , so = = .
ZN DC 54 9 MN MZ + MN 14
5 5 5
√ √
Therefore MZ = 14 MN = 14 AP = 14 (14 7) = 5 7. Finally, the area of 4ABZ
√ √
is equal to 12 AB·MZ = 12 ·30·5 7 = 75 7.