Hints for Indian AMTI Maths Talent Test 2002


By Srihari Murali on Saturday, October 26, 2002 - 05:27 pm:

Hello !
I am 15 and am studying in India. This is the the set of problems that was given in AMTI Finals. Could you sove it ?

  1. Calculate the sum 1/(2!)+2/(3!)+3/(4!)++99/(100!).
  2. Let a, b, c be Real numbers such that 0<a<1, 0<b<1, 0<c<1. Prove that
  3. Find all pairs (x,y) positive Integers such that x3 - y3 =xy+61.
  4. A function f is defined for all Real Numbers and for all Real x, satisfies the equations

    f(2+x)=f(2-x) and f(7+x)=f(7-x)

    If 0 satisfies f(x)=0, what is the smallest number of solutions that f(x)=0 could have in the interval -2002x2002?

  5. In a triangle ABC, let AD be a median. Let L and N be points on the segments AB and AC. Suppose LN cuts AD at M. Prove that AL.LB/AB+AN.NC/AC=2.AM.MD/AD
  6. In a rhombus ABCD, angle A= 60 . Let K be a point on the diagonal AC and choose points L, M on AB, BC respectively such that KLBM is a parallelogram. Show that the triangle LMD is equilateral.
  7. Let m, n be positive Integers such that 3m+n=3(least common multiple [m,n])+ greatest common divisor [m,n].

    Prove that n divides m.

  8. Find the max. no. of distinct 4-digit positive Integers consisting only of digits 1, 2 and 3 such that any two of these have equal digits in at most one position.


By Brad Rodgers on Saturday, October 26, 2002 - 09:53 pm:

Good questions. Hints for those I've solved:

1) Use the identity [1 - 1/(N-1)!] + (N-1)/N! = [1 - 1/N!], and induction.

A: 1 - 1/100!

2a) make a substitution along the lines of a = cos2 (alpha ), and so on...
2b) use a similar trick, and then use factor formulas for sine.

6) This can be done fairly easily using analytic geometry, but I'd suspect there's an easier solution yet.

7) Assume that n does not divide m. Then there exists integers k, m', and n' such that m = k. m', n = k. n', and GCD(n',m') = 1. Then we have

k(3m' + n') = k(3m'n' + 1),

upon subsitution, and we can go on to derive a contradiction from this when n' is not 1.

Brad


By Arun Iyer on Sunday, October 27, 2002 - 08:52 am:

for 3,
x3 - y3 = xy + 61
put y=x+c .. where (c is an integer)
substituting and rearranging we get,
(1+3c)x2 + (c+3c2 )x + (c3 +61)=0 .. (x)

(Note:for a quadratic equation,ax2 +bx+c = 0
sum of roots = -b/a
product of roots = c/a)

let x1 and x2 be the roots of the above equation.
x1 +x2 =-c .... (1)
x1 xx2 = [c3 +61]/[1+3c] ... (2)

now we are looking for integer values of x therefore assume one of the roots (Say x1 ) to be an integer.Then equation (1) forces x2 also to be an integer.

since x1 and x2 are integers,this forces the RHS of equation (2) to be an integer.

so now we have to find the possible values of c for which [c3 +61]/[1+3c] is an integer.

intuitionally i feel (-1,0) are the only possible values of c for which the above is an integer..(i am not able to prove that these are the only solution .. so someone please give this a try)

substituting c=0 in (x) we see that we don't get real roots.

substituting c=-1 in (x)we get,
-2x2 + 2x + 60 = 0
i.e
x2 - x - 30 = 0
therefore,x=-5 or x=6
we need positive integers therefore x=-5 is discarded.....

therefore we get x=6 as the answer,
y=x+c
now x=6 and c=-1
therefore y=5

hence ... (x,y) = (6,5)
This is the only possible solution

love arun


By Demetres Christofides on Sunday, October 27, 2002 - 10:31 am:

Hint on Q4:

Step 1: Show that f(4-x)=f(x)=f(14-x) (x)
Step 2: Use (x) to show that f(x)=f(x+10) (xx)
Step 3: f(0)=f(4)=0 (xxx)
Step 4: Use (xx) and (xxx) to show that f(10n)=f(10n+4)=0 for any integer n. (both positive or negative)
Step 5: Find a function that has only those zeros in the required interval. (Don't try to think of anything complicated. Just a function which will make your life easier to check that indeed it satisfies the required conditions)
[To check that your fuction satisfies the required conditions it might help to use (x)]
Step 6: Count the number of zeros

Demetres