IOQM Mock Paper 4 · IMOolympiad.com · Original practice
30 questions · 180 minutes · Integer answers from 00 to 99
Practise selecting a method, calculating exactly and recording a two-digit answer. Questions 1–10 carry 2 marks each, 11–20 carry 3 marks each, and 21–30 carry 5 marks each. There is no negative marking.
Original independent practice. Use the suggested time for a full attempt; keep hints and solutions closed. Questions are not official IOQM questions. No selection or score prediction is implied.
Question 1 · 2 marks
Find the remainder when the integer 123456789 is divided by 9.
Use the digit-sum test. The digit sum is 45. Since , an integer has the same remainder as its digit sum. Here , divisible by 9, so the remainder is 0. Answer / conclusion: 00 Review the idea: DivisibilityHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 1
Question 2 · 2 marks
Real numbers x,y,z satisfy and . Find .
Square the sum of the three numbers. The cross terms occur twice. We have . Hence . The triple (1,2,3) confirms consistency. Answer / conclusion: 11 Review the idea: Algebraic identitiesHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 2
Question 3 · 2 marks
How many distinct arrangements are there of the six letters in BANANA?
Account for the three As and two Ns. Divide the count for distinct letters by both repetition factorials. There are six positions, with three indistinguishable As, two indistinguishable Ns and one B. The number of arrangements is . Answer / conclusion: 60 Review the idea: Permutations and arrangementsHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 3
Question 4 · 2 marks
An exterior angle of a triangle is . The two nonadjacent interior angles differ by . Find the smaller of those two interior angles.
The exterior angle equals the sum of the two remote interior angles. Solve for two numbers with sum 120 and difference 20. Writing the smaller angle as t gives . Thus , so the smaller angle is . Answer / conclusion: 50 Review the idea: AnglesHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 4
Question 5 · 2 marks
How many integers n with have a square whose units digit is 6?
Only the units digit of n matters. Check residues modulo 10. The squares of residues 0 through 9 end in 0,1,4,9,6,5,6,9,4,1. Only residues 4 and 6 work. Each occurs ten times in the stated range, giving 20 integers. Answer / conclusion: 20 Review the idea: RemaindersHint 1
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Worked solution 5
Question 6 · 2 marks
A rectangle has one side of length 6 and a diagonal of length 10. Find its perimeter.
Use the right triangle formed by the diagonal. The other side has square . The other side is . Therefore the perimeter is . Answer / conclusion: 28 Review the idea: Pythagoras and stewartHint 1
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Worked solution 6
Question 7 · 2 marks
The sequence begins and satisfies . Find .
Calculate the next terms in order. The fifth and sixth terms are 5 and 8. The first eight terms are , found by adding the previous two each time. Thus . Answer / conclusion: 21 Review the idea: Second order recurrencesHint 1
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Worked solution 7
Question 8 · 2 marks
Two distinguishable six-sided dice show numbers from 1 through 6. How many ordered outcomes have a prime sum?
The possible prime sums are 2,3,5,7,11. Count ordered outcomes for each sum. The possible sums range from 2 to 12, so the prime sums are 2, 3, 5, 7 and 11. For each sum, the first die determines the second uniquely. Their possible first-die values are, respectively, , , , , and . Thus the counts are 1, 2, 4, 6 and 2. These sums give disjoint sets of ordered outcomes, so the total is . Answer / conclusion: 15 Review the idea: CountingHint 1
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Worked solution 8
Question 9 · 2 marks
Find the greatest positive integer that divides both 84 and 126.
Use the Euclidean algorithm. Subtract 84 from 126. , because 84 is twice 42. Answer / conclusion: 42 Review the idea: Greatest common divisorHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 9
Question 10 · 2 marks
The sum of the interior angles of a convex polygon is . How many sides does it have?
Divide the polygon into triangles from one vertex. An n-sided polygon has angle sum . Triangulation gives . Thus , and . Answer / conclusion: 10 Review the idea: AnglesHint 1
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Worked solution 10
Question 11 · 3 marks
Positive integers a,b satisfy and . Find the least possible value of .
Write a=6x and b=6y with x,y coprime. Their product is 30; compare coprime factor pairs. Write , . Since , we have . The identity gives This identity follows prime by prime: the minimum and maximum exponents add to the sum of the two original exponents. The unordered positive factor pairs of 30 are , all coprime. Their sums are 31, 17, 13 and 11. Therefore the least is , attained by . Answer / conclusion: 66 Review the idea: Greatest common divisorHint 1
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Worked solution 11
Question 12 · 3 marks
The roots of are . Find .
Use the sum and product of the roots. and . By Vieta and the cubic identity, . Answer / conclusion: 52 Review the idea: Vietas formulasHint 1
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Worked solution 12
Question 13 · 3 marks
Triangle ABC has , and I is its incentre. Find , in degrees.
Angles IBC and ICB are half of B and C. Apply the angle sum to triangle BIC. Because the incentre lies on the internal angle bisectors, and . Write the latter two original angles as . The angle sum in gives . Now use the angle sum in triangle : Hence , and the requested integer is 30. Answer / conclusion: 30 Review the idea: Parallel lines and angle bisectorsHint 1
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Worked solution 13
Question 14 · 3 marks
How many strings of length 8 over the alphabet contain exactly three Bs and have A at both ends?
The endpoints are fixed. Choose the B positions among the six interior positions. There are six available positions for the three Bs, with all other positions filled by A. Hence the count is . Answer / conclusion: 20 Review the idea: Combinations and binomial coefficientsHint 1
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Worked solution 14
Question 15 · 3 marks
Find the remainder when the twelve-digit integer 111111111111 is divided by 37.
Group the digits into blocks of three. Each block represents a multiple of 111. The number is . Since , the whole number is divisible by 37. The remainder is 0. Answer / conclusion: 00 Review the idea: Number bases and digit problemsHint 1
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Worked solution 15
Question 16 · 3 marks
In a cyclic quadrilateral, two opposite interior angles are and . Find x.
Opposite angles of a cyclic quadrilateral are supplementary. Their sum is 180 degrees. We obtain , so and . The angles 70 and 110 degrees are valid. Answer / conclusion: 20 Review the idea: Cyclic and tangential quadrilateralsHint 1
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Worked solution 16
Question 17 · 3 marks
Write the decimal integer 100 in base 3 and find the sum of its base-3 digits.
Begin with the largest power of 3 not exceeding 100. . We have , so its representation is . The digit sum is . Answer / conclusion: 04 Review the idea: Number bases and digit problemsHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 17
Question 18 · 3 marks
How many ordered triples of positive odd integers satisfy ?
Write each odd integer as twice a nonnegative integer plus 1. The new variables have sum 4. Put . Then and . Stars and bars gives , and the substitution is reversible. Answer / conclusion: 15 Review the idea: Counting integer solutionsHint 1
Hint 2
Worked solution 18
Question 19 · 3 marks
From an exterior point P, tangents PA and PB touch a circle at A and B. If , find in degrees.
The two tangent segments from P are equal. Triangle PAB is isosceles. Tangents from the same exterior point have equal lengths, so PA=PB. Thus the base angles PAB and PBA are equal and sum to . Each is . Answer / conclusion: 65 Review the idea: Circles and power of a pointHint 1
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Worked solution 19
Question 20 · 3 marks
How many positive integers n satisfy ?
Reduce n modulo n+12. The divisor n+12 must divide 156. As , the condition is equivalent to . Since n is positive, the divisor must exceed 12. The eligible divisors are 13,26,39,52,78,156, giving six values of n. Answer / conclusion: 06 Review the idea: Factorisation integer solutionsHint 1
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Worked solution 20
Question 21 · 5 marks
The numbers 1,4,7,10 are placed in a circular order . Find the greatest possible value of .
Rotate the order so that 1 comes first. Reversing an order does not change the sum. Pair the six orders of 4, 7 and 10 with their reversals, then evaluate one representative of each pair. Rotating a circular order changes none of its neighbour pairs, so put 1 first. Reversing the order also leaves the sum of the four absolute differences unchanged. The six orders of the remaining three numbers therefore form three reverse-pairs, with representatives Their sums are, respectively, Every circular order belongs to one of these cases. Thus the greatest value is 24, attained by the order . Answer / conclusion: 24 Review the idea: Absolute value inequalitiesHint 1
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Worked solution 21
Question 22 · 5 marks
As x ranges over , how many distinct integer values does take?
First restrict x to . Only 1/3, 1/2 and 2/3 change a floor on this interval. On , the expression takes values 0,1,2,3, on intervals cut by 1/3,1/2,2/3. Adding 1 to x raises the sum by . Thus on it takes 6,7,8,9, and on it takes 12,13,14,15. The three lists are disjoint, giving 12 distinct values. Answer / conclusion: 12 Review the idea: Floor and ceiling functionsHint 1
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Worked solution 22
Question 23 · 5 marks
Two circles of radii 9 and 4 lie above a common horizontal tangent line and are externally tangent to each other. A smaller circle of radius r lies in the bounded gap between them and the line, tangent to all three. Find .
For two such tangent circles of radii u and v, find the horizontal distance between their centres. That distance is ; the smaller circle splits the horizontal distance between the two larger centres. For externally tangent circles above the same line, the centre distance is u+v and the vertical difference is u-v. Pythagoras therefore gives horizontal separation . The large-circle separation is . The small circle lies between their tangency points on the line, so . Hence , giving and . Answer / conclusion: 36 Review the idea: Circles and power of a pointHint 1
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Worked solution 23
Question 24 · 5 marks
How many permutations of 1,2,3,4,5 have 1 not adjacent to 2 and 2 not adjacent to 3?
Use inclusion–exclusion on the two forbidden adjacencies. If both occur, 2 must be in the middle of the consecutive block 123 or 321. There are permutations. Each forbidden adjacency alone occurs in permutations. Both occur in , using the blocks 123 or 321. Thus the count is . Answer / conclusion: 36 Review the idea: Inclusion exclusionHint 1
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Worked solution 24
Question 25 · 5 marks
How many ordered triples of positive integers with satisfy ?
Squares modulo 3 are 0 or 1. Any solution would lead to a smaller one after division by 3. Modulo 3, the equation forces both x and y to be divisible by 3. Write x=3u,y=3v; then , forcing z=3w. Division by 9 gives , another positive solution with smaller sum. A positive solution of least sum therefore cannot exist. There are no positive solutions at all, so the requested count is 0. Answer / conclusion: 00 Review the idea: Proof methodsHint 1
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Worked solution 25
Question 26 · 5 marks
Find the largest prime factor of .
Complete a difference of squares. Use . Complete a difference of squares: At , the factors are and . A composite positive integer has a prime factor no larger than its square root: in a product of two factors, they cannot both exceed the square root. For 41, test primes 2, 3 and 5; none divides it. For 61, test 2, 3, 5 and 7; none divides it (in particular, 61 lies between and ). Thus both factors are prime, and the largest is 61. Answer / conclusion: 61 Review the idea: Algebraic identitiesHint 1
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Worked solution 26
Question 27 · 5 marks
Five labelled positions form a cycle. Each position is coloured with one of three colours, and adjacent positions must have different colours. Rotations are counted separately. How many colourings are possible?
Fix the colour of the first vertex. Track whether the last vertex of a growing path agrees with the first. First fix the colour at the first labelled position. Let count valid colourings of a row of positions whose last colour equals the first, and let count those whose last colour differs. Adjacent positions must have different colours. Initially . If the last colour equals the first, either of the other two colours may be appended, and both differ from the first. Thus each such colouring contributes two to . If the last colour differs from the first, one allowed next colour is the first, and the other is the third colour. Thus each contributes one to and one to . Therefore For , these pairs are . Closing the row into a cycle requires the last colour to differ from the first, giving choices for the fixed first colour. There are three possible first colours, so the answer is . Answer / conclusion: 30 Review the idea: Counting with recurrencesHint 1
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Worked solution 27
Question 28 · 5 marks
Triangle ABC has , , , and incentre I. Find .
Find the area and inradius, then use a tangent point on AB. The tangent length from A is , where s is the semiperimeter. The semiperimeter is . Heron’s formula gives the area Let be the inradius. Joining the incentre to the three vertices gives triangles whose altitudes to the three side lines all equal . Their areas add to . Hence . Let the incircle touch at , respectively. Tangent segments from the same external point are equal, so put . Then and . Adding along gives A radius to a tangency point is perpendicular to the tangent, so . In right triangle , Pythagoras now gives Therefore . Answer / conclusion: 85 Review the idea: Cyclic and tangential quadrilaterals · Trigonometry in geometryHint 1
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Worked solution 28
Question 29 · 5 marks
The nine points with form a square grid. How many right triangles have all three vertices among these points?
Count by the location of the right-angle vertex. Corners, side midpoints and the centre have different numbers of perpendicular ray pairs. Count each triangle at its right-angle vertex; a triangle has only one right angle, so this avoids double counting. The grid has four corners, four side midpoints and one centre. At a corner, all rays towards other grid points lie in a single sector. Two can be perpendicular only when they are the horizontal and vertical boundary rays. Each ray has two possible endpoints, giving triangles per corner. At a side midpoint, the horizontal/vertical pairs give triangles: there are two choices along the inward perpendicular and one on each side along the boundary. The two inward diagonal rays give one further triangle. For example, from these go to . The only remaining rays from go to and : each moves one unit horizontally and two units vertically. A turn swaps these horizontal and vertical distances, so a perpendicular direction would require twice as much horizontal movement as vertical movement. Any nonzero vertical movement between grid points is at least one unit, so this would require at least two horizontal units. But from , every grid point is at most one horizontal unit away. Hence neither remaining ray has a perpendicular partner in the grid. Thus there are exactly 5 triangles per side midpoint. At the centre, there are four axial neighbours and four diagonal neighbours, one on each available ray. In each group of four rays, the perpendicular unordered pairs are the four adjacent pairs around the centre. This gives four axial pairs and four diagonal pairs. No axial ray is perpendicular to a diagonal ray, so the centre contributes 8. The total is Answer / conclusion: 44 Review the idea: CountingHint 1
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Worked solution 29
Question 30 · 5 marks
Let N be the number of finite ordered sequences containing only 2s and 3s whose terms sum to 30. Find the remainder when N is divided by 100.
Classify a sequence by its number b of 3s. The number of 2s is , so b is even. Let be the number of 2s and the number of 3s. Then , with . Consequently is even, , and . The sequence has terms. For fixed , choose which positions contain 3; all other positions contain 2. There are choices. For , the counts are Therefore , whose remainder modulo 100 is 97. Answer / conclusion: 97 Review the idea: Combinations and binomial coefficientsHint 1
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Worked solution 30
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