2024 AIME I Problems/Problem 12

Problem

Define $f(x)=|| x|-\tfrac{1}{2}|$ and $g(x)=|| x|-\tfrac{1}{4}|$ . Find the number of intersections of the graphs of $y=4 g(f(\sin (2 \pi x))) \quad\text{ and }\quad x=4 g(f(\cos (3 \pi y))).$

Graph

https://www.desmos.com/calculator/wml09giaun

Solution 1

If we graph $4g(f(x))$ , we see it forms a sawtooth graph that oscillates between $0$ and $1$ (for values of $x$ between $-1$ and $1$ , which is true because the arguments are between $-1$ and $1$ ). Thus by precariously drawing the graph of the two functions in the square bounded by $(0,0)$ , $(0,1)$ , $(1,1)$ , and $(1,0)$ , and hand-counting each of the intersections, we get $\boxed{385}$

Note

While this solution might seem unreliable (it probably is), the only parts where counting the intersection might be tricky is near $(1,1)$ . Make sure to count them as two points and not one, or you'll get $384$ .

Note 1

The answer should be 385 since there are 16 intersections in each of 24 smaller boxes of dimensions 1/6 x 1/4 and then another one at the corner (1,1).

Solution 2

We will denote $h(x)=4g(f(x))$ for simplicity. Denote $p(x)$ as the first equation and $q(y)$ as the graph of the second. We notice that the graph of $f(x)$ oscillates between $y=0$ and $y=1$ , and the graph of $g(x)$ oscillates between $x=0$ and $x=1$ . The intersections are thus all in the square $(0,0)$ , $(0,1)$ , $(1,1)$ , and $(1,0)$ .

Every $p(x)$ wave going up and down crosses every $q(y)$ wave. Now, we need to find the number of times each wave touches 0 and 1. We notice that $h(x)=0$ occurs at $x=-\frac{3}{4}, -\frac{1}{4}, \frac{1}{4}, \frac{3}{4}$ , and $h(x)=1$ occurs at $x=-1, -\frac{1}{2}, 0,\frac{1}{2},1$ . A sinusoid passes through each point twice during each period, but it only passes through the extrema once. $p(x)$ has 1 period between 0 and 1, giving 8 solutions for $p(x)=0$ and 9 solutions for $p(x)=1$ , or 16 up and down waves. $q(y)$ has 1.5 periods, giving 12 solutions for $q(y)=0$ and 13 solutions for $q(y)=1$ , or 24 up and down waves. This amounts to $16\cdot24=384$ intersections.

However, we have to be very careful when counting around $(1, 1)$ . At this point, $q(y)$ has an infinite downwards slope and $p(x)$ is slanted, giving us an extra intersection; thus, we need to add 1 to our answer to get $\boxed{385}$ .

2024 AIME I (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 11	Followed by Problem 13
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15
All AIME Problems and Solutions

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