Hands-on math!

Washington State Math Olympiad
Hints and Solutions
2006 Grade 6 Algebra

Problem
Hint
1) One angle of a triangle has a measurement of 70 degrees. The ratio of the other two angles of the triangle is 5:6. What are the measurements of the other two angles?

1. Compute what the other 2 angles sum to: _____ degrees.
2. The smaller angle is 5/____ of this sum.
3. Find both angles = ____ and ____ degrees.
2) A group of scientists is duplicating cells for a science experiment. They observe that during each 10-minute period, one-quarter of the cells present died and the rest of the cells all doubled. If there were 32 cells initially, how many cells were there after 40 minutes?

I'll get you started:
1. After 10 minutes: #cells: 32(3/4) x 2 = ____
2. After 20 minutes: _______________
3. After 30 minutes: _______________
4. After 40 minutes: _______________
3) There are 832 steps from the basement to the restaurant level of the Space Needle. You start out going up 25 steps every 20 seconds. After one minute you slow down to going up 24 steps every 20 seconds for the next minute, then 23 steps every 20 seconds in the next minute and so on. If this pattern continues, how long to the nearest minute will it take you to reach the restaurant?

  1. You start out at 75 steps per minute.
  2. After that you decrease by 3 steps every minute
  3. The progression is 75 + 72 + 69 + 66 + ..., which is:
  4. 75 +(75-3) + (75 - 6) + (75 - 9) + (75 - 12) + ...
  5. (75 + 75 + 75 ...) - 3(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ...n) = 832
  6. Let m = the number of minutes for your climb. Then:
  7. 75m -3(1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ... + m-1) = 832
  8. The sum of consecutive numbers from 1 to n is = (1+n) n /2
  9. In our case, n = m-1 so the sum is (m-1)(m)/2
  10. So the equation is  75m -3(m-1)(m) / 2   ≥   832
The best way to find m is through guess-and-check
I'll give you your first guess:
Minutes
(m)
75 x m -3(m)(m-1)/2 Total
steps
12 900 -3x12x11/2 =
-198
900-198=702
Too low!
               
               
               
The climb takes ____ minutes.

Problem
Hint
4) Three watermelons and two cantaloupes weigh 32 pounds. Four watermelons and three cantaloupes weigh 44 pounds. All watermelons weigh the same and all cantaloupes weigh the same in this problem. What is the total weight of one watermelon and one cantaloupe?

Let W = the weight of a watermelon and
    C = the weight of a cantaloupe
1. Then the first equation is _______________
2. The second equation is _________________
3. Since the second equation adds 1 watermelon and 1 cantaloupe, the difference in weight is the combined weight of 1 watermelon and 1 cantaloupe, namely
    W + C = _____
5) King Kong climbed to the top of the 1250 foot tall Empire State Building. He would climb 150 feet, but then slip down 25 feet. How many feet total did King Kong climb up during his journey to get to the top? 1. Every climb-and-slip sequence gains him ____ feet.
2. Divide the height of the Empire State Building by this = ____ sequences.
3. After the previous sequence he had climbed ____ total feet.
4. And was _____ feet from the top.
5. Add the remaining distance to the top to the distance he has already climbed get the total =
    ________ ft.