Canadian
Mathematics
Competition
An activity of the Centre for Education
in Mathematics and Computing,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario
Gauss Contest (Grade 8)
(The Grade 7 Contest is on the reverse side)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
C.M.C. Sponsors C.M.C. Supporter
Chartered
Accountants
Time: 1 hour ©2009 Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
Calculators are permitted.
Instructions
1. Do not open the contest booklet until you are told to do so.
2. You may use rulers, compasses and paper for rough work.
3. Be sure that you understand the coding system for your answer sheet. If you are not sure,
ask your teacher to explain it.
4. This is a multiple-choice test. Each question is followed by five possible answers marked A,
B, C, D, and E. Only one of these is correct. When you have made your choice, enter the
appropriate letter for that question on your answer sheet.
5. Scoring: Each correct answer is worth 5 in Part A, 6 in Part B, and 8 in Part C.
There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.
6. Diagrams are not drawn to scale. They are intended as aids only.
7. When your supervisor instructs you to start, you will have sixty minutes of working time.
Please see our Web site: http://www.cemc.uwaterloo.ca. The Gauss Report will list the names
of some top-scoring students. You will also be able to find copies of past Contests and excellent
resources for enrichment, problem solving and contest preparation.
Grade 8
Scoring: There is no penalty for an incorrect answer.
Each unanswered question is worth 2, to a maximum of 10 unanswered questions.
Part A: Each correct answer is worth 5.
1. The value of 1 + 32 is
(A) 16 (B) 10 (C) 8 (D) 6 (E) 5
2. The value of −10 + (−12) is
(A) 2 (B) 22 (C) −2 (D) −22 (E) 120
3. Jack has a 3 litre jug of water. What is the maximum number of 0.5 litre bottles that
he can completely fill?
(A) 3 (B) 1.5 (C) 6 (D) 12 (E) 15
4. In the diagram, AB is a line segment. The value of x is
(A) 128 (B) 38 (C) 48
x
(D) 142 (E) 308 52
A B
7
5. Rounded to 2 decimal places, 9 is
(A) 0.70 (B) 0.77 (C) 0.78 (D) 0.79 (E) 0.80
6. The graph shows the fuel used per 100 km of
16
driving for five different vehicles. Which vehicle
Fuel Used (L/100km)
would travel the farthest using 50 litres of fuel? 12
(A) U (B) V (C) W
8
(D) X (E) Y
4
0
U V W X Y
Vehicle
7. Kayla went to the fair with $100. She spent 1
4 of her $100 on rides and 1
10 of her $100
on food. How much money did she spend?
(A) $65 (B) $32.50 (C) $2.50 (D) $50 (E) $35
8. The number of faces (F ), vertices (V ) and edges (E) of a polyhedron are related by
the equation F + V − E = 2. If a polyhedron has 6 faces and 8 vertices, how many
edges does it have?
(A) 12 (B) 14 (C) 16 (D) 18 (E) 10
9. If Jeff picks one letter randomly from the alphabet, what is the probability that the
letter is in the word ‘probability’ ?
9 15 10 17 8
(A) 26 (B) 26 (C) 26 (D) 26 (E) 26
10. If two numbers differ by 2 and their sum is 20, the larger number is
(A) 11 (B) 10 (C) 9 (D) 12 (E) 8
Grade 8
Part B: Each correct answer is worth 6.
11. The perimeter of 4ABC is 32. If ∠ABC = ∠ACB and A
BC = 12, the length of AB is
(A) 20 (B) 12 (C) 10
(D) 8 (E) 16
B 12 C
12. A temperature measured in degrees Celsius (C) can be converted to degrees
Fahrenheit (F ) using the formula F = 95 C + 32. If the temperature is 10 degrees
Celsius, what is the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit?
(A) −26.4 (B) −12.2 (C) 75.6 (D) 50.0 (E) 43.8
13. In how many ways can 101 be expressed as the sum of two integers, both greater than
zero, with the second integer greater than the first?
(A) 50 (B) 51 (C) 101 (D) 102 (E) 25
14. Vanessa set a school record for most points in a single basketball game when her team
scored 48 points. The six other players on her team averaged 3.5 points each. How
many points did Vanessa score to set her school record?
(A) 21 (B) 25 (C) 32 (D) 17 (E) 27
15. In rectangle P QRS, P Q = 12 and P R = 13. 12
P Q
The area of rectangle P QRS is
(A) 30 (B) 60 (C) 36
(D) 78 (E) 72
13
S R
16. When it is 3:00 p.m. in Victoria, it is 6:00 p.m. in Timmins. Stefan’s flight departed
at 6:00 a.m. local Victoria time and arrived at 4:00 p.m. local Timmins time. How
long, in hours, was his flight?
(A) 5 (B) 9 (C) 13 (D) 7 (E) 8
17. A jar contains quarters (worth $0.25 each), nickels (worth $0.05 each) and pennies
(worth $0.01 each). The value of the quarters is $10.00. The value of the nickels is
$10.00. The value of the pennies is $10.00. If Judith randomly chooses one coin from
the jar, what is the probability that it is a quarter?
25 1
(A) 31 (B) 31 (C) 13 5
(D) 248 1
(E) 30
18. In a class of 40 students, 18 said they liked apple pie, 15 said they liked chocolate cake
and 12 said they did not like either. How many students in the class liked both?
(A) 15 (B) 10 (C) 3 (D) 7 (E) 5
19. In the addition shown, P , Q and R each
represent a single digit, and the sum is 2009. P QP
The value of P + Q + R is + R QQQ
2009
(A) 9 (B) 10 (C) 11
(D) 12 (E) 13
Grade 8
20. A piece of string fits exactly once around the perimeter of a square whose area is
144. Rounded to the nearest whole number, the area of the largest circle that can be
formed from the piece of string is
(A) 144 (B) 733 (C) 113 (D) 452 (E) 183
Part C: Each correct answer is worth 8.
21. The product of four different positive integers is 360. What is the maximum possible
sum of these four integers?
(A) 68 (B) 66 (C) 52 (D) 39 (E) 24
22. A dollar sign is formed by drawing two parallel vertical
lines through the letter S, as shown. These lines cut the
letter S into 7 pieces. What is the minimum total number
of parallel vertical lines that are needed to cut the letter
S into exactly 154 pieces?
(A) 23 (B) 44 (C) 22
(D) 51 (E) 70
23. In the diagram, the circle is inscribed in the square. This T X
means that the circle and the square share points S, T ,
U , and V , and the width of the square is exactly equal
to the diameter of the circle. Rounded to the nearest
tenth, what percentage of line segment XY is outside S U
the circle?
(A) 29.3 (B) 28.3 (C) 33.3
(D) 25.0 (E) 16.7 Y V
24. Starting at point P , Breenah constructs a straight sided
spiral so that:
• all angles are 90◦ 6
• after starting with a line segment of length 1, each
side is 1 longer than the previous side. 2
5 1
After completing the side with length 21, Breenah’s P 3
distance from her original starting point P will be
between
4
(A) 13 and 14 (B) 14 and 15 (C) 15 and 16
(D) 16 and 17 (E) 17 and 18
25. A list of six positive integers p, q, r, s, t, u satisfies p < q < r < s < t < u. There are
exactly 15 pairs of numbers that can be formed by choosing two different numbers
from this list. The sums of these 15 pairs of numbers are:
25, 30, 38, 41, 49, 52, 54, 63, 68, 76, 79, 90, 95, 103, 117.
Which sum equals r + s?
(A) 52 (B) 54 (C) 63 (D) 68 (E) 76
