Difference between revisions of "2021 AIME I Problems/Problem 3"

(solution 4)
(solution 4: Capitalized the S in Solution.)
Line 57: Line 57:
 
~MRENTHUSIASM
 
~MRENTHUSIASM
  
== solution 4==
+
==Solution 4==
 
First, you need to notice that it is impossible to have overlapping, making the problem easier.
 
First, you need to notice that it is impossible to have overlapping, making the problem easier.
  

Revision as of 23:27, 13 March 2021

Problem

Find the number of positive integers less than $1000$ that can be expressed as the difference of two integral powers of $2.$

Solution 1

We want to find the number of positive integers $n<1000$ which can be written in the form $n = 2^a - 2^b$ for some non-negative integers $a > b \ge 0$ (note that if $a=b$, then $2^a-2^b = 0$). We first observe $a$ must be at most 10; if $a \ge 11$, then $2^a - 2^b \ge 2^{10} > 1000$. As $2^{10} = 1024 \approx 1000$, we can first choose two different numbers $a > b$ from the set $\{0,1,2,\ldots,10\}$ in $\binom{10}{2}=55$ ways. This includes $(a,b) = (10,0)$, $(10,1)$, $(10,2)$, $(10,3)$, $(10,4)$ which are invalid as $2^a - 2^b > 1000$ in this case. For all other choices $a$ and $b$, the value of $2^a - 2^b$ is less than 1000.

We claim that for all other choices of $a$ and $b$, the values of $2^a - 2^b$ are pairwise distinct. More specifically, if $(a_1,b_1) \neq (a_2,b_2)$ where $10 \ge a_1 > b_1 \ge 0$ and $10 \ge a_2 > b_2 \ge 0$, we must show that $2^{a_1}-2^{b_1} \neq 2^{a_2} - 2^{b_2}$. Suppose otherwise for sake of contradiction; rearranging yields $2^{a_1}+2^{b_2} = 2^{a_2}+2^{b_1}$. We use the fact that every positive integer has a unique binary representation:

If $a_1 \neq b_2$ then $\{a_1,b_2\} = \{a_2,b_1\}$; from here we can deduce either $a_1=a_2$ and $b_1=b_2$ (contradicting the assumption that $(a_1,b_1) \neq (a_2,b_2)$, or $a_1=b_1$ and $a_2=b_2$ (contradicting the assumption $a_1>b_1$ and $a_2>b_2$).

If $a_1 = b_2$ then $2^{a_1}+2^{b_2} = 2 \times 2^{a_1}$, and it follows that $a_1=a_2=b_1=b_2$, also contradicting the assumption $(a_1,b_1) \neq (a_2,b_2)$. Hence we obtain contradiction.

Then there are $\binom{10}{2}-5$ choices for $(a,b)$ for which $2^a - 2^b$ is a positive integer less than 1000; by the above claim, each choice of $(a,b)$ results in a different positive integer $n$. Then there are $55-5 = \boxed{050}$ integers which can be expressed as a difference of two powers of 2.

Solution 2 (Casework)

Case 1: When our answer is in the form $2^n-2^i$, where $i$ is an integer such that $0\le i\le 4$.

We start with the subcase where it is $2^n-2^0$, for some integer $n$ where $n>0$ (this is because the case where $n=0$ yields $2^0-2^0=0$, which doesn't work because it must be a positive integer.) Note that $2^{10}=1024$, and $2^9=512$. Our answer needs to be less than $1000$, so the maximum possible result (in this case) is $2^9-2^0$. Our lowest result is $2^1-2^0$. All the positive powers of two less than $1024$ work, so we have $9$ possibilities for this subcase. For subcases $i=1, i=2, i=3,$ and $i=4$, we have $8, 7, 6,$ and $5$ possibilities, respectively.

Case 2: When our answer is in the form of $2^n-2^j$, where $j$ is an integer such that $5\le j\le 9$.

We can start with the subcase where $j=5$. We notice that $2^5=32$, and $2^{10}-2^5=992$ which is less than $1000$, so the greatest result in this subcase is actually $2^{10}-2^5$, and the lowest is $2^6-2^5$. Thus, we have $5$ possibilities. For the other four subcases, we have $4, 3, 2,$ and $1$ possibilities, respectively.

Answer: We note that these are our only cases, as numbers in the form of $2^n-2^{10}$ and beyond are greater than $1000$.

Thus, our result is $9+8+7+6+5+5+4+3+2+1=(9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1)+5=\boxed{50}$. ~jehu26

Solution 3 (Bash)

We look for all positive integers of the form $2^a-2^b<1000,$ where $0\leq b<a.$ Performing casework on $a,$ we can enumerate all possibilities in the table below: \[\begin{array}{c|c} \boldsymbol{a} & \boldsymbol{b} \\  \hline  & \\ [-2ex] 1 & 0 \\   2 & 0,1 \\ 3 & 0,1,2 \\ 4 & 0,1,2,3 \\ 5 & 0,1,2,3,4 \\ 6 & 0,1,2,3,4,5 \\ 7 & 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 \\ 8 & 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7 \\ 9 & 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 \\ 10 & \xcancel{0},\xcancel{1},\xcancel{2},\xcancel{3},\xcancel{4},5,6,7,8,9 \end{array}\] As indicated by the X-marks, the ordered pairs $(a,b)=(10,0),(10,1),(10,2),(10,3),(10,4)$ generate $2^a-2^b>1000,$ which are invalid.

Note that each of the remaining ordered pairs generates a unique desired positive integer. We prove as follows:

(1) The positive integers generated in each value of $a$ are clearly different.

(2) For all integers $1\leq k\leq9,$ the largest positive integer generated for $a=k$ is $1$ less than the smallest positive integer generated for $a=k+1.$

Together, we justified our claim in italics. Our answer is \[1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+5=\boxed{050}.\]

~MRENTHUSIASM

Solution 4

First, you need to notice that it is impossible to have overlapping, making the problem easier.

Case 1 : $2^0$ There are $9$ ways here, from $2^1$ to $2^9$

It is easy to see here that this continues all the way down to one. However, when the case gets to $32$, there are 5 ways instead of 4 because $2^10-2^5$ is smaller than 1000.

Thus, $9+8+7+6+5+5+4+3+2+1 = 50$

So the answer is $\boxed{050}$

Video Solution by Punxsutawney Phil

https://youtube.com/watch?v=H17E9n2nIyY&t=569s

Video Solution

https://youtu.be/M3DsERqhiDk?t=749

See also

2021 AIME I (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 2
Followed by
Problem 4
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