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[[Category:Introductory Number Theory Problems]]
 
[[Category:Introductory Number Theory Problems]]

Latest revision as of 12:57, 20 February 2020

Problem

If 554 is the base $b$ representation of the square of the number whose base $b$ representation is 24, then $b$, when written in base 10, equals

$\textbf{(A)}\ 6\qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 8\qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 12\qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 14\qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 16$

Solution

Write out the numbers using the definition of base numbers. \[554_b = 5b^2 + 5b + 4\] \[24_b = 2b+4\] Since $554_b = (24_b)^2$, we can write an equation. \[5b^2 + 5b + 4 = (2b+4)^2\] \[5b^2 + 5b + 4 = 4b^2 + 16b + 16\] \[b^2 - 11b - 12 = 0\] \[(b-12)(b+1) = 0\] Since base numbers must be positive, $b$ in base 10 equals $\boxed{\textbf{(C)}\ 12}$.

See Also

1973 AHSME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by
Problem 5 		Followed by
Problem 7
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 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35
All AHSME Problems and Solutions
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