2009 AIME I Problems

2009 AIME I (Answer Key) Printable version \| AoPS Contest Collections • PDF
Instructions This is a 15-question, 3-hour examination. All answers are integers ranging from $000$ to $999$ , inclusive. Your score will be the number of correct answers; i.e., there is neither partial credit nor a penalty for wrong answers. No aids other than scratch paper, graph paper, ruler, compass, and protractor are permitted. In particular, calculators and computers are not permitted.
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Problem 1

Call a $3$ -digit number geometric if it has $3$ distinct digits which, when read from left to right, form a geometric sequence. Find the difference between the largest and smallest geometric numbers.

Solution

Problem 2

There is a complex number $z$ with imaginary part $164$ and a positive integer $n$ such that

$\frac {z}{z + n} = 4i.$

Find $n$ .

Solution

Problem 3

A coin that comes up heads with probability $p > 0$ and tails with probability $1 - p > 0$ independently on each flip is flipped eight times. Suppose the probability of three heads and five tails is equal to $\frac {1}{25}$ of the probability of five heads and three tails. Let $p = \frac {m}{n}$ , where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m + n$ .

Solution

Problem 4

In parallelogram $ABCD$ , point $M$ is on $\overline{AB}$ so that $\frac {AM}{AB} = \frac {17}{1000}$ and point $N$ is on $\overline{AD}$ so that $\frac {AN}{AD} = \frac {17}{2009}$ . Let $P$ be the point of intersection of $\overline{AC}$ and $\overline{MN}$ . Find $\frac {AC}{AP}$ .

Solution

Problem 5

Triangle $ABC$ has $AC = 450$ and $BC = 300$ . Points $K$ and $L$ are located on $\overline{AC}$ and $\overline{AB}$ respectively so that $AK = CK$ , and $\overline{CL}$ is the angle bisector of angle $C$ . Let $P$ be the point of intersection of $\overline{BK}$ and $\overline{CL}$ , and let $M$ be the point on line $BK$ for which $K$ is the midpoint of $\overline{PM}$ . If $AM = 180$ , find $LP$ .

Solution

Problem 6

How many positive integers $N$ less than $1000$ are there such that the equation $x^{\lfloor x\rfloor} = N$ has a solution for $x$ ? (The notation $\lfloor x\rfloor$ denotes the greatest integer that is less than or equal to $x$ .)

Solution

Problem 7

The sequence $(a_n)$ satisfies $a_1 = 1$ and $5^{(a_{n + 1} - a_n)} - 1 = \frac {1}{n + \frac {2}{3}}$ for $n \geq 1$ . Let $k$ be the least integer greater than $1$ for which $a_k$ is an integer. Find $k$ .

Solution

Problem 8

Let $S = \{2^0,2^1,2^2,\ldots,2^{10}\}$ . Consider all possible positive differences of pairs of elements of $S$ . Let $N$ be the sum of all of these differences. Find the remainder when $N$ is divided by $1000$ .

Solution

Problem 9

A game show offers a contestant three prizes A, B and C, each of which is worth a whole number of dollars from $\text{dollar}1$ to <dollar/> $9999$ inclusive. The contestant wins the prizes by correctly guessing the price of each prize in the order A, B, C. As a hint, the digits of the three prices are given. On a particular day, the digits given were $1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3$ . Find the total number of possible guesses for all three prizes consistent with the hint.

Solution

Problem 10

The Annual Interplanetary Mathematics Examination (AIME) is written by a committee of five Martians, five Venusians, and five Earthlings. At meetings, committee members sit at a round table with chairs numbered from $1$ to $15$ in clockwise order. Committee rules state that a Martian must occupy chair $1$ and an Earthling must occupy chair $15$ , Furthermore, no Earthling can sit immediately to the left of a Martian, no Martian can sit immediately to the left of a Venusian, and no Venusian can sit immediately to the left of an Earthling. The number of possible seating arrangements for the committee is $N(5!)^3$ . Find $N$ .

Solution

Problem 11

Consider the set of all triangles $OPQ$ where $O$ is the origin and $P$ and $Q$ are distinct points in the plane with nonnegative integer coordinates $(x,y)$ such that $41x + y = 2009$ . Find the number of such distinct triangles whose area is a positive integer.

Solution

Problem 12

In right $\triangle ABC$ with hypotenuse $\overline{AB}$ , $AC = 12$ , $BC = 35$ , and $\overline{CD}$ is the altitude to $\overline{AB}$ . Let $\omega$ be the circle having $\overline{CD}$ as a diameter. Let $I$ be a point outside $\triangle ABC$ such that $\overline{AI}$ and $\overline{BI}$ are both tangent to circle $\omega$ . The ratio of the perimeter of $\triangle ABI$ to the length $AB$ can be expressed in the form $\frac {m}{n}$ , where $m$ and $n$ are relatively prime positive integers. Find $m + n$ .

Solution

Problem 13

The terms of the sequence $(a_i)$ defined by $a_{n + 2} = \frac {a_n + 2009} {1 + a_{n + 1}}$ for $n \ge 1$ are positive integers. Find the minimum possible value of $a_1 + a_2$ .

Solution

Problem 14

For $t = 1, 2, 3, 4$ , define $S_t = \sum_{i = 1}^{350}a_i^t$ , where $a_i \in \{1,2,3,4\}$ . If $S_1 = 513$ and $S_4 = 4745$ , find the minimum possible value for $S_2$ .

Solution

Problem 15

In triangle $ABC$ , $AB = 10$ , $BC = 14$ , and $CA = 16$ . Let $D$ be a point in the interior of $\overline{BC}$ . Let $I_B$ and $I_C$ denote the incenters of triangles $ABD$ and $ACD$ , respectively. The circumcircles of triangles $BI_BD$ and $CI_CD$ meet at distinct points $P$ and $D$ . The maximum possible area of $\triangle BPC$ can be expressed in the form $a - b\sqrt {c}$ , where $a$ , $b$ , and $c$ are positive integers and $c$ is not divisible by the square of any prime. Find $a + b + c$ .