Problem 24 (1998 AJHSME)
AJHSMEHard
From module Arithmetic Sequences
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Understand the scale
Scale
0.5: Easiest math competition problems, often solvable even for early middle school students without experience.
1: Problems strictly for beginners, often at a moderate middle school level.
1.5: Problems for stronger beginner students, on the level of the middling problems in most middle school contests.
2: For motivated beginners, harder questions from the previous categories.
2.5: More advanced beginner problems, hardest questions from previous categories.
3: Early intermediate problems that require more creative thinking.
3.5: Tougher early intermediate problems that consistently stretch into higher-level creative thinking or conceptual knowledge.
4: Intermediate-level problems.
4.5: Upper intermediate problems approaching the upper bound for non-invitational sprint math competitions.
5: More difficult AIME problems or simple proof-based Olympiad-style problems.
6: High-level AIME-styled questions or introductory Olympiad-level questions.
7: Tougher Olympiad-level questions, may require more technical knowledge.
8: High-level Olympiad-level questions.
9: Expert Olympiad-level questions.
9.5: The hardest problems appearing on Olympiads which the strongest students could reasonably solve.
10: Historically notorious problems, generally unsuitable for even very hard competitions because they are exceedingly tedious, long, and difficult.
Sequence ContinuationModular ArithmeticGrid Patterns
Problem
A rectangular board of columns has squares numbered beginning in the upper left corner and moving left to right so row one is numbered through , row two is through , and so on. A student shades square , then skips one square and shades square , skips two squares and shades square , skips squares and shades square , and continues in this way until there is at least one shaded square in each column. What is the number of the shaded square that first achieves this result? [See figure in original PDF]
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