2019 AMC

2019 AMC Upper Primary Solutions

Upper Primary
Solutions Solutions
– Upper Primary Division

1. (Also J1)
201 − 9 = 192,
hence (D).

2. (Also MP5)
From the top, Caz scored 8, then Evan scored 7,
hence (E).

3. Adding millions, thousands and units, the number is 6000000 + 203000 + 6 = 6203006,
hence (C).

4. (Also MP7)
A is under 4, 4 is under 5, 5 is under 3, and 3 is under 2. So the order of
dropping is A 4 5 3 2,
hence (B).

5. (Also MP9)
From 1st Street to 4th Street, she walks 3 blocks east. From 1st Avenue to 3rd Avenue,
she walks 2 blocks north,

hence (D).

6. (Also MP10)
In Jake’s hand, there are (A) 3 hearts, (B) no diamonds, (C) 2 spades, (D) 2 picture cards,
and (E) 1 even-numbered card. All 7 cards are equally likely, so (A) is the most likely,
hence (A).

7. We look at each solid, checking first for 5 faces, then 9 edges.

(A) has 6 faces; (B) has 8 faces; (C) has 5 faces, but only 8 edges; (D) has 5 faces and 9
edges; (E) has 4 faces;

hence (D).

8. (Also J7)
Halfway to Renmark is 230 ÷ 2 = 115 km. Blanchetown is 9 km short of this, and Waikerie
is 33 km beyond, so Blanchetown is closest to halfway,
hence (D).

9. 25 − 8.25 = 16.75,
hence (B).

10. There are 9 divisions for 42 − 24 = 18 on the scale, so each division is 2 units. So the
number at P is 24 + 6 × 2 = 36,
hence (D).

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Upper Primary Solutions

11. Any number from 0 to 18 is possible, so there are 19 possibilities,

hence (C).

12. (Also J11, I6)

No row or column has repeated numbers, so these two squares can only have 3:

1 3
3 2 N
M

Then the remainder of the grid is easily filled in:

1 3 2
3 2 1
2 1 3

Then N = 1 and M = 3 so that M + N = 4,

hence (C).

13. Since 1852 − 1815 = 37, Ada Lovelace died shortly before her 37th birthday.
Since 1871 − 1791 = 80, Charles Babbage died shortly before his 80th birthday.
So to the nearest year, Charles Babbage lived 80−37 = 43 years longer than Ada Lovelace,
hence (E).

14. Alternative 1
2 5 60
12 ÷ = 12 × = = 30,
5 2 2
hence (E).
Alternative 2
12 ÷ 0.4 = 120 ÷ 4 = 30,
hence (E).
Alternative 3
1
From 12 metres, you could make 12 × 5 = 60 pieces that are m = 20 cm long. You can
5
get only half as many that are 40 cm long, which is 30 pieces,
hence (E).

15. Alternative 1
If they had many identical yards, in 1 hour they would clear 3 backyards. So it takes 20
minutes,
hence (B).

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Upper Primary Solutions Upper Primary Solutions

Alternative 2
2 1
Andrew will clear of the backyard and Bernadette will clear of the backyard. So it
3 3
will take 20 minutes,
hence (B).

16. Alternative 1
The room is 6 × 4 = 24 m2 in area. Each square metre can fit 4 of these tiles in a 2 × 2
pattern. The total number of carpet tiles needed is 24 × 4 = 96,
hence (E).
Alternative 2
Along the 6 m side, there are 12 tiles. Along the 4 m side, there are 8 tiles. In total there
are 12 × 8 = 96 tiles,
hence (E).

17. 2 can only be adjacent to 4, so must be at one end.

3 can only be adjacent to 1, so must be at the other end.
So the only solutions are 2413 and 3142,
hence (A).

18. Holly has 21 and, as Holly’s number and John’s add to 36, John’s number is 15.
John’s number and Anne’s number add to 33 so Anne’s number is 33 − 15 = 18,
hence (D).

19. The 12 segments that make up the sides of the star have equal length.
Also, at each point of the star the angle is 60◦ , formed by two equal sides,
and thus form a small equilateral triangle.
Filling out the star with equilateral triangles of this size, we form a
triangular grid of 12 triangles.
Each of the original large triangles is covered by 9 of the small triangles,
and has area 9 cm2 , so each small triangle must have area 1 cm2 . So the
star has area 12 cm2 ,
hence (B).

1 3
20. Lola was asleep for of the journey, which was of an hour. So the complete trip was
4 4
3
4× = 3 hours,
4
hence (D).

21. (Also MP22)

Alternative 1
Testing, we can see that 2 × 1 + 9 = 11, 2 × 2 + 7 = 11, 2 × 3 + 5 = 11, 2 × 4 + 3 = 11,
2 × 5 + 1 = 11. The only one which works for 15 is 15 × 3 + 5 = 50. So her first number
is 3 and second is 5, and when I say 6 she should say 6 × 3 + 5 = 23,
hence (A).

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Upper Primary Solutions

Alternative 2
A table of possible games would look like this:
I say 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
She says 11 50

Then 15 − 2 = 13, and 50 − 11 = 39, which is 3 × 13.

The numbers she says must be equally spaced, going up by the number she is multiplying
by. This means her numbers go up by 3s:
I say 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
She says 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 26 29 32 35 38 41 44 47 50

So when I say 6, she says 23,

hence (A).

22. No matter how the map is folded, the panel either side of a fold line must have the same
mud pattern on each side, reflected in the fold line. Only (E) has this for every fold line,
hence (E).

23. (Also MP29, J26)

The base (no octahedra) uses 3 rods. Completing each additional octahedron uses 9 rods,
so for n octahedra, the number of rods is 3 + 9n.
With 2019 rods in the tower, 3 + 9n = 2019 and n = 2016 ÷ 9 = 224,
hence (D).

24. (Also I19)

From the first two views, faces A , M and C are all adjacent to F .

M
The diagram shows the faces surrounding F in net form. C F

E
So in the row of cubes, the back of A is M , the back of M is A , and

A
the back of C is . However, from the opposite side, these will be in
E

reversed order, appearing as A M ,

E

hence (D).

25. In each race, Aalia can score 7, 5, 3, 1 or 0 points.

First we find possibilities for having three numbers (not necessarily different) out of
{0, 1, 3, 5, 7} that add to 11.
If 7 is the largest number, then only 7 + 3 + 1 is possible.
If 5 is the largest number, then 5 + 5 + 1 and 5 + 3 + 3 are possible.
If 3, 1 or 0 is the largest number, then a total of 11 is not possible.
For the pattern 7 + 3 + 1 there are 6 ways to get these points: 3 possibilities for the race
that she wins 7 points in and then for each of these 3 possibilities, there are 2 possibilities
for the other two races.
For the pattern 5 + 5 + 1 there are 3 possibilities, determined by the race where Aalia wins
1 point. Similarly for 5 + 3 + 3 there are 3 possibilities, determined by where she wins 5
points.
In total there are 6 + 3 + 3 = 12 ways of scoring these 11 points,
hence (C).

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26. The largest number will be after Warren adds, before Naida subtracts. So after the first
20, the net effect of Naida’s subtraction of 1 and Warren’s addition of 19 is that 18 is
added, then 16, and so on.
Once Naida’s number is bigger than Warren’s, the maximum has been passed.
So the largest number is 20 + 18 + 16 + · · · + 2 = 22 × 5 = 110,
hence (110).

27. If we ignore the decimal point, then we can systematically work out that for each starting
number there are six possibilities.
For instance, starting with 1 the numbers are 1568, 1586, 1658, 1685, 1856, 1865.
So without the decimal point there are 24 possibilities.
Now for each pattern of 4 digits, there are three places to put the decimal. For instance,
with 8651, the three numbers 8.651, 86.51, 865.1 can be made. So the total number of
possibilities is 24 × 3 = 72,
hence (72).

28. (Also MP30)

Using estimates such as 40 × 41 = 1640 and 50 × 51 = 2550, we find that 44 × 45 = 1980
and 45 × 46 = 2070, so that Mary is 44 and John is 45.
Using the same strategy, 8 × 10 × 12 = 960 and 18 × 20 × 22 = 7920. Then we find that
10 × 12 × 14 = 1680 and 11 × 13 × 15 = 2145 so that the children have ages 10, 12 and 14.
So all five ages add to 44 + 45 + 10 + 12 + 14 = 125,
hence (125).

29. (Also J19)

Since 20AM C19 is divisible by 9, so is 2 + 0 + A + M + C + 1 + 9 = 12 + A + M + C.
Since A, M and C are distinct values chosen from {3, 4, . . . , 8}, 12 + A + M + C is at least
12 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 24 and at most 12 + 6 + 7 + 8 = 33. The only multiple of 9 in this range
is 27. Consequently 12 + A + M + C = 27 and A + M + C = 15,
hence (15).

30. There are 5×4×3×2×1 = 120 ways to place the five children in a line. If we only consider
Hugh, Louise and Richard, then they can appear in any of the following six orders.

HLR HRL LHR LRH RHL RLH

120
Note that there are = 20 ways in which these three children can appear in each of
6
these six orders. Also note that in four of these orders, Hugh is not between Louise and
Richard. So the number of ways to place the children in a line and still keep Hugh happy
is 4 × 20 = 80,
hence (80).

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