Advanced Topics

1. Evaluate
sin(1998 + 237 ) sin(1998 1653 ).
1
Answer: . We have sin(1998 +237 ) sin(1998 1653 ) = sin(2235 ) sin(345 ) = sin(75 ) sin(15 ) =
4

sin(75 ) sin(15 ) = sin(15 ) cos(15 ) = sin(30

2
)
= 41 .
2. How many values of x, 19 < x < 98, satisfy
cos2 x + 2 sin2 x = 1?
Answer: 38. For any x, sin2 x+cos2 x = 1. Subtracting this from the given equation gives sin2 x = 0,
or sin x = 0. Thus x must be a multiple of , so 19 < k < 98 for some integer k, or approximately
6.1 < k < 31.2. There are 32 values of k that satisfy this, so there are 38 values of x that satisfy
cos2 x + 2 sin2 x = 1.
3. Find the sum of the infinite series
1 1 2 1 3
1 + 2( ) + 3( ) + 4( ) + ....
1998 1998 1998
1998 2 3992004


Answer: 1997 or 3988009 . We can rewrite the sum as
 2 !  2  3 !  2  3 !
1 1 1 1 1 1 1
1+ + + ... + + + + ... + + + . . . +. . . .
1998 1998 1998 1998 1998 1998 1998
Evaluating each of the infinite sums gives
2 !
1
( 1 )2
  
1 1998 1998 1 1 1998 1 1 2
1 + + 1998 1 +. . . =
1 1+ + + ... = 1+ +( ) + ... ,
1 1998 1 1998
1 1998 1997 1998 1998 1997 1998 1998
1998 2
, or 3992004


which is equal to 1997 3988009 , as desired.

4. Find the range of

(sin A) 3 cos2 A + cos4 A + 3 sin2 A + (sin2 A)(cos2 A)


f (A) =
(tan A) (sec A (sin A)(tan A))
n
if A 6= 2 .

Answer: (3, 4). We factor the numerator and write the denominator in term of fractions to get

(sin A)(3 + cos2 A)(sin2 A + cos2 A) (sin A)(3 + cos2 A)(sin2 A + cos2 A)
  = (sin A)(1sin2 A)
.
sin A 1 sin2 A


cos A cos A cos A cos2 A

Because sin2 A + cos2 A = 1, 1 sin2 A = cos2 A, so the expression is simply equal to 3 + cos2 A. The
range of cos2 A is (0, 1) (0 and 1 are not included because A 6= n 2
2 , so the range of 3 + cos A is (3, 4).

5. How many positive integers less than 1998 are relatively prime to 1547? (Two integers are relatively
prime if they have no common factors besides 1.)
Answer: 1487. The factorization of 1547 is 7 13 17, so we wish to find the number of positive
integers less than 1998 that are not divisible by 7, 13, or 17. By the Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion, we
first subtract the numbers that are divisible by one of 7, 13, and 17, add back those that are divisible
by two of 7, 13, and 17, then subtract those divisible by three of them. That is,
             
1997 1997 1997 1997 1997 1997 1997
1997 + + + ,
7 13 17 7 13 7 17 13 17 7 13 17
or 1487.

1
6. In the diagram below, how many distinct paths are there from January 1 to December 31, mov-
ing from one adjacent dot to the next either to the right, down, or diagonally down to the right?

Answer: 372. For each dot in the diagram, we can count the number of paths from January 1
to it by adding the number of ways to get to the dots to the left of it, above it, and above and to
the left of it, starting from the topmost leftmost dot. This yields the following numbers of paths:

So the number of paths from January 1 to December 31 is 372.

7. The Houson Association of Mathematics Educators decides to hold a grand forum on mathematics
education and invites a number of politicians from the United States to participate. Around lunch
time the politicians decide to play a game. In this game, players can score 19 points for pegging
the coordinator of the gathering with a spit ball, 9 points for downing an entire cup of the forums
interpretation of coffee, or 8 points for quoting more than three consecutive words from the speech
Senator Bobbo delivered before lunch. What is the product of the two greatest scores that a player
cannot score in this game?
Answer: 1209. Attainable scores are positive integers that can be written in the form 8a + 9b + 19c,
where a, b, and c are nonnegative integers. Consider attainable number of points modulo 8.
Scores that are 0 (mod 8) can be obtained with 8a for positive a.
Scores that are 1 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 9 can be obtained with 9 + 8a for nonnegative a.
Scores that are 2 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 18 can be obtained with 9 2 + 8a.
Scores that are 3 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 19 can be obtained with 19 + 8a.
Scores that are 4 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 19 + 9 = 28 can be obtained with 19 + 9 + 8a.
Scores that are 5 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 19 + 9 2 = 37 can be obtained with 19 + 9 2 + 8a.
Scores that are 6 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 19 2 = 38 can be obtained with 19 2 + 8a.
Scores that are 7 (mod 8) greater than or equal to 19 2 + 9 = 47 can be obtained with 19 2 + 9 + 8a.
So the largest two unachievable values are 39 and 31. Multiplying them gives 1209.

2
 8. Given any two positive real numbers x and y, then x  y is a positive real number defined in terms of
x and y by some fixed rule. Suppose the operation x  y satisfies the equations (x y)  y = x(y  y)
and (x  1)  x = x  1 for all x, y > 0. Given that 1  1 = 1, find 19  98.
Answer: 19. Note first that x1 = (x1)1 = x(11) = x1 = x. Also, xx = (x1)x = x1 = x.
Now, we have (x y)  y = x (y  y) = x y. So 19  98 = ( 19 19 19
98 98)  98 = 98 (98  98) = 98 98 = 19.

9. Bobs Rice ID number has six digits, each a number from 1 to 9, and any digit can be used any number
of times. The ID number satisfies the following property: the first two digits is a number divisible by
2, the first three digits is a number divisible by 3, etc. so that the ID number itself is divisible by 6.
One ID number that satisfies this condition is 123252. How many different possibilities are there for
Bobs ID number?
Answer: 324. We will count the number of possibilities for each digit in Bobs ID number, then
multiply them to find the total number of possibilities for Bobs ID number. There are 3 possibilities
for the first digit given any last 5 digits, because the entire number must be divisible by 3, so the
sum of the digits must be divisible by 3. Because the first two digits are a number divisible by 2, the
second digit must be 2, 4, 6, or 8, which is 4 possibilities. Because the first five digits are a number
divisible by 5, the fifth digit must be a 5. Now, if the fourth digit is a 2, then the last digit has two
choices, 2, 8, and the third digit has 5 choices, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. If the fourth digit is a 4, then the last
digit must be a 6, and the third digit has 4 choices, 2, 4, 6, 8. If the fourth digit is a 6, then the last
digit must be a 4, and the third digit has 5 choices, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. If the fourth digit is an 8, then the
last digit has two choices, 2, 8, and the third digit has 4 choices, 2, 4, 6, 8. So there are a total of
3 4 (2 5 + 4 + 5 + 2 4) = 3 4 27 = 324 possibilities for Bobs ID number.
10. In the fourth annual Swirled Series, the Oakland Alphas are playing the San Francisco Gammas. The
first game is played in San Francisco and succeeding games alternate in location. San Francisco has
a 50% chance of winning their home games, while Oakland has a probability of 60% of winning at
home. Normally, the serios will stretch on forever until one team gets a three-game lead, in which case
they are declared the winners. However, after each game in San Francisco there is a 50% chance of an
earthquake, which will cause the series to end with the team that has won more games declared the
winner. What is the probability that the Gammas will win?
34
Answer: 73 . Let F (x) be the probability that the Gammas will win the series if they are ahead by
x games and are about to play in San Francisco, and let A(x) be the probability that the Gammas will
win the series if they are ahead by x games and are about to play in Oakland. Then we have

3 A(1)
F (2) = +
4 4
6F (0) 4F (2)
A(1) = +
10 10
1 A(1) A(1)
F (0) = + +
4 4 4
6F (2) 4F (0)
A(1) = +
10 10
A(1)
F (2) =
4
6F (0) 4F (2) 3 A(1)
Plugging A(1) = 10 + 10 into F (2) = 4 + 4 , we get
 
3 1 6F (0) 4F (2)
F (2) = + +
4 4 10 10

9F (2) 3 6F (0) 5 F (0)

= + F (2) = +
10 4 40 6 6

3
 6F (2) 4F (0) A(1)
Plugging A(1) = 10 + 10 into F (2) = 4 , we get

34A(1) 4F (0) 2F (0)

= F (2) =
40 10 17
Now,    
1 1 6F (0) 4F (2) 1 6F (2) 4F (0)
F (0) = + + + +
4 4 10 10 4 10 10
1 F (0) F (2) 6F (2)
This simplifies to F (0) = 4 + 4 + 10 + .
Then, plugging our formulas in, we get
40
 
1 F (0) 1 5 F (0) 3F (0)
F (0) = + + + + .
4 4 10 6 6 170

73F (0) 1 34
= F (0) = .
102 3 73
34
Since F (0) is the situation before the Series has started, the probability that the Gammas will win is 73 .