1987 AIME Problems/Problem 8
Problem
What is the largest positive integer for which there is a unique integer
such that
?
Solution 1
Multiplying out all of the denominators, we get:
Since ,
. Also,
, so
. Thus,
.
is unique if it is within a maximum range of
, so
.
Solution 2
Flip all of the fractions for
Continue as in Solution 1.
Solution 3
Flip the fractions and subtract one from all sides to yield Multiply both sides by
to get
This is equivalent to find the largest value of
such that there is only one multiple of 56 within the open interval between
and
. If
then
and
is the unique value. For
there is at least
possible numbers for
and there is one
every 56 numbers. Hence, there must be at least two values of
that work. So, the largest value of
is
.
See also
1987 AIME (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 |
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