1997 AIME Problems/Problem 1

Problem

How many of the integers between 1 and 1000, inclusive, can be expressed as the difference of the squares of two nonnegative integers?

Solution

Notice that all odd numbers can be obtained by using $(a+1)^2-a^2=2a+1,$ where $a$ is a nonnegative integer. All multiples of $4$ can be obtained by using $(b+1)^2-(b-1)^2 = 4b$, where $b$ is a positive integer. Numbers congruent to $2 \pmod 4$ cannot be obtained because squares are $0, 1 \pmod 4.$ Thus, the answer is $500+250 = \boxed{750}.$

See also

1997 AIME (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
First Question
Followed by
Problem 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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