2021 AMC 10A Problems

2021 AMC 10A (Answer Key) Printable versions: Wiki • AoPS Resources • PDF
Instructions This is a 25-question, multiple choice test. Each question is followed by answers marked A, B, C, D and E. Only one of these is correct. You will receive 6 points for each correct answer, 2.5 points for each problem left unanswered if the year is before 2006, 1.5 points for each problem left unanswered if the year is after 2006, and 0 points for each incorrect answer. No aids are permitted other than scratch paper, graph paper, ruler, compass, protractor and erasers (and calculators that are accepted for use on the SAT if before 2006. No problems on the test will require the use of a calculator). Figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. You will have 75 minutes working time to complete the test.
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Problem 1

What is the value of $(2^2-2)-(3^2-3)+(4^2-4)?$ $\textbf{(A)} ~1 \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~2 \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~5 \qquad\textbf{(D)} ~8 \qquad\textbf{(E)} ~12$

Solution

Problem 2

Portia's high school has $3$ times as many students as Lara's high school. The two high schools have a total of $2600$ students. How many students does Portia's high school have?

$\textbf{(A)} ~600 \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~650 \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~1950 \qquad\textbf{(D)} ~2000\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~2050$

Solution

Problem 3

The sum of two natural numbers is $17{,}402$ . One of the two numbers is divisible by $10$ . If the units digit of that number is erased, the other number is obtained. What is the difference of these two numbers?

$\textbf{(A)} ~10{,}272\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~11{,}700\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~13{,}362\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~14{,}238\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~15{,}426$

Solution

Problem 4

A cart rolls down a hill, travelling $5$ inches the first second and accelerating so that during each successive $1$ -second time interval, it travels $7$ inches more than during the previous $1$ -second interval. The cart takes $30$ seconds to reach the bottom of the hill. How far, in inches, does it travel?

$\textbf{(A)} ~215 \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~360\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~2992\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~3195\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~3242$

Solution

Problem 5

The quiz scores of a class with $k > 12$ students have a mean of $8$ . The mean of a collection of $12$ of these quiz scores is $14$ . What is the mean of the remaining quiz scores in terms of $k$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~\frac{14-8}{k-12} \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~\frac{8k-168}{k-12} \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~\frac{14}{12} - \frac{8}{k} \qquad\textbf{(D)} ~\frac{14(k-12)}{k^2} \qquad\textbf{(E)} ~\frac{14(k-12)}{8k}$

Solution

Problem 6

Chantal and Jean start hiking from a trailhead toward a fire tower. Jean is wearing a heavy backpack and walks slower. Chantal starts walking at $4$ miles per hour. Halfway to the tower, the trail becomes really steep, and Chantal slows down to $2$ miles per hour. After reaching the tower, she immediately turns around and descends the steep part of the trail at $3$ miles per hour. She meets Jean at the halfway point. What was Jean's average speed, in miles per hour, until they meet?

$\textbf{(A)} ~\frac{12}{13} \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~1 \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~\frac{13}{12} \qquad\textbf{(D)} ~\frac{24}{13} \qquad\textbf{(E)} ~2$

Solution

Problem 7

Tom has a collection of $13$ snakes, $4$ of which are purple and $5$ of which are happy. He observes that

all of his happy snakes can add,

none of his purple snakes can subtract, and

all of his snakes that can't subtract also can't add.

Which of these conclusions can be drawn about Tom's snakes?

$\textbf{(A) }$ Purple snakes can add.

$\textbf{(B) }$ Purple snakes are happy.

$\textbf{(C) }$ Snakes that can add are purple.

$\textbf{(D) }$ Happy snakes are not purple.

$\textbf{(E) }$ Happy snakes can't subtract.

Solution

Problem 8

When a student multiplied the number $66$ by the repeating decimal, $\underline{1}.\underline{a} \ \underline{b} \ \underline{a} \ \underline{b}\ldots=\underline{1}.\overline{\underline{a} \ \underline{b}},$ where $a$ and $b$ are digits, he did not notice the notation and just multiplied $66$ times $\underline{1}.\underline{a} \ \underline{b}.$ Later he found that his answer is $0.5$ less than the correct answer. What is the $2$ -digit number $\underline{a} \ \underline{b}?$

$\textbf{(A) }15 \qquad \textbf{(B) }30 \qquad \textbf{(C) }45 \qquad \textbf{(D) }60 \qquad \textbf{(E) }75$

Solution

Problem 9

What is the least possible value of $(xy-1)^2 + (x+y)^2$ for real numbers $x$ and $y$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~0\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~\frac{1}{4}\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~\frac{1}{2}\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~1\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~2$

Solution

Problem 10

Which of the following is equivalent to $(2+3)(2^2+3^2)(2^4+3^4)(2^8+3^8)(2^{16}+3^{16})(2^{32}+3^{32})(2^{64}+3^{64})?$ $\textbf{(A)} ~3^{127} + 2^{127} \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~3^{127} + 2^{127} + 2 \cdot 3^{63} + 3 \cdot 2^{63} \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~3^{128}-2^{128} \qquad\textbf{(D)} ~3^{128} + 2^{128} \qquad\textbf{(E)} ~5^{127}$

Solution

Problem 11

For which of the following integers $b$ is the base- $b$ number $2021_b - 221_b$ not divisible by $3$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~3 \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~4\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~6\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~7\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~8$

Solution

Problem 12

Two right circular cones with vertices facing down as shown in the figure below contain the same amount of liquid. The radii of the tops of the liquid surfaces are $3 \text{ cm}$ and $6 \text{ cm}$ . Into each cone is dropped a spherical marble of radius $1 \text{ cm}$ , which sinks to the bottom and is completely submerged without spilling any liquid. What is the ratio of the rise of the liquid level in the narrow cone to the rise of the liquid level in the wide cone?

$[asy] size(350); defaultpen(linewidth(0.8)); real h1 = 10, r = 3.1, s=0.75; pair P = (r,h1), Q = (-r,h1), Pp = s * P, Qp = s * Q; path e = ellipse((0,h1),r,0.9), ep = ellipse((0,h1*s),r*s,0.9); draw(ellipse(origin,r*(s-0.1),0.8)); fill(ep,gray(0.8)); fill(origin--Pp--Qp--cycle,gray(0.8)); draw((-r,h1)--(0,0)--(r,h1)^^e); draw(subpath(ep,0,reltime(ep,0.5)),linetype("4 4")); draw(subpath(ep,reltime(ep,0.5),reltime(ep,1))); draw(Qp--(0,Qp.y),Arrows(size=8)); draw(origin--(0,12),linetype("4 4")); draw(origin--(r*(s-0.1),0)); label("$3$",(-0.9,h1*s),N,fontsize(10)); real h2 = 7.5, r = 6, s=0.6, d = 14; pair P = (d+r-0.05,h2-0.15), Q = (d-r+0.05,h2-0.15), Pp = s * P + (1-s)*(d,0), Qp = s * Q + (1-s)*(d,0); path e = ellipse((d,h2),r,1), ep = ellipse((d,h2*s+0.09),r*s,1); draw(ellipse((d,0),r*(s-0.1),0.8)); fill(ep,gray(0.8)); fill((d,0)--Pp--Qp--cycle,gray(0.8)); draw(P--(d,0)--Q^^e); draw(subpath(ep,0,reltime(ep,0.5)),linetype("4 4")); draw(subpath(ep,reltime(ep,0.5),reltime(ep,1))); draw(Qp--(d,Qp.y),Arrows(size=8)); draw((d,0)--(d,10),linetype("4 4")); draw((d,0)--(d+r*(s-0.1),0)); label("$6$",(d-r/4,h2*s-0.06),N,fontsize(10)); [/asy]$

$\textbf{(A) }1:1 \qquad \textbf{(B) }47:43 \qquad \textbf{(C) }2:1 \qquad \textbf{(D) }40:13 \qquad \textbf{(E) }4:1$

Solution

Problem 13

What is the volume of tetrahedron $ABCD$ with edge lengths $AB = 2$ , $AC = 3$ , $AD = 4$ , $BC = \sqrt{13}$ , $BD = 2\sqrt{5}$ , and $CD = 5$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~3 \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~2\sqrt{3} \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~4\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~3\sqrt{3}\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~6$

Solution

Problem 14

All the roots of the polynomial $z^6-10z^5+Az^4+Bz^3+Cz^2+Dz+16$ are positive integers, possibly repeated. What is the value of $B$ ?

$\textbf{(A) }{-}88 \qquad \textbf{(B) }{-}80 \qquad \textbf{(C) }{-}64 \qquad \textbf{(D) }{-}41\qquad \textbf{(E) }{-}40$

Solution

Problem 15

Values for $A,B,C,$ and $D$ are to be selected from $\{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6\}$ without replacement (i.e. no two letters have the same value). How many ways are there to make such choices so that the two curves $y=Ax^2+B$ and $y=Cx^2+D$ intersect? (The order in which the curves are listed does not matter; for example, the choices $A=3, B=2, C=4, D=1$ is considered the same as the choices $A=4, B=1, C=3, D=2.$ )

$\textbf{(A) }30 \qquad \textbf{(B) }60 \qquad \textbf{(C) }90 \qquad \textbf{(D) }180 \qquad \textbf{(E) }360$

Solution

Problem 16

In the following list of numbers, the integer $n$ appears $n$ times in the list for $1 \leq n \leq 200$ . $1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, \dots, 200, 200, \dots , 200$ What is the median of the numbers in this list?

$\textbf{(A)} ~100.5\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~134\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~142\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~150.5\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~167$

Solution

Problem 17

Trapezoid $ABCD$ has $\overline{AB} \parallel \overline{CD}$ , $BC = CD = 43$ , and $\overline{AD} \perp \overline{BD}$ . Let $O$ be the intersection of the diagonals $\overline{AC}$ and $\overline{BD}$ , and let $P$ be the midpoint of $\overline{BD}$ . Given that $OP = 11$ , the length $AD$ can be written in the form $m\sqrt{n}$ , where $m$ and $n$ are positive integers and $n$ is not divisible by the square of any prime. What is $m + n$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~65\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~132\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~157\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~194\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~215$

Solution

Problem 18

Let $f$ be a function defined on the set of positive rational numbers with the property that $f(a\cdot b)=f(a)+f(b)$ for all positive rational numbers $a$ and $b$ . Furthermore, suppose that $f$ also has the property that $f(p)=p$ for every prime number $p$ . For which of the following numbers $x$ is $f(x)<0$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~\frac{17}{32}\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~\frac{11}{16}\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~\frac{7}{9}\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~\frac{7}{6} \qquad\textbf{(E)} ~\frac{25}{11}$

Solution

Problem 19

The area of the region bounded by the graph of $x^2+y^2 = 3|x-y| + 3|x+y|$ is $m+n\pi$ , where $m$ and $n$ are integers. What is $m + n$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~18\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~27\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~36\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~45\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~54$

Solution

Problem 20

In how many ways can the sequence $1, 2, 3, 4, 5$ be rearranged so that no three consecutive terms are increasing and no three consecutive terms are decreasing?

$\textbf{(A)} ~10\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~18\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~24\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~32\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~44$

Solution

Problem 21

Let $ABCDEF$ be an equiangular hexagon. The lines $AB, CD,$ and $EF$ determine a triangle with area $192\sqrt{3}$ , and the lines $BC, DE,$ and $FA$ determine a triangle with area $324\sqrt{3}$ . The perimeter of hexagon $ABCDEF$ can be expressed as $m +n\sqrt{p}$ , where $m, n,$ and $p$ are positive integers and $p$ is not divisible by the square of any prime. What is $m + n + p$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~47\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~52\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~55\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~58\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~63$

Solution

Problem 22

Hiram's algebra notes are $50$ pages long and are printed on $25$ sheets of paper; the first sheet contains pages $1$ and $2$ , the second sheet contains pages $3$ and $4$ , and so on. One day he leaves his notes on the table before leaving for lunch, and his roommate decides to borrow some pages from the middle of the notes. When Hiram comes back, he discovers that his roommate has taken a consecutive set of sheets from the notes and that the average (mean) of the page numbers on all remaining sheets is exactly $19$ . How many sheets were borrowed?

$\textbf{(A)} ~10\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~13\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~15\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~17\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~20$

Solution

Problem 23

Frieda the frog begins a sequence of hops on a $3 \times 3$ grid of squares, moving one square on each hop and choosing at random the direction of each hop-up, down, left, or right. She does not hop diagonally. When the direction of a hop would take Frieda off the grid, she "wraps around" and jumps to the opposite edge. For example if Frieda begins in the center square and makes two hops "up", the first hop would place her in the top row middle square, and the second hop would cause Frieda to jump to the opposite edge, landing in the bottom row middle square. Suppose Frieda starts from the center square, makes at most four hops at random, and stops hopping if she lands on a corner square. What is the probability that she reaches a corner square on one of the four hops?

$\textbf{(A)} ~\frac{9}{16}\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~\frac{5}{8}\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~\frac{3}{4}\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~\frac{25}{32}\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~\frac{13}{16}$

Solution

Problem 24

The interior of a quadrilateral is bounded by the graphs of $(x+ay)^2 = 4a^2$ and $(ax-y)^2 = a^2$ , where $a$ is a positive real number. What is the area of this region in terms of $a$ , valid for all $a > 0$ ?

$\textbf{(A)} ~\frac{8a^2}{(a+1)^2}\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~\frac{4a}{a+1}\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~\frac{8a}{a+1}\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~\frac{8a^2}{a^2+1}\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~\frac{8a}{a^2+1}$

Solution

Problem 25

How many ways are there to place $3$ indistinguishable red chips, $3$ indistinguishable blue chips, and $3$ indistinguishable green chips in the squares of a $3 \times 3$ grid so that no two chips of the same color are directly adjacent to each other, either vertically or horizontally?

$\textbf{(A)} ~12\qquad\textbf{(B)} ~18\qquad\textbf{(C)} ~24\qquad\textbf{(D)} ~30\qquad\textbf{(E)} ~36$

Solution

2021 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by 2020 AMC 10B Problems	Followed by 2021 AMC 10B Problems
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All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

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2021 AMC 10A Problems

Contents

Problem 1

Problem 2

Problem 3

Problem 4

Problem 5

Problem 6

Problem 7

Problem 8

Problem 9

Problem 10

Problem 11

Problem 12

Problem 13

Problem 14

Problem 15

Problem 16

Problem 17

Problem 18

Problem 19

Problem 20

Problem 21

Problem 22

Problem 23

Problem 24

Problem 25

See also