Practice (4)
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The geometric series $a+ar+ar^2\ldots$ has a sum of $7$, and the terms involving odd powers of $r$ have a sum of $3$. What is $a+r$?
If $a$ is a nonzero integer and $b$ is a positive number such that $ab^2=\log_{10}b$, what is the median of the set $\{0,1,a,b,1\/b\}$?
How many pairs of positive integers $(a,b)$ are there such that $\gcd(a,b)=1$ and \[\frac{a}{b}+\frac{14b}{9a}\] is an integer?
A number of linked rings, each 1 cm thick, are hanging on a peg. The top ring has an outside diameter of 20 cm. The outside diameter of each of the outer rings is 1 cm less than that of the ring above it. The bottom ring has an outside diameter of 3 cm. What is the distance, in cm, from the top of the top ring to the bottom of the bottom ring?
The function $\displaystyle f$ has the property that for each real number $\displaystyle x$ in its domain, $\displaystyle 1\/x$ is also in its domain and
$f(x)+f\left(\frac{1}{x}\right)=x$
What is the largest set of real numbers that can be in the domain of $f$?
Let
$S_1=\{(x,y)|\log_{10}(1+x^2+y^2)\le 1+\log_{10}(x+y)\}$
and
$S_2=\{(x,y)|\log_{10}(2+x^2+y^2)\le 2+\log_{10}(x+y)\}$.
What is the ratio of the area of $S_2$ to the area of $S_1$?
Given a finite sequence $S=(a_1,a_2,\ldots ,a_n)$ of $n$ real numbers, let $A(S)$ be the sequence
$\left(\frac{a_1+a_2}{2},\frac{a_2+a_3}{2},\ldots ,\frac{a_{n-1}+a_n}{2}\right)$
of $n-1$ real numbers. Define $A^1(S)=A(S)$ and, for each integer $m$, $2\le m\le n-1$, define $A^m(S)=A(A^{m-1}(S))$. Suppose $x>0$, and let $S=(1,x,x^2,\ldots ,x^{100})$. If $A^{100}(S)=(1\/2^{50})$, then what is $x$?
Let $x$ be chosen at random from the interval $(0,1)$. What is the probability that $\lfloor\log_{10}4x\rfloor - \lfloor\log_{10}x\rfloor = 0$? Here $\lfloor x\rfloor$ denotes the greatest integer that is less than or equal to $x$.
Let $S$ be the set of all point $(x,y)$ in the coordinate plane such that $0 \le x \le \frac{\pi}{2}$ and $0 \le y \le \frac{\pi}{2}$. What is the area of the subset of $S$ for which \[\sin^2x-\sin x \sin y + \sin^2y \le \frac34?\]
A sequence $a_1,a_2,\dots$ of non-negative integers is defined by the rule $a_{n+2}=|a_{n+1}-a_n|$ for $n\geq 1$. If $a_1=999$, $a_2<999$ and $a_{2006}=1$, how many different values of $a_2$ are possible?
There are two values of $a$ for which the equation $4x^2 + ax + 8x + 9 = 0$ has only one solution for $x$. What is the sum of these values of $a$?
For each $x$ in $[0,1]$, define \[\begin{array}{clr} f(x) & = 2x, & \text { if } 0 \leq x \leq \frac {1}{2}; \\ f(x) & = 2 - 2x, & \text { if } \frac {1}{2} < x \leq 1. \end{array}\] Let $f^{[2]}(x) = f(f(x))$, and $f^{[n + 1]}(x) = f^{[n]}(f(x))$ for each integer $n \geq 2$. For how many values of $x$ in $[0,1]$ is $f^{[2005]}(x) = \frac {1}{2}$?
How many ordered triples of integers $(a,b,c)$, with $a \ge 2$, $b\ge 1$, and $c \ge 0$, satisfy both $\log_a b = c^{2005}$ and $a + b + c = 2005$?
Two distinct numbers a and b are chosen randomly from the set $\{2, 2^2, 2^3, ..., 2^{25}\}$. What is the probability that $\mathrm{log}_a b$ is an integer?
Let $P(x)=(x-1)(x-2)(x-3)$. For how many polynomials $Q(x)$ does there exist a polynomial $R(x)$ of degree 3 such that $P(Q(x))=P(x)* R(x)$?
The quadratic equation $x^2+mx+n$ has roots twice those of $x^2+px+m$, and none of $m,n,$ and $p$ is zero. What is the value of $\frac{n}{p}$?
How many distinct four-tuples $(a,b,c,d)$ of rational numbers are there with
\[a\cdot\log_{10}2+b\cdot\log_{10}3+c\cdot\log_{10}5+d\cdot\log_{10}7=2005?\]
Let $S$ be the set of ordered triples $(x,y,z)$ of real numbers for which
\[\log_{10}(x+y) = z \text{ and } \log_{10}(x^{2}+y^{2}) = z+1.\] There are real numbers $a$ and $b$ such that for all ordered triples $(x,y.z)$ in $S$ we have $x^{3}+y^{3}=a \cdot 10^{3z} + b \cdot 10^{2z}.$ What is the value of $a+b?$
Suppose $d$ is a digit. For how many values of $d$ is $2.00d5 > 2.005$?
Big Al, the ape, ate 100 bananas from May 1 through May 5. Each day he ate six more bananas than on the previous day. How many bananas did Big Al eat on May 5?
Problems 14, 15 and 16 involve Mrs. Reed's English assignment.
A Novel Assignment
The students in Mrs. Reed's English class are reading the same 760-page novel. Three friends, Alice, Bob and Chandra, are in the class. Alice reads a page in 20 seconds, Bob reads a page in 45 seconds and Chandra reads a page in 30 seconds.
Chandra and Bob, who each have a copy of the book, decide that they can save time by \"team reading\" the novel. In this scheme, Chandra will read from page 1 to a certain page and Bob will read from the next page through page 760, finishing the book. When they are through they will tell each other about the part they read. What is the last page that Chandra should read so that she and Bob spend the same amount of time reading the novel?
Three different one-digit positive integers are placed in the bottom row of cells. Numbers in adjacent cells are added and the sum is placed in the cell above them. In the second row, continue the same process to obtain a number in the top cell. What is the difference between the largest and smallest numbers possible in the top cell?
A sequence of numbers starts with $1$, $2$, and $3$. The fourth number of the sequence is the sum of the previous three numbers in the sequence: $1+2+3=6$. In the same way, every number after the fourth is the sum of the previous three numbers. What is the eighth number in the sequence?
If $x^2 +2(m-3)x+16$ is a perfect square, find the value of $m$.
If $x^2 +x =m = (x-n)^2$, what is the value of $4(m+n)$?