# 1999 AIME Problems/Problem 7

## Problem

There is a set of 1000 switches, each of which has four positions, called $A, B, C$, and $D$. When the position of any switch changes, it is only from $A$ to $B$, from $B$ to $C$, from $C$ to $D$, or from $D$ to $A$. Initially each switch is in position $A$. The switches are labeled with the 1000 different integers $(2^{x})(3^{y})(5^{z})$, where $x, y$, and $z$ take on the values $0, 1, \ldots, 9$. At step i of a 1000-step process, the $i$-th switch is advanced one step, and so are all the other switches whose labels divide the label on the $i$-th switch. After step 1000 has been completed, how many switches will be in position $A$?

## Solution

For each $i$th switch (designated by $x_{i},y_{i},z_{i}$), it advances itself only one time at the $i$th step; thereafter, only a switch with larger $x_{j},y_{j},z_{j}$ values will advance the $i$th switch by one step provided $d_{i}= 2^{x_{i}}3^{y_{i}}5^{z_{i}}$ divides $d_{j}= 2^{x_{j}}3^{y_{j}}5^{z_{j}}$. Let $N = 2^{9}3^{9}5^{9}$ be the max switch label. To find the divisor multiples in the range of $d_{i}$ to $N$, we consider the exponents of the number $\frac{N}{d_{i}}= 2^{9-x_{i}}3^{9-y_{i}}5^{9-z_{i}}$. In general, the divisor-count of $\frac{N}{d}$ must be a multiple of 4 to ensure that a switch is in position A:

$4n = [(9-x)+1] [(9-y)+1] [(9-z)+1] = (10-x)(10-y)(10-z)$, where $0 \le x,y,z \le 9.$

We consider the cases where the 3 factors above do not contribute multiples of 4.

• Case of no 2's:
The switches must be $(\mathrm{odd})(\mathrm{odd})(\mathrm{odd})$. There are $5$ odd integers in $0$ to $9$, so we have $5 \times 5 \times 5 = 125$ ways.
• Case of a single 2:
The switches must be one of $(2\cdot \mathrm{odd})(\mathrm{odd})(\mathrm{odd})$ or $(\mathrm{odd})(2 \cdot \mathrm{odd})(\mathrm{odd})$ or $(\mathrm{odd})(\mathrm{odd})(2 \cdot \mathrm{odd})$.
Since $0 \le x,y,z \le 9,$ the terms $2\cdot 1, 2 \cdot 3,$ and $2 \cdot 5$ are three valid choices for the $(2 \cdot odd)$ factor above.
We have ${3\choose{1}} \cdot 3 \cdot 5^{2}= 225$ ways.

The number of switches in position A is $1000-125-225 = \boxed{650}$.