2021 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 9

The following problem is from both the 2021 AMC 10A #10 and 2021 AMC 12A #9, so both problems redirect to this page.

1 Problem
2 Solution 1
3 Solution 2
4 Solution 3
5 Solution 4 (Engineer's Induction)
6 Solution 5 (Difference of Squares)
7 Video Solution (Quick & Simple)
8 Video Solution by Aaron He
9 Video Solution(Conjugation, Difference of Squares)
10 Video Solution by Hawk Math
11 Video Solution by OmegaLearn(Factorizations/Telescoping& Meta-solving)
12 Video Solution 6
13 Video Solution by TheBeautyofMath
14 See also

Problem

Which of the following is equivalent to $(2+3)(2^2+3^2)(2^4+3^4)(2^8+3^8)(2^{16}+3^{16})(2^{32}+3^{32})(2^{64}+3^{64})?$ $\textbf{(A)} ~3^{127} + 2^{127} \qquad\textbf{(B)} ~3^{127} + 2^{127} + 2 \cdot 3^{63} + 3 \cdot 2^{63} \qquad\textbf{(C)} ~3^{128}-2^{128} \qquad\textbf{(D)} ~3^{128} + 2^{128} \qquad\textbf{(E)} ~5^{127}$

Solution 1

All you need to do is multiply the entire equation by $(3-2)$ . Then all the terms will easily simplify by difference of squares and you will get $3^{128}-2^{128}$ or $\boxed{C}$ as your final answer. Notice you don't need to worry about $3-2$ because that's equal to $1$ .

-Lemonie

Solution 2

If you weren't able to come up with the $(3 - 2)$ insight, then you could just notice that the answer is divisible by $(2 + 3) = 5$ , and $(2^2 + 3^2) = 13$ . We can then use Fermat's Little Theorem for $p = 5, 13$ on the answer choices to determine which of the answer choices are divisible by both $5$ and $13$ . This is $\boxed{C}$ .

-mewto

Solution 3

After expanding the first few terms, the result after each term appears to be $2^{2^n-1} + 2^{2^n-2}\cdot{3^1} + 2^{2^n-3}\cdot{3^2} + ... + 2^1\cdot{3^{2^n-2}} + 3^{2^n-1}$ where n is the number of terms expanded. We can prove this using mathematical induction. The base step is trivial. When expanding another term, all of the previous terms multiplied by $2^{2^{n-1}}$ would give $2^{2^n-1} + 2^{2^n-2}\cdot{3^1} + 2^{2^n-3}\cdot{3^2} + ... + 2^{2^{n-1}+1}\cdot{3^{2^{n-1}-1}} + 2^{2^{n-1}}\cdot{3^{2^{n-1}}}$ , and all the previous terms multiplied by $3^{2^{n-1}}$ would give $3^{2^n-1} + 3^{2^n-2}\cdot{2^1} + 3^{2^n-3}\cdot{2^2} + ... + 3^{2^{n-1}+1}\cdot{2^{2^{n-1}-1}} + 3^{2^{n-1}}\cdot{2^{2^{n-1}}}$ . Their sum is equal to $2^{2^n-1} + 2^{2^n-2}\cdot{3^1} + 2^{2^n-3}\cdot{3^2} + ... + 2^1\cdot{3^{2^n-2}} + 3^{2^n-1}$ , so the proof is complete. Since $\frac{3^{2^n}-2^{2^n}}{3-2}$ is equal to $2^{2^n-1} + 2^{2^n-2}\cdot{3^1} + 2^{2^n-3}\cdot{3^2} + ... + 2^1\cdot{3^{2^n-2}} + 3^{2^n-1}$ , the answer is $\frac{3^{2^7}-2^{2^7}}{3-2}=\boxed{C}$ .

-SmileKat32

Solution 4 (Engineer's Induction)

We can compute some of the first few partial products, and notice that $\prod_{k = 0}^{2^n} (2^{2^n}+3^{2^n}) = 3^{2^{n+1}} - 2^{2^{n+1}}$ . As we don't have to prove this, we get the product is $3^{2^7} - 2^{2^7} = 3^{128} - 2^{128}$ , and smugly click $\boxed{\textbf{(C)} ~3^{128} - 2^{128}}$ . ~rocketsri

Solution 5 (Difference of Squares)

We notice that the first term is equal to $3^2 - 2^2$ . If we multiply this by the second term, then we will get $(3^2 - 2^2)(3^2 + 2^2)$ , and we can simplify by using difference of squares to obtain $3^4 - 2^4$ . If we multiply this by the third term and simplify using difference of squares again, we get $3^8 - 2^8$ . We can continue down the line until we multiply by the last term, $3^{64} + 2^{64}$ , and get $3^{128} - 2^{128}$ .

~mathboy100

Video Solution (Quick & Simple)

https://youtu.be/Pm3euI3jyDk

~ Education, the Study of Everything

Video Solution by Aaron He

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGDKBthWsw&t=9m30s

Video Solution(Conjugation, Difference of Squares)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXaIyeMF7Qo&list=PLexHyfQ8DMuKqltG3cHT7Di4jhVl6L4YJ&index=9

Video Solution by Hawk Math

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5al76DxyHY

Video Solution by OmegaLearn(Factorizations/Telescoping& Meta-solving)

https://youtu.be/H34IFMlq7Lk

~ pi_is_3.14

Video Solution 6

https://youtu.be/-MJXKZowfO0

~savannahsolver

Video Solution by TheBeautyofMath

https://youtu.be/s6E4E06XhPU?t=771 (for AMC 10A)

https://youtu.be/cckGBU2x1zg?t=548 (for AMC 12A)

~IceMatrix

2021 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 9	Followed by Problem 11
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
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

2021 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 8	Followed by Problem 10
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
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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