2002 AIME II Problems/Problem 8
Problem
Find the least positive integer for which the equation
has no integer solutions for
. (The notation
means the greatest integer less than or equal to
.)
Solution
Solution 1
Note that if , then either
,
or
. Either way, we won't skip any natural numbers.
The greatest such that
is
. (The inequality simplifies to
, which is easy to solve by trial, as the solution is obviously
.) Note Once we plug in a few values we can see easily that it is
We can now compute:
From the observation above (and the fact that ) we know that all integers between
and
will be achieved for some values of
. Similarly, for
we obviously have
.
Hence the least positive integer for which the equation
has no integer solutions for
is
.
Solution 2
Rewriting the given information and simplifying it a bit, we have
Now note that in order for there to be no integer solutions to we must have
We seek the smallest such
A bit of experimentation yields that
is the smallest solution, as for
it is true that
Furthermore,
is the smallest such case. (If unsure, we could check if the result holds for
and as it turns out, it doesn't.) Therefore, the answer is
Solution 3
In this solution we use inductive reasoning and a lot of trial and error. Depending on how accurately you can estimate, the solution will come quicker or slower.
Using values of k as 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, we can find the corresponding values of n relatively easily. For k = 1, n is in the range [2002-1002]; for k = 2, n is the the range [1001-668], etc: 3, [667,501]; 4, [500-401]; 5, [400-334]. For any positive integer k, n is in a range of .
Now we try testing k = 1002 to get a better understanding of what our solution will look like. Obviously, there will be no solution for n, but we are more interested in how the range will compute to. Using the formula we got above, the range will be 1-2. Testing any integer k from 1002-2000 will result in the same range. Also, notice that each and every one of them have no solution for n. Testing 1001 gives a range of 2-2, and 2002 gives 1-1. They each have a solution for n, and their range is only one value. Therefore, we can assume with relative safety that the integer k we want is the lowest integer that follows this equation:
floor[2002/k] + 1 = ceiling[2002/(k+1)]
Now we can easily guess and check starting from k = 1. After a few tests it's not difficult to estimate a few jumps, and it took me only a few minutes to realize the answer was somewhere in the forties. A final test will show: We see that Naomi travels miles in
of an hour. Thus, his speed is
mph. Maya's speed is
Alternatively, you could use the equation above and proceed with one of the other two solutions listed.
-jackshi2006
See also
2002 AIME II (Problems • Answer Key • Resources) | ||
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.