1980 AHSME Problems

Problem 1

The largest whole number such that seven times the number is less than 100 is

$\text{(A)} \ 12 \qquad \text{(B)} \ 13 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 14 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 15 \qquad \text{(E)} \ 16$

Solution

Problem 2

The degree of $(x^2+1)^4 (x^3+1)^3$ as a polynomial in $x$ is

$\text{(A)} \ 5 \qquad \text{(B)} \ 7 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 12 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 17 \qquad \text{(E)} \ 72$

Solution

Problem 3

If the ratio of $2x-y$ to $x+y$ is $\frac{2}{3}$ , what is the ratio of $x$ to $y$ ?

$\text{(A)} \ \frac{1}{5} \qquad \text{(B)} \ \frac{4}{5} \qquad \text{(C)} \ 1 \qquad \text{(D)} \ \frac{6}{5} \qquad \text{(E)} \ \frac{5}{4}$

Solution

Problem 4

In the adjoining figure, CDE is an equilateral triangle and ABCD and DEFG are squares. The measure of $\angle GDA$ is

$\text{(A)} \ 90^\circ \qquad \text{(B)} \ 105^\circ \qquad \text{(C)} \ 120^\circ \qquad \text{(D)} \ 135^\circ \qquad \text{(E)} \ 150^\circ$

$[asy] defaultpen(linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10)); pair D=origin, C=D+dir(240), E=D+dir(300), F=E+dir(30), G=D+dir(30), A=D+dir(150), B=C+dir(150); draw(E--D--G--F--E--C--D--A--B--C); pair point=(0,0.5); label("$A$", A, dir(point--A)); label("$B$", B, dir(point--B)); label("$C$", C, dir(point--C)); label("$D$", D, dir(-15)); label("$E$", E, dir(point--E)); label("$F$", F, dir(point--F)); label("$G$", G, dir(point--G));[/asy]$

Solution

Problem 5

If $AB$ and $CD$ are perpendicular diameters of circle $Q$ , $P$ in $\overline{AQ}$ , and $\measuredangle QPC = 60^\circ$ , then the length of $PQ$ divided by the length of $AQ$ is

$[asy] defaultpen(linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10)); pair A=(-1,0), B=(1,0), C=(0,1), D=(0,-1), Q=origin, P=(-0.5,0); draw(P--C--D^^A--B^^Circle(Q,1)); label("$A$", A, W); label("$B$", B, E); label("$C$", C, N); label("$D$", D, S); label("$P$", P, S); label("$Q$", Q, SE); label("$60^\circ$", P+0.0.5*dir(30), dir(30));[/asy]$

$\text{(A)} \ \frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \qquad \text{(B)} \ \frac{\sqrt{3}}{3} \qquad \text{(C)} \ \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} \qquad \text{(D)} \ \frac12 \qquad \text{(E)} \ \frac23$

Solution

Problem 6

A positive number $x$ satisfies the inequality $\sqrt{x} < 2x$ if and only if

$\text{(A)} \ x > \frac{1}{4} \qquad \text{(B)} \ x > 2 \qquad \text{(C)} \x > 4 \qquad \text{(D)} \ x < \frac{1}{4}\qquad \text{(E)} \x < 4$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)

Solution

Problem 7

Sides $AB,BC,CD$ and $DA$ of convex polygon $ABCD$ have lengths 3,4,12, and 13, respectively, and $\measuredangle CBA$ is a right angle. The area of the quadrilateral is

$[asy] defaultpen(linewidth(0.7)+fontsize(10)); real r=degrees((12,5)), s=degrees((3,4)); pair D=origin, A=(13,0), C=D+12*dir(r), B=A+3*dir(180-(90-r+s)); draw(A--B--C--D--cycle); markscalefactor=0.05; draw(rightanglemark(A,B,C)); pair point=incenter(A,C,D); label("$A$", A, dir(point--A)); label("$B$", B, dir(point--B)); label("$C$", C, dir(point--C)); label("$D$", D, dir(point--D)); label("$3$", A--B, dir(A--B)*dir(-90)); label("$4$", B--C, dir(B--C)*dir(-90)); label("$12$", C--D, dir(C--D)*dir(-90)); label("$13$", D--A, dir(D--A)*dir(-90));[/asy]$

$\text{(A)} \ 32 \qquad \text{(B)} \ 36 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 39 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 42 \qquad \text{(E)} \ 48$

Solution

Problem 8

How many pairs $(a,b)$ of non-zero real numbers satisfy the equation

$\frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} = \frac{1}{a+b}$ $\text{(A)} \ \text{none} \qquad \text{(B)} \ 1 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 2 \qquad \text{(D)} \ \text{one pair for each} ~b \neq 0$ $\text{(E)} \ \text{two pairs for each} ~b \neq 0$

Solution

Problem 9

A man walks $x$ miles due west, turns $150^\circ$ to his left and walks 3 miles in the new direction. If he finishes a a point $\sqrt{3}$ from his starting point, then $x$ is

$\text{(A)} \ \sqrt 3 \qquad \text{(B)} \ 2\sqrt{5} \qquad \text{(C)} \ \frac 32 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 3 \qquad \text{(E)} \ \text{not uniquely determined}$

Solution

Problem 10

The number of teeth in three meshed gears $A$ , $B$ , and $C$ are $x$ , $y$ , and $z$ , respectively. (The teeth on all gears are the same size and regularly spaced.) The angular speeds, in revolutions per minutes of $A$ , $B$ , and $C$ are in the proportion

$\text{(A)} \ x: y: z ~~\text{(B)} \ z: y: x ~~ \text{(C)} \ y: z: x~~ \text{(D)} \ yz: xz: xy ~~ \text{(E)} \ xz: yx: zy$

Solution

Problem 11

If the sum of the first 10 terms and the sum of the first 100 terms of a given arithmetic progression are 100 and 10, respectively, then the sum of first 110 terms is:

$\text{(A)} \ 90 \qquad \text{(B)} \ -90 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 110 \qquad \text{(D)} \ -110 \qquad \text{(E)} \ -100$

Solution

Problem 12

The equations of $L_1$ and $L_2$ are $y=mx$ and $y=nx$ , respectively. Suppose $L_1$ makes twice as large of an angle with the horizontal (measured counterclockwise from the positive x-axis ) as does $L_2$ , and that $L_1$ has 4 times the slope of $L_2$ . If $L_1$ is not horizontal, then $mn$ is

$\text{(A)} \ \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} \qquad \text{(B)} \ -\frac{\sqrt{2}}{2} \qquad \text{(C)} \ 2 \qquad \text{(D)} \ -2 \qquad \text{(E)} \ \text{not uniquely determined}$

Solution

Problem 13

A bug (of negligible size) starts at the origin on the coordinate plane. First, it moves one unit right to $(1,0)$ . Then it makes a $90^\circ$ counterclockwise and travels $\frac 12$ a unit to $\left(1, \frac 12 \right)$ . If it continues in this fashion, each time making a $90^\circ$ degree turn counterclockwise and traveling half as far as the previous move, to which of the following points will it come closest?

$\text{(A)} \ \left(\frac 23, \frac 23 \right) \qquad \text{(B)} \ \left( \frac 45, \frac 25 \right) \qquad \text{(C)} \ \left( \frac 23, \frac 45 \right) \qquad \text{(D)} \ \left(\frac 23, \frac 13 \right) \qquad \text{(E)} \ \left(\frac 25, \frac 45 \right)$

Solution

Problem 14

If the function $f$ is defined by $f(x)=\frac{cx}{2x+3} , ~~~x\neq -\frac 32 ,$ satisfies $x=f(f(x))$ for all rea numbers $x$ except $-\frac 32$ , then $c$ is $\text{(A)} \ -3 \qquad \text{(B)} \ - \frac{3}{2} \qquad \text{(C)} \ \frac{3}{2} \qquad \text{(D)} \ 3 \qquad \text{(E)} \ \text{not uniquely determined}$

Solution

Problem 15

A store prices an item in dollars and cents so that when 4% sales tax is added, no rounding is necessary because the result is exactly $n$ dollars where $n$ is a positive integer. The smallest value of $n$ is

$\text{(A)} \ 1 \qquad \text{(B)} \ 13 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 25 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 26 \qquad \text{(E)} \ 100$

Solution

Problem 16

Four of the eight vertices of a cube are the vertices of a regular tetrahedron. Find the ratio of the surface area of the cube to the surface area of the tetrahedron.

$\text{(A)} \ \sqrt 2 \qquad \text{(B)} \ \sqrt 3 \qquad \text{(C)} \ \sqrt{\frac{3}{2}} \qquad \text{(D)} \ \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}} \qquad \text{(E)} \ 2$

Solution

Problem 17

Given that $i^2=-1$ , for how many integers $n$ is $(n+i)^4$ an integer?

$\text{(A)} \ \text{none} \qquad \text{(B)} \ 1 \qquad \text{(C)} \ 2 \qquad \text{(D)} \ 3 \qquad \text{(E)} \ 4$

Solution

Problem 18

If $b>1$ , $\sin x>0$ , $\cos x>0$ , and $\log_b \sin x = a$ , then $\log_b \cos x$ equals

$\text{(A)} \ 2\log_b(1-b^{a/2}) ~~\text{(B)} \ \sqrt{1-a^2} ~~\text{(C)} \ b^{a^2} ~~\text{(D)} \ \frac 12 \log_b(1-b^{2a}) ~~\text{(E)} \ \text{none of these}$