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Worksheet generator
Pick what you want, print the page. The answer key comes with it, on its own sheet, and it tells you the mistake behind every wrong choice — not just which letter is right.
This exact URL always produces this exact sheet — bookmark it and the answer key will still match next term. Print with your browser; the controls and the site navigation are left off the page.
1.How many different two-digit numbers can be written using only the digits 1, 2 and 3, if a digit may be used twice?[3]
A3
B6
C9
D12
E27
2.A password is one letter from A, B, C followed by two digits from 1 to 5. Digits may repeat. How many passwords are possible?[4]
A13
B30
C60
D75
E125
3.In a class of 30, 18 play football and 14 play chess. 6 play both. How many play neither?[4]
A2
B4
C8
D10
E26
4.How many different four-letter arrangements can be made from the letters of the word MATH, using each letter once?[4]
A4
B12
C16
D24
E256
5.In a class of 30 students, 18 play football and 15 play chess. Exactly 7 students do both. How many students play neither?[4]
A4
B26
C3
D11
E7
6.Each of the four edges of a square is painted either black or white. Two paintings count as the same if one can be rotated onto the other. How many genuinely different paintings are there?[4]
A6
B16
C4
D8
E5
7.A box holds 4 red, 5 blue and 6 green balls, mixed up. How many must be taken out without looking to be sure of having 3 of the same colour?[5]
A3
B6
C7
D9
E13
8.Ten different whole numbers, each bigger than zero, add up to 100. What is the largest that the biggest of them can be?[5]
A45
B50
C55
D91
E100
9.A drawer holds 12 red socks, 10 blue socks and 8 green socks, all mixed up. You take socks out one at a time in the dark. What is the smallest number of socks you must take to be certain of having three of the same colour?[5]
A4
B7
C9
D13
E3
10.An ordinary six-sided die is rolled three times. What is the probability that at least one roll shows a six?[5]
A91/216
B1/2
C125/216
D3/216
E1/6
Math Kangaroo Star · https://kangaroo-atlas.vercel.app · seed 8 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Independent project, not affiliated with Math Kangaroo in USA, NFP.
Answer key — Math Kangaroo practice
Each wrong choice carries the thinking that produces it. When a student picks C, this is what they were doing.
1.C — 9KA-0072Systematic listing
AI counted only the numbers with two identical digits, like 11, 22 and 33.
BI required the two digits to be different, even though repeats are allowed.
DI allowed a fourth digit that was not in the list.
EI counted three-digit numbers instead of two-digit ones.
2.D — 75KA-0023The multiplication principle
AI added the number of options at each step instead of multiplying them.
BI treated the two digits as one choice of ten rather than two independent choices of five.
CI assumed the two digits had to be different, so I used 5 times 4 for them.
EI used 5 choices for the letter position as well, forgetting there are only three letters.
3.B — 4KA-0069Inclusion–exclusion with two sets
AI added 18 and 14 without removing the overlap, then subtracted from 30.
CI subtracted the 6 who play both twice instead of once.
DI subtracted only the footballers from the class and forgot the chess players entirely.
EI found how many play at least one sport and gave that instead of how many play neither.
4.D — 24KA-0073Arrangements of a few objects
AI counted the letters rather than their arrangements.
BI multiplied 4 by 3 and stopped, forgetting the last two positions.
CI used 4 choices for every position, as if letters could repeat.
EI used 4 choices in each of four positions, which allows every letter to repeat.
5.A — 4KA-0154Inclusion–exclusion with two sets
BI found how many students play at least one of the two and answered with that instead.
CI added 18 and 15 to get 33, subtracted the 30 in the class, and used the 3 left over.
DI removed the 7 from both groups and subtracted 11 and 8 from 30, taking the overlap away twice.
EI answered with the number who play both, which is what the question gave me rather than what it asked for.
6.A — 6KA-0173Counting up to symmetry
BI counted every colouring of the four edges and forgot that rotations make some of them identical.
CI divided 16 by 4, but that only works when no painting is left unchanged by a rotation, and some are.
DI halved 16, treating only the 180 degree turn as a symmetry.
EI listed by how many edges are black but forgot that two black edges can be adjacent or opposite.
7.C — 7KA-0077The pigeonhole principle
AI answered with the luckiest case, where the first three balls happen to match.
BI found the worst case of two of each colour and forgot to take one more.
DI multiplied the three colours by the three balls I need, rather than thinking about the worst case.
EI worked from the number of balls of each colour rather than from the number of colours.
8.C — 55KA-0078Extremal / worst-case counting
AI found the smallest possible total of the other nine and gave that instead of what is left.
BI assumed the biggest number could be at most half the total.
DI made the other nine numbers all equal to 1, forgetting that they have to be different from each other.
EI ignored the other nine numbers entirely, as if the biggest could take the whole total.
9.B — 7KA-0157The pigeonhole principle
AI thought that one more than the number of colours must give three of a kind, which only guarantees a PAIR.
CI got to two of each colour, then added one more for each colour instead of one more in total.
DI assumed the worst case meant emptying the largest pile of 12 reds first.
EI answered with the number of socks I want rather than the number I must take to be sure of them.
10.A — 91/216KA-0168Complementary counting
BI added 1/6 three times, which counts the overlapping cases more than once and would exceed 1 for seven rolls.
CI worked out the probability of NO six and forgot to subtract it from 1.
DI found the probability of three sixes instead of at least one.
EI gave the probability for a single roll and ignored that there are three.