2000 AIME I Problems/Problem 12
Problem
Given a function for which
holds for all real
what is the largest number of different values that can appear in the list
Solution
\begin{align*}f(2158 - x) = f(x) &= f(3214 - (2158 - x)) &= f(1056 + x)\\ f(398 - x) = f(x) &= f(2158 - (398 - x)) &= f(1760 + x)\end{eqnarray*} (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg)
Since we can conclude that (by the Euclidean algorithm)
So we need only to consider one period , which can have at most
distinct values which determine the value of
at all other integers.
But we also know that , so the values
and
are repeated. This gives a total of
distinct values.
To show that it is possible to have distinct, we try to find a function which fulfills the given conditions. A bit of trial and error would lead to the cosine function:
(in degrees).
See also
2000 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
Preceded by Problem 11 |
Followed by Problem 13 | |
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 | ||
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