2010 AIME I Problems/Problem 5

Problem

Positive integers $a$, $b$, $c$, and $d$ satisfy $a > b > c > d$, $a + b + c + d = 2010$, and $a^2 - b^2 + c^2 - d^2 = 2010$. Find the number of possible values of $a$.

Solution

Solution 1

Using the difference of squares, $2010 = (a^2 - b^2) + (c^2 - d^2) = (a + b)(a - b) + (c + d)(c - d) \ge a + b + c + d = 2010$, where equality must hold so $b = a - 1$ and $d = c - 1$. Then we see $a = 1004$ is maximal and $a = 504$ is minimal, so the answer is $\boxed{501}$.

Solution 2

Since $a+b$ must be greater than $1005$, it follows that the only possible value for $a-b$ is $1$ (otherwise the quantity $a^2 - b^2$ would be greater than $2010$). Therefore the only possible ordered pairs for $(a,b)$ are $(504, 503)$, $(505, 504)$, ... , $(1004, 1003)$, so $a$ has $\boxed{501}$ possible values.

See Also

2010 AIME I (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 4
Followed by
Problem 6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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