ABACUS International Math Challenge

for

5th and 6th graders

October, 2007

 

B.593. After saving their money for a long time, Peter and Polly went in the same toy store and fell in love ... with the same toy. Peter cannot buy it because he is missing $470. Polly cannot buy it because she is missing $30. Even the two of them together do not have enough money to buy it. How much could the toy cost if we know that its price in dollars is divisible by 10?

 

B.594. In a game you have to collect treasures. There are 8 kinds of treasure, and three of each kind. If you have only one of the treasures of a kind, it is worth 1 point. If you have two of a kind, they are worth a total of 3 points, but if you have all three of a kind, they are worth 6 points. Pete has 9 treasures. How many points could they be worth at least and at most?

 

B.595. Tom's family is building a house. In his room, Tom would like to have a rectangular window divided into 12 small squares in a 3x4 arrangement. 2 of the 12 glasses are opaque, so you cannot see through, the others are clear. How many different windows can Tom design for himself if he wants the window to look the same from the inside as from the outside?

 

B.596. In Neverland the pirates use small cannons to capture a castle on an island. The pirates are excellent shooters, so they can shoot exactly where they want to. In the castle there is only one big cannon sitting well-hidden on the top of the front wall, so the small cannons of the pirates cannot hit it directly. The weak point of the castle is that if the front wall is hit on 280 well-aimed points then the wall collapses while the cannon falls with it and becomes useless. This way the castle can fall into the hands of the pirates. The pirates fire their cannons one after another, and when all of them took a turn, the big cannon in the castle fires and takes one of the pirates' cannons out. At least how many cannons do the pirates have to bring into the attack if they want to capture the castle? How many of those cannons will survive the attack?

 

B.597. Somebody described a number the following way:

23 million 23 hundred thousand 23 thousand 23 hundred 23.

What is the greatest 2-digit divisor of this number?

 

B.598. Find 5 different positive whole numbers so that the sum of their reciprocals is 1.

 

B.599. Two runners with constant speeds start running at the same time from the two ends of a long straight street. They meet twice, once at 800 meters from one end of the street, and then at the other end of the street. How long is the street?

 

B.600. The ratio of Tom's and Jerry's money is 5:3. If Tom spends $160 of his money, the ratio becomes 3:5. How much money did they have originally?

Please, send your solutions to Prof. Patrick J. Sullivan:

abacus.56@valpo.edu

 

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