Hands-on math!

Washington State Math Olympiad
Hints and Solutions
2009 Grade 6 Algebra
Problem

1) Jane bought a 36 inch rope of licorice to share with her brother Andy. She gave Andy a piece that is three inches more than half the length of her piece. How long is Andy's piece of licorice?

2) Mr. Jones takes three taxi cab rides with the same cab driver. The table shows how many miles he traveled and what the taxi fare was. Use the information to decide what the base fare without tip is for a trip that is 6 miles long.

Problem

3) Pictured is a sequence of growing chairs. The first chair is made of 6 squares. How many squares are in the 20th chair in the sequence?

4) Over five months, Mrs. Simons wishes to give $1,000 to her favorite charity. Her plan is to give them more each month. The last month or fifth month will be the biggest donation. The fourth month she will give 1/10 what she gives the fifth month. The third month she will give 1/10 what she gives the fourth month. If this pattern continues how much will she give the last month to the nearest dollar?

5) To discourage guessing on multiple choice tests, Mr. T. has instituted a new way of grading: 4 points for every correct answer and lose 1 point for every wrong answer. There are 15 questions on the test Sally takes and she scores a 5. How many did she get right and how many did she get wrong?