1988 AIME Problems/Problem 2

Problem

For any positive integer $k$ , let $f_1(k)$ denote the square of the sum of the digits of $k$ . For $n \ge 2$ , let $f_n(k) = f_1(f_{n - 1}(k))$ . Find $f_{1988}(11)$ .

Solution

We see that $f_{1}(11)=4$

$f_2(11) = f_1(4)=16$

$f_3(11) = f_1(16)=49$

$f_4(11) = f_1(49)=169$

$f_5(11) = f_1(169)=256$

$f_6(11) = f_1(256)=169$

Note that this revolves between the two numbers. Since $1988$ is even, we thus have $f_{1988}(11) = f_{4}(11) = \boxed{169}$ .

1988 AIME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 1	Followed by Problem 3
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1988 AIME Problems/Problem 2

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