Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2013

Algebra Difficulty 1.0 Junior Prove it Canada

What is the smallest positive integer xx for which 113+x\sqrt{113+x} is an integer?
The average of 3 and 11 is aa. The average of aa and bb is 11. What is the value of bb?
Charlie is 30 years older than his daughter Bella. Charlie is also six times as old as Bella. Determine Charlie’s age.

Solution

The expression 113+x\sqrt{113+x} is an integer whenever 113+x113+x is a perfect square.

To find the smallest positive integer xx for which 113+x113+x is a perfect square, we find the smallest perfect square larger than 113.

Since 102=10010^2=100 and 112=12111^2=121, then this perfect square must be 121.

Therefore, 113+x=121113+x=121 or x=8x=8.
The average of 3 and 11 is 12(3+11)=7\frac{1}{2}(3+11)=7. Thus a=7a=7.

Using this with the given information, we see that the average of 7 and bb is 11.

Therefore, 12(7+b)=11\frac{1}{2}(7+b)=11 or 7+b=227+b=22 and so b=15b=15.

(Alternatively, we could note that since 7 is 4 less than 11 (the average), then bb must be 4 more than 11, so b=11+4=15b=11+4=15.)
Let cc be Charlie’s age in years and bb be Bella’s age in years.

From the first sentence, c=30+bc=30+b.

From the second sentence, c=6bc=6b.

Combining these, we obtain 6b=30+b6b=30+b or 5b=305b=30, and so b=6b=6.

Since c=30+bc=30+b, then c=36c=36, and so Charlie’s age is 36.

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Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.