SHS Math Club - Similarity

1 Similar Triangles
There are three ways to determine if two triangles, ABC and DEF are similar:
1. AA similarity: If two of the three angles in both triangles are congruent, then the two
triangles are similar. For example, if

ABC =

DEF and

BAC =

EDF, then
ABC DEF.
2. SAS similarity: If two of the sides of both triangles are in proportion and both angles
formed by the two sides in each triangle are congruent, then the two triangles are
similar. So if

ABC =

DEF and
AB
DE
=
BC
EF
, then ABC DEF. However, if

ABC =

DEF and
AC
DF
=
AB
DE
, the triangles are not necessarily similar (segments AB
and AC do not form

ABC).
3. SSS similarity: If all three sides of both triangles are in proportion, the two triangles
are similar. In other words, we need
AB
DE
=
AC
DF
=
BC
EF
.
Note: If one of the above conditions is true, the other two are also true. In addition, when
the two similar triangles are named, the corresponding letters must be in the same order.
(We cant say ABC DFE).
2 Problems
1. Quadrilateral LION is similar to quadrilateral BEAR. IO = 12, LN = 21, ON = 30,
IL = 6, and BR = 28. Find the perimeter of BEAR. (Bay Math League 2013)
Solution: Note that LN and BR are corresponding segments. Since both are known
lengths, we can nd the ratio between the two gures: BR/LN = 28/21 = 4/3. Note
that all corresponding segments must share the same ratio, so we have
BE
LI
=
4
3
= BE =
4
3
LI =
4
3
6 = 8
EA
IO
=
4
3
= EA =
4
3
IO =
4
3
12 = 16
1
AR
ON
=
4
3
= AR =
4
3
ON =
4
3
30 = 40
As a result, the perimeter of BEAR is 8 + 16 + 40 + 28 = 92 .
2. On triangle LOP, points M and N are drawn on LO and LP respectively such that
MN||OP. If OP = 12, LM = 5, and OM = 10, what is the value of MN? (AoPS)
Solution: Since MN||OP,

LMN =

LOP and

LNM =

LPO. Thus, LMN
LOP by AA similarity. Consequently,
LM
LO
=
MN
OP
=
5
5 + 10
=
MN
OP
=
5
15
=
MN
12
We nd that MN = 4 .
3. A six foot ranger wants to know the height of a tree she planted 11 years ago. She
walks away from the tree until the end of her shadow and the end of the trees shadow
coincide. If her shadow is 8 feet long and she is 41 feet away from the tree, nd the
height of the tree. (Bay Math League 2013)
Solution: Since her shadow is 8 feet long and she is 41 feet away from the tree, the
trees shadow is 49 feet long. Note that the ratio of the height of an object to the
objects shadow is always constant, so we have
6
8
=
h
49
where h is the height of the tree. Solving for h, we have h =
6
8
49 =
147
4
feet.
4. If COW PIG and

I = 100,

C = 4 0.75y,

O = 3x + 7,

G = 0.7z + 14,
and

P = 31, nd
x+y+z
5
. (Bay Math League 2013)
Solution: Since the triangles are similar,

C =

P, or 4 0.75y = 31. Solving for
y, we have y = 36. Likewise,

O =

I, or 3x + 7 = 100 = x = 31. Finally,
note that the angles in a triangle always add up to 180. Then

P +

I +

G =
180 = 31 + 100 + 0.7z + 14 = 180 = 0.7z = 35, so z = 50. It follows that
x+y+z
5
=
3136+50
5
= 9 .
2
SHS Math Club - Probability
1 Problems
1. What is the probability that when a fair 6-sided die is rolled, a prime number faces
up? (AoPS)
Solution: Since the numbers of a die include 1 6, there are three prime numbers
included, which are 2, 3, and 5. These three outcomes are successful, while there are
6 total outcomes, so the probability is
3
6
=
1
2
.
2. Ten people are sitting around a round table. Three of them are chosen at random to
give a presentation. What is the probability that the three chosen people were sitting
in consecutive seats? (AoPS)
Solution: First, we compute the total outcomes possible, which is the number of ways
we can choose the 3 people out of the 10, which is

10
3

= 120 ways. Next, we nd

the number of ways to choose the consecutive seats. This can be done by picking any
person and then picking its two neighbors, so there is a total of 10 of these outcomes.
Hence, the probabilty is
10
120
=
1
12
.
3. A fair coin is ipped 7 times. What is the probability that at least 5 of the ips come
up heads? (AoPS)
Solution: We rst count the total number of outcomes of the 7 ips. There are 2
outcomes for each ip (either heads or tails) so there are 2
7
= 128 ways to ip a coin
7 times. The key words in this problem are at least. This means that we need to
count the cases where we have 5, 6, and 7 heads.
Case 1: 5 heads
There are

7
5

= 21 ways to choose the 5 heads out of the 7, and the other two will be
tails by default.
Case 2: 6 heads
There are

7
6

= 7 ways to choose the 6 heads out of the 7, and the other ip will be
tails by default.
1
Case 3: 7 heads
There are

7
7

= 1 way to have all the ips be heads.

Hence, there are 21 + 7 + 1 = 29 possible outcomes, so our total probability is
29
128
.
4. Mary and James each sit in a row of 7 chairs. They choose their seats at random.
What is the probability that they dont sit next to each other? (AoPS)
Solution: There are

7
2

ways in which they can be assigned to the chairs without

restrictions. However, they cannot be next to each other. Counting the cases where
they would not be next to each other would be harder and longer than counting the
cases in which they do sit next to each other. There are 6 ways that they can sit next
to each other, since they can take chairs 1 and 2, 3 and 4, etc. all the way to chairs 6
and 7. Thus, the probability is 1
6
21
= 1
2
7
=
5
7
.
2
SHS Math Club - Solving Trig Identities
1 Trig Identities
1. tan x =
sin x
cos x
, csc x =
1
sin x
, sec x =
1
cos x
, cot x =
1
tan x
2. sin
2
x + cos
2
x = 1
3. sin(x + y) = sin x cos y + cos x sin y
4. sin(x y) = sin x cos y cos x sin y
5. cos(x + y) = cos x cos y sin x sin y
6. cos(x y) = cos x cos y + sin x sin y
7. tan(x + y) =
tan x+tan y
1tan xtan y
8. tan(x y) =
tan xtan y
1+tan xtan y
2 Problems
1. Find all values of x that lie in the range [0, 2) and satisfy 2 sin
2
x sin x 1 = 0.
Solution: Since the equation is a quadratic, we can try to factor it:
(2 sin x + 1)(sin x 1) = 0.
Then either sin x = 1/2 or sin x = 1. If it is the former, the only values for x with
0 x < 2 are x = 7/6 and x = 11/6 . Otherwise, sin x = 1, and the only
solution to this is x = /2 .
2. Find all values of x such that 2 sin
2
x + 3 cos x 3 = 0.
Solution: Again, we have a quadratic, but this time, there are both sines and cosines.
We can relate the two using sin
2
x + cos
2
x = 1 = sin
2
x = 1 cos
2
x. Substituting
this into the given equation, we have
2(1cos
2
x)+3 cos x3 = 0 = 2 cos
2
x+3 cos x1 = 0 = 2 cos
2
x3 cos x+1 = 0.
1
We can factor this new quadratic as (2 cos x 1)(cos x 1) = 0, so cos x = 1/2 or
cos x = 1.
If cos x = 1/2, x = /3 + 2n or x = 5/3 + 2n where n is an integer (we add 2n
because we want all solutions and cos x has a period of 2).
If cos x = 1, we must have x = 2n .
3. Find all values of x that lie in the range [0, 2) and satisfy
1+sin x
cos x
+
cos x
1+sin x
= 4.
Solution: We have to work with sines and cosines, so we can try to use the sin
2
x +
cos
2
x = 1 identity again. We can write cos
2
x = 1 sin
2
x = (1 sin x)(1 + sin x).
Now, we have
1 + sin x
cos x
+
cos x
1 + sin x
=
1 + sin x
cos x
+
cos x
1 + sin x

1 sin x
1 sin x
=
1 + sin x
cos x
+
cos x(1 sin x)
1 sin
2
x
=
1 + sin x
cos x
+
cos x(1 sin x)
cos
2
x
=
1 + sin x
cos x
+
1 sin x
cos x
=
2
cos x
= 4
Hence, cos x = 1/2. Since 0 x < 2, the only solutions are x = /3 and x = 5/3 .
4. If 0 x, y < 90

, sin x + sin y =

3
2
, and cos x cos y =

1
2
, what is x + y?
Solution: We are given two equations and two unknowns, so we should try to combine
the two equations, and see if we can eliminate any variables. However, we cannot do
that immediately by adding or subtracting. But since we have sines and cosines and
we know that sin
2
x+cos
2
x = 1, we can try squaring the equations rst (this also gets
rid of the square roots on the right hand side). We have
sin
2
x + sin
2
y + 2 sin x sin y =
3
2
and cos
2
x + cos
2
y 2 cos x cos y =
1
2
Note that if we add the equations now, we can use some identities to simplify the
terms:
(sin
2
x + sin
2
y) + (cos
2
x + cos
2
y) 2(cos x cos y sin x sin y) = 2
1 + 1 2 cos(x + y) = 2
Solving for cos(x + y), we have cos(x + y) = 0. Since 0 x < 90

and 0 y < 90

,
0 x + y < 180

. As a result, if cos(x + y) = 0, we must have x + y = 90

.
5. Compute tan 1

tan 2

tan 3

... tan 89

.
Solution: When in doubt, change everything into sines and cosines. We have
sin 1
cos 1

sin 2
cos 2
...
sin 89
cos 89
2
We can relate sines and cosines with sin
2
x + cos
2
x = 1, but that does not help us
here because we dont have any sums. However, sin x = cos(90 x) as well. Then
sin 1 = cos 89 and sin 89 = cos 1, so
sin 1
cos 1

sin 89
cos 89
=
sin 1
cos 1

cos 1
sin 1
= 1
Similarly,
sin 2
cos 2

sin 88
cos 88
= 1, and so on. Thus, the product collapses, leaving only the
term in the middle:
sin 45
cos 45
. But sin 45 = cos 45, so the answer is 1 .
3
SHS Math Club - Area and Volume
1 Problems
1. Find the area bounded by the graph y = 4x x
2
and the x-axis.
Solution: We can compute the area by sweeping over the region horizontally. The
height is (4x x
2
) 0 = 4x x
2
, and we begin at x = 0 and end at x = 4. Thus, the
area is

4
0
(4x x
2
)dx =

2x
2

1
3
x
3

4
0
= 32
64
3
=
32
3
2. Find the area of the region bounded by y = e
x
, x = 1, x = 1, and y = 1. (Bay
Math League 2012)
Solution: We can again use a horizontal sweep. The height is e
x
(1) = e
x
+ 1,
and the endpoints are x = 1 and x = 1. Thus, the area is

1
1
(e
x
+ 1)dx =

e
x
+ x

1
1
=

1
e
+ 1

(e 1) = 2 + e
1
e
3. Region R is bounded by y =

x 2, the vertical line x = 6, and the x-axis. Find the

volume of the solid formed when Region R is revolved the x-axis. (Bay Math League
2012)
Solution: We can use the disk method. For a point (x, y) on the curve y =

x 2,
the radius of the circle it forms when rotated about the x-axis is y, so the area is
y
2
= (x 2). We sweep from x = 2 to x = 6, so the volume is

6
2
(x 2)dx =

1
2
x
2
2x

6
2
= 8
4. Region R is bounded by y =

x 2, the vertical line x = 6, and the x-axis. Find

the volume of the solid formed when Region R is revolved around the horizontal line
y = 3. (Bay Math League 2012)
Solution: We can use the disk method again. When we take a vertical slice of the
rotated region at a particular x value, we get two concentric circles: one with radius
1
3 and one with radius 3 y. Thus, the area we want is the area in between the two
circles: (3
2
(3 y)
2
) = (6y y
2
) = (6

x 2 (x 2)). We still sweep from

x = 2 to x = 6, so the volume is

6
2
(6

x 2 (x 2))dx = 6

6
2

x 2dx

6
2
(x 2)dx
= 6

2
3
(x 2)
3
2

6
2
8 = 32 8 = 24
2
SHS Math Club - Modular Arithmetic
1 Introduction
Modular Arithmetic is commonly called clock math. In a certain modulo or mod m, we
only consider the integers: 0, 1, 2, 3, ..., m 1. In particular, m 0 (mod m), m + 1 1
(mod m), and so on ( is the modulo version of the equals (=) symbol). Furthermore,
1 m 1 (mod m), 2 m 2 (mod m), etc. Modular arithmetic can also be thought
as nding remainders. If we want to calculate 25 mod 3, the answer is the remainder when
25 is divided by 3. Thus, 25 1 (mod 3).
2 Problems
1. What is the remainder when 22 17 33 is divided by 5?
Solution: Rather than multiplying out 22 17 33 and nding the remainder modulo
5, we can rst nd the remainders separately for 22, 17, and 33 and then multiply
them. Note that 22 2 (mod 5), 17 2 (mod 5), and 33 3 (mod 5). Therefore,
22 17 33 2 2 3 12 2 (mod 5).
2. What is the remainder when 2
16
is divided by 5?
Solution: When nding the remainders of large powers, we should try to nd when
the power reduces to 1 or 1 because 1 and 1 are very easy to multiply. So we
need to nd the smallest a such that 2
a
is 1 or 1 when taken modulo 5. Note that
2
2
4 1 (mod 5), so
2
16
(2
2
)
8
(1)
8
1 (mod 5)
3. What is the remainder when the sum of the following 201-term arithmetic series is
divided by 5: 2 + 7 + 12 + ... + 1002? (AoPS)
Solution: Notice that all of the terms in the arithmetic series are congruent to 2
(mod 5). This means that
2 + 7 + 12 + + 1002 2 + 2 + 2 + + 2 201(2) 402 2 (mod 5)
1
4. What is the remainder when 5
2014
is divided by 7?
Solution: Since we have a large power of 5, we should nd when a power of 5 hits 1
or 1 mod 7. Note that 5
2
4 (mod 7) and 5
3
4 5 20 1 (mod 7). As a
result,
5
2014
(5
3
)
671
5 (1)
671
5 5 2 (mod 7)
2