Art of Problem Solving
AoPS Online
Math texts, online classes, and more
for students in grades 5-12.
Visit AoPS Online ‚
Books for Grades 5-12 Online Courses
Beast Academy
Engaging math books and online learning
for students ages 6-13.
Visit Beast Academy ‚
Books for Ages 6-13 Beast Academy Online
AoPS Academy
Small live classes for advanced math
and language arts learners in grades 2-12.
Visit AoPS Academy ‚
Find a Physical Campus Visit the Virtual Campus

2019 AIME II Problems/Problem 6

Revision as of 22:41, 22 March 2019 by Ghazt2002 (talk | contribs)

Problem 6

In a Martian civilization, all logarithms whose bases are not specified as assumed to be base $b$, for some fixed $b\ge2$. A Martian student writes down \[3\log(\sqrt{x}\log x)=56\] \[\log_{\log x}(x)=54\] and finds that this system of equations has a single real number solution $x>1$. Find $b$.

Solution

Using change of base on the second equation to base b, \[\frac{\log x}{\log \log x }=54\] \[\log x = 54 \cdot \log \log x\] \[b^{\log x} = b^{54 \log \log x}\] \[x = (b^{\log \log x})^{54}\] \[x = (\log x)^{54}\] Substituting this into the $\sqrt x$ of the first equation, \[3\log((\log x)^{27}\log x) = 56\] \[3\log(\log x)^{28} = 56\] \[\log(\log x)^{84} = 56\]

We can manipulate this equation to be able to substitute $x = (\log x)^{54}$ a couple more times: \[\log(\log x)^{54} = 56 \cdot \frac{54}{84}\] \[\log x = 36\] \[(\log x)^{54} = 36^{54}\] \[x = 6^{108}\]

However, since we found that $\log x = 36$, $x$ is also equal to $b^{36}$. Equating these, \[b^{36} = 6^{108}\] \[b = 6^3 = \boxed{216}\]

Solution 2

Apply change of base to \[\log_{\log x}(x)=54\] to yield: \[\frac{\log_b(x)}{\log_b(\log_b(x))}=54\] which can be rearranged as: \[\frac{\log_b(x)}{54}=\log_b(\log_b(x))\] Apply log properties to \[3\log(\sqrt{x}\log x)=56\] to yield: \[3(\frac{1}{2}\log_b(x)+\log_b(\log_b(x)))=56\Rightarrow\frac{1}{2}\log_b(x)+\log_b(\log_b(x))=\frac{56}{3}\] Substituting \[\frac{\log_b(x)}{54}=\log_b(\log_b(x))\] into the equation $\frac{1}{2}\log_b(x)+\log_b(\log_b(x))=\frac{56}{3}$ yields: \[\frac{1}{2}\log_b(x)+\frac{\log_b(x)}{54}=\frac{28\log_b(x)}{54}=\frac{56}{3}\] So \[\log_b(x)=36.\] Substituting this back in to \[\frac{\log_b(x)}{54}=\log_b(\log_b(x))\] yields \[\frac{36}{54}=\log_b(36).\] So, \[b^{\frac{2}{3}}=36\Rightarrow \boxed{b=216}\]

-Ghazt2002

See Also

2019 AIME II (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
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

Retrieved from "https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php?title=2019_AIME_II_Problems/Problem_6&oldid=104849"