Mathematics Contests the Australian Scene 2016
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MATHEMATICS CONTESTS THE AUSTRALIAN SCENE 2016 COMBINED (MCYA AND AMOC) A Di Pasquale, N Do and KL McAvaney It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves William Shakespeare A USTR A LI A N M A THE ma TIC A L O LY M PI A D C omm ITTEE A DEPARTMENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN MATHEmaTICS TRUST Published by AMT Publishing Australian Mathematics Trust University of Canberra Locked Bag 1 Canberra GPO ACT 2601 Australia Tel: 61 2 6201 5136 www.amt.edu.au AMTT Limited ACN 083 950 341 Copyright ©2016 by the Australian Mathematics Trust National Library of Australia Card Number and ISSN 1323-6490 2 Mathematics Contests The Australian Scene 2016 SUPPORT FOR THE AUSTRALIAN MATHEMATICAL OLYMPIAD COMMITTEE TRAINING PROGRAM The Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee Training Program is an activity of the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee, a department of the Australian Mathematics Trust. Trustee The University of Canberra Sponsors Optiver is a market maker, offering trading opportunities on major global financial markets using their own capital at their own risk. They hire top talent at graduate and undergraduate levels with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) qualifications from the world’s leading universities. Optiver employs over 900 people across offices in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific—including past Olympians and students that have been involved in AMT competitions and programs. The Mathematics/ Informatics Olympiads are supported by the Australian Government through the National Innovation and Science Agenda. The Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee (AMOC) also acknowledges the significant financial support it has received from the Australian Government towards the training of our Olympiad candidates and the participation of our team at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the government. Special thanks With special thanks to the Australian Mathematical Society, the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers and all those schools, societies, families and friends who have contributed to the expense of sending the 2016 IMO team to Hong Kong. 3 Mathematics Contests The Australian Scene 2016 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee (AMOC) sincerely thanks all sponsors, teachers, mathematicians and others who have contributed in one way or another to the continued success of its activities. The editors sincerely thank those who have assisted in the compilation of this book, in particular the students who have provided solutions to the 2016 IMO. Thanks also to members of AMOC and Challenge Problems Committees, Adjunct Professor Mike Clapper, staff of the Australian Mathematics Trust and others who are acknowledged elsewhere in the book. 4 Mathematics Contests The Australian Scene 2016 PREFACE This year has seen some remarkable progress in the Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians (MCYA) program. We had a record number of entries for the Challenge stage, and the Enrichment stage entries were also very strong, with just over 4300 entries. The new Ramanujan book was well received as was the revised Polya book. A number of schools have made a commitment to use Challenge and/or Enrichment with whole year levels and are reporting back very positively on the effect of this on problem-solving capacity in their students. The rise in Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad (AIMO) entries continues, with 1829 entries this year, including over 400 from Vietnam. We have more than doubled our numbers in this competition over the last three years. Fifteen students obtained perfect scores, including five Australian students. In the Olympiad program, the 2016 Australian Mathematical Olympiad (AMO) proved fairly demanding, with just three perfect scores. The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) also proved quite challenging for Australia, after three very strong years in a team led by Alex Gunning. Commendably, this year’s team all obtained medals (two Silver and four Bronze) but we could not quite maintain our position of the last few years, finishing 25th out of 109 teams. Two of the team members became dual Olympians, while Seyoon Ragavan notched up his 4th IMO. All of the team were Year 12 students, so there will be a challenge ahead to build a new team for 2017. In the Mathematics Ashes we performed above expectations, but still lost in a close contest, to a very strong and experienced British team. The start for selection of the 2017 team begins with the AMOC Senior contest, held in August, and it was encouraging to see five perfect scores in this competition, including one from Hadyn Tang, a year 7 student from Trinity Grammar School in Melbourne. Director of Training and IMO Team Leader Angelo Di Pasquale, along with Deputy Team Leader Andrew Elvey Price and a dedicated team of tutors, continue to innovate and have made some changes to the structure of the December School of Excellence. I would particularly wish to thank all the dedicated volunteers without whom this program would not exist. These include the Director of Training and the ex-Olympians who train the students at camps, the various state directors, the Challenge Director, Dr Kevin McAvaney and the various members of his Problems Committee which develop such original problems each year and Dr Norm Do, and his senior problems committee (who do likewise). Our support from the Australian Government for the AMOC program continues, though from June this year, this is provided through the Department of Science and Industry, rather than the Department of Education. We are most grateful for this support. Once again, the Australian Scene is produced in electronic form only. Whilst the whole book can be downloaded as a pdf, it is available on our website in two sections, one containing the MCYA reports and papers and the other containing the Olympiad reports and papers. Mike Clapper December 2016 5 Mathematics Contests The Australian Scene 2016 Contents Support for the Australian Mathematical Olympiad committee Training Program 3 Acknowledgements 4 Preface 5 Background Notes on the IMO and AMOC 8 Mathematics Challenge for Young Australians 11 Membership of MCYA Committees 13 Membership of AMOC Committees 15 AMOC Timetable for Selection of the Team to the 2016 IMo 16 Activities of amoc Senior Problems Committee 17 Challenge Problems – Middle Primary 18 Challenge Problems – Upper Primary 21 Challenge Problems – Junior 24 Challenge Problems – Intermediate 28 Challenge Solutions – Middle Primary 31 Challenge Solutions – Upper Primary 34 Challenge Solutions – Junior 38 Challenge Solutions – Intermediate 50 Challenge Statistics – Middle Primary 60 Challenge Statistics – Upper Primary 61 Challenge Statistics – Junior 62 Challenge Statistics – Intermediate 63 Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad 64 Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad Solutions 66 Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad Statistics 75 Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad Results 76 AMOC Senior Contest 81 AMOC Senior Contest Solutions 82 AMOC Senior Contest results 91 AMOC Senior Contest Statistics 93 AMOC School of Excellence 94 Australian Mathematical Olympiad 96 Australian Mathematical Olympiad Solutions 98 Australian Mathematical Olympiad Statistics 139 Australian Mathematical Olympiad Results 140 28th Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad 142 28th Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad solutions 143 28th Asian Pacific Mathematics Olympiad results 161 AMOC Selection School 163 6 Mathematics Contests The Australian Scene 2016 IMO Team Preparation School 166 The Mathematics ashes 167 The Mathematics ashes results 168 IMO Team Leader’s Report 169 International Mathematical Olympiad 171 International Mathematical Olympiad Solutions 173 International Mathematical Olympiad results 193 origin of some questions 198 Maths Challenge for young australians Honour Roll 199 Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee Honour Roll 203 7 Mathematics Contests The Australian Scene 2016 BACKGROUND NOTES ON THE IMO AND AMOC The Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee In 1980, a group of distinguished mathematicians formed the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee (AMOC) to coordinate an Australian entry in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Since then, AMOC has developed a comprehensive program to enable all students (not only the few who aspire to national selection) to enrich and extend their knowledge of mathematics. The activities in this program are not designed to accelerate students. Rather, the aim is to enable students to broaden their mathematical experience and knowledge. The largest of these activities is the MCYA Challenge, a problem-solving event held in second term, in which thousands of young Australians explore carefully developed mathematical problems. Students who wish to continue to extend their mathematical experience can then participate in the MCYA Enrichment Stage and pursue further activities leading to the Australian Mathematical Olympiad and international events. Originally AMOC was a subcommittee of the Australian Academy of Science. In 1992 it collaborated with the Australian Mathematics Foundation (which organises the Australian Mathematics Competition) to form the Australian Mathematics Trust. The Trust, a not-for-profit organisation under the trusteeship of the University of Canberra, is governed by a Board which includes representatives from the Australian Academy of Science,