2002 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 12: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:36, 9 June 2015

The following problem is from both the 2002 AMC 12B #12 and 2002 AMC 10B #16, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

For how many integers $n$ is $\dfrac n{20-n}$ the square of an integer?

$\mathrm{(A)}\ 1 \qquad\mathrm{(B)}\ 2 \qquad\mathrm{(C)}\ 3 \qquad\mathrm{(D)}\ 4 \qquad\mathrm{(E)}\ 10$

Solution

Solution 1

Let $x^2 = \frac{n}{20-n}$ , with $x \ge 0$ (note that the solutions $x < 0$ do not give any additional solutions for $n$ ). Then rewriting, $n = \frac{20x^2}{x^2 + 1}$ . Since $\text{gcd}(x^2, x^2 + 1) = 1$ , it follows that $x^2 + 1$ divides $20$ . Listing the factors of $20$ , we find that $x = 0, 1, 2 , 3$ are the only $\boxed{\mathrm{(D)}\ 4}$ solutions (respectively yielding $n = 0, 10, 16, 18$ ).

Solution 2

For $n<0$ and $n>20$ the fraction is negative, for $n=20$ it is not defined, and for $n\in\{1,\dots,9\}$ it is between 0 and 1.

Thus we only need to examine $n=0$ and $n\in\{10,\dots,19\}$ .

For $n=0$ and $n=10$ we obviously get the squares $0$ and $1$ respectively.

For prime $n$ the fraction will not be an integer, as the denominator will not contain the prime in the numerator.

This leaves $n\in\{12,14,15,16,18\}$ , and a quick substitution shows that out of these only $n=16$ and $n=18$ yield a square. Therefore, there are only $\boxed{\mathrm{(D)}\ 4}$ solutions (respectively yielding $n = 0, 10, 16, 18$ ).

2002 AMC 10B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 15	Followed by Problem 17
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2002 AMC 12B (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 11	Followed by Problem 13
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

These problems are copyrighted © by the Mathematical Association of America, as part of the American Mathematics Competitions. Error creating thumbnail: File missing

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 For prime <math>n</math> the fraction will not be an integer, as the denominator will not contain the prime in the numerator.
-This leaves <math>n\in\{12,14,15,16,18\}</math>, and a quick substitution shows that out of these only <math>n=16</math> and <math>n=18</math> yield a square.
+This leaves <math>n\in\{12,14,15,16,18\}</math>, and a quick substitution shows that out of these only <math>n=16</math> and <math>n=18</math> yield a square. Therefore, there are only <math>\boxed{\mathrm{(D)}\ 4}</math> solutions (respectively yielding <math>n = 0, 10, 16, 18</math>).
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