Difference between revisions of "1995 AIME Problems/Problem 8"

(expand)
Line 15: Line 15:
  
 
[[Category:Intermediate Number Theory Problems]]
 
[[Category:Intermediate Number Theory Problems]]
 +
{{MAA Notice}}

Revision as of 18:30, 4 July 2013

Problem

For how many ordered pairs of positive integers $(x,y),$ with $y<x\le 100,$ are both $\frac xy$ and $\frac{x+1}{y+1}$ integers?

Solution

Since $y|x$, $y+1|x+1$, then $\text{gcd}\,(y,x)=y$ (the bars indicate divisibility) and $\text{gcd}\,(y+1,x+1)=y+1$. By the Euclidean algorithm, these can be rewritten respectively as $\text{gcd}\,(y,x-y)=y$ and $\text{gcd}\, (y+1,x-y)=y+1$, which implies that both $y,y+1 | x-y$. Also, as $\text{gcd}\,(y,y+1) = 1$, it follows that $y(y+1)|x-y$. [1]

Thus, for a given value of $y$, we need the number of multiples of $y(y+1)$ from $0$ to $100-y$ (as $x \le 100$). It follows that there are $\left\lfloor\frac{100-y}{y(y+1)} \right\rfloor$ satisfactory positive integers for all integers $y \le 100$. The answer is

\[\sum_{y=1}^{99} \left\lfloor\frac{100-y}{y(y+1)} \right\rfloor = 49 + 16 + 8 + 4 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 = \boxed{085}.\]



^ Another way of stating this is to note that if $\frac{x}{y}$ and $\frac{x+1}{y+1}$ are integers, then $\frac{x}{y} - 1 = \frac{x-y}{y}$ and $\frac{x+1}{y+1} - 1 = \frac{x-y}{y+1}$ must be integers. Since $y$ and $y+1$ cannot share common prime factors, it follows that $\frac{x-y}{y(y+1)}$ must also be an integer.

See also

1995 AIME (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 7
Followed by
Problem 9
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions. AMC logo.png