1 SOMC

SOUTHERN OPEN
MATHEMATICS COMPETITION
Time allowed: 150 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS
• Before doing the test, write your full name, your grade, and your current school in the
answer sheet.

• This problem set consists of 7 pages. There are a total of 27 questions, which are divided
into three parts. In the first part, choose only ONE correct answer among the 4 choices and
darken its corresponding circle in your answer sheet. In the second part, just write the final
answer for each question in your answer sheet. In the last part, write your full solution for
each question.

• You will get 3 points for each correct answer in the first part, 5 points for each correct answer
in the second part, and 25 points for each FULLY correct solution in the last part. There is no
minus point for any incorrect or blank answer.

• Figures are not drawn to scale.

• The use of calculators is allowed, but the use of any others kinds of documents is not.

• Proctors ought not to explain any further regarding to the details in this problem set.

GOOD LUCK!
 Time allowed: 150 minutes 2

PART A
Question 1. The set of solutions in R of the inequality || x | − 1| < 1 is

A. (−2, 2) B. (−2, 0) ∪ (0, 2) C. (−1, 1) D. (0, 2)

Question 2. The graph of the function y = ax2 + bx + c is shown in the diagram. Which of the
following must be positive?

A. a B. bc C. b − c D. c − a

Question 3. Dogs need 8.5 to 17 ounces of water each day for every 10 pounds of their weight.
Everett has two dogs: Ringo - a 35-pound black lab mix, and Elvis - a 55-pound beagle. Which of
the following ranges represents the approximate total number of ounces of water, w, that Elvis
and Ringo need in a week?

A. 77 ≤ w ≤ 153 C. 536 ≤ w ≤ 1071

B. 109 ≤ w ≤ 218 D. 765 ≤ w ≤ 1530

Question 4. A city council consists of 10 members (7 men and 3 women). From this council, 4
officer, including the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Ombudsman, will be selected. If at
least one woman would be chosen, how many ways can these 4 positions be filled?

A. 2520 B. 1512 C. 4200 D. 5040

Question 5. A sequence of numbers begins with the number 6. Every term of that sequence, after
1
the first, is defined as follows: if a term, t, is even, the next term in the sequence will be t; if a
2
term, s, is odd, the next term in the sequence will be 3s + 1. Thus that the first four terms in the
sequence are 6, 3, 10, 5. Then, the 100th term is

A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4

Question 6. When the expression

[(1 + x )(1 + 2x3 )(1 + 4x9 )(1 + 8x27 )(1 + 16x81 )(1 + 32x243 )(1 + 64x729 )]2
is expanded and simplified, the coefficient of x2018 is

A. 0 B. 231 C. 232 D. 233

Question 7. Every year, Spring high school issues three types of sports lessons to students:
badminton, chess, and aerobics. Each student can participate in 1 type, 2 types, or all 3 types of
 3 SOMC

sports classes. All courses expire on the last day of the year. This year, the school reported that
1000 students played badminton, 700 students played chess, and 200 students did aerobics. What
is the minimum number of students who joined only the badminton class?

A. 100 B. 300 C. 600 D. 800

Question 8. For each triple ( a, b, c) of non-zero real numbers, form a number

a b c abc
+ + + .
| a| |b| |c| | abc|
The set of all possible values of the expression above is

A. {0} C. {−4, −2, 2, 4}

B. {−4, 0, 4} D. {−4, −2, 0, 2, 4}

Question 9. In a right triangle with angles 15◦ , 75◦ , 90◦ , the length of the shortest side is denoted
by x. The length of the other cathetus equals to
√ √
A. ( 2 + 6) x C. 5x √
4x D. (2 + 3) x
B. √ √
2− 6
Question 10. The figure below shows the graphs of two functions, f ( x ) and g( x ), in the same
coordinate plane.

5
y = f (x)
4

1
y = g( x )
−5 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
−1

−2

Which of the following graphs represents the function y = f ( x ) + g( x )?

 Time allowed: 150 minutes 4

A. C.

5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1

−4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
−1 −1
−2 −2

B. D.

5 5

4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

−4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4 −4 −3 −2 −1 0 1 2 3 4
−1 −1
−2 −2

1
Question 11. Assume that f ( x ) = ( x 6= 1). If y = f ( x ), x is equal to
1−x
1 1
 
1 f (y)
A. B. f C. − D. −
f (y) y y y f (y)

Question 12. Let A = { a, b, c}. The number of mappings f : A → A such that f ( f ( x )) = x for all
x from A is equal to

A. 1 B. 3 C. 4 D. 6

Question 13. One hundred people line up to board an airplane. Each person has a boarding pass
with an assigned seat. However, the first person to board lost his boarding pass, so he takes a
random seat. After that, each person will take the assigned seat if it is unoccupied, otherwise
he or she will take one of the unoccupied seats at random. What is the probability that the last
person to board gets to sit in his or her assigned seat?

1 B. 0.25 C. 0.4 D. 0.5

A.
3
Question 14. Let be given a square of side length 1. What is the area of the star obtained by
connecting the midpoint of each side with the endpoints of the opposite side?
 5 SOMC

1 3 4 9
A. B. C. D.
2 5 5 10
Question 15. A man wants to place a new bird bath in his yard so that it is 30 feet from a fence, f ,
and also 10 feet from a light pole, P. As shown in the diagram below, the light pole is 35 feet away
from the fence.
f

P
35ft

How many possible locations are there for the bird bath?

A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3

PART B
Question 16. Find the area, in square units, of the triangle whose vertices are A(−2; 3), B(6; 7),
and C (0; 6).
Question 17. A family consists of a father, a mother and some children. The average age of the
family is 20 years. Without the 40-year-old father, the average age of the family decreases to only
16 years. How many children are there in the family?
Question 18. In a triangle with side lengths a, b and c, we have the relation:

( a + b + c)( a + b − c) = 3ab.

What is the measure of the angle opposite to the side of length c?

Question 19. The table below shows information about the February sales for five different cell
phone models at a local store. What was the median price, to the nearest dollar, of the 240 phones
in February?
 Time allowed: 150 minutes 6

Item Price Per Item Number Sold

Model AT350 $120 20

Model U32 $98 80
Model GY53 $140 62
Model CDP3 $162 38

f Model AP14 $110 40

P
Question 20. In the diagram below,
35ft LATE is an isosceles trapezoid with LE = AT = 10, LA =
24, ET = 40. Construct the altitudes LF and AG of this trapezoid. What is the length of LF?

L 24 A

10

E F G T
40

Question 21. An chooses an odd two-digit number uniformly at random. Independently, Binh
chooses an even two-digit number uniformly at random. What is the probability that An’s number
is greater than Binh’s number?
Question 22. Find the numbers of subsets of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0} that are subsets of neither
{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7} nor {4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0}.
Question 23. A light ray originates from point A and travels in a plane formed by the two rays,
DA and DC. It is reflected n times between the two rays before it struck a point B (which may be
on AD or CD) perpendicularly. From B, the ray can retract its own path to return to A. Assume
that at each point of reflection, the light forms two equal angles as indicated in the following
[ = 8◦ , what is the largest value of n?
figure. (The figure shows the light path for n = 3). If CDA
C
M
P

A N B D

7
Question 24. Let sin x + cos x = . Find the value of A = sin 3x − cos 3x.
5
Question 25. Three fair dice are tossed at the same time (Assume that all faces have the same
probability of coming up). What is the probability of obtaining three numbers that can be arranged
to form an arithmetic progression with positive common difference?
 7 SOMC

PART C
Question 26. A bug (of negligible size) starts at the origin of the coordinate plane. First, it moves
1
1 unit right to the point (1, 0). Then, it makes a 90◦ turn counter-clockwise and travels unit to
  2
1
the point 1, . If it continues to travel in this pattern„ each time making a 90◦ turn counter-
2
clockwise and traveling half as far as the previous move, which point will it arrive at?
Question 27. Let be given a triangular piece of paper ABCD with AB = 10 and BC = 9. It is
folded so that the corner D becomes a point F on edge BC. Let DE = x. Find the area of triangle
EFC in terms of x, then find the value of x that maximizes that area.
A D

B F C

THE END