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Number theory Difficulty 3.1 AMC 10/12 Prove it Canada

The positive divisors of 6 are 1, 2, 3,
and 6. What is the sum of the positive divisors of 64?
Fionn wrote 4 consecutive integers on a
whiteboard. Lexi came along and erased one of the integers. Fionn
noticed that the sum of the remaining integers was 847. What integer did
Lexi erase?
An arithmetic sequence with 7 terms has
first term d2d^2 and common
difference dd. The sum of the 7
terms in the sequence is 756. Determine all possible values of dd.

(An arithmetic sequence is a sequence in which each term
after the first is obtained from the previous term by adding a constant,
called the common difference. For example, 3,5,7,93, 5, 7, 9 are the first four terms of an
arithmetic sequence.)

Solution

Since 64=2664 = 2^6, its positive
divisors are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64.

The sum of these divisors is $1 + 2 + 4 + 8 +
16 + 32 + 64 = 127$.
Suppose that the four consecutive integers that Fionn originally
wrote on the blackboard were xx,
x+1x+1, x+2x+2, and x+3x+3.

When Lexi erases one of these integers, the sum of the remaining three
integers is equal to one of the following: (x+1)+(x+2)+(x+3)=3x+6x+(x+2)+(x+3)=3x+5x+(x+1)+(x+3)=3x+4x+(x+1)+(x+2)=3x+3\begin{align*} (x+1) + (x+2) + (x+3) & = 3x + 6 \\ x + (x+2) + (x+3) & = 3x + 5 \\ x + (x+1) + (x+3) & = 3x + 4 \\ x + (x+1) + (x+2) & = 3x + 3\end{align*} We are told that
the sum of these integers is 847.

We note that 847=3282+1847 = 3 \cdot 282 + 1,
which is one more than a multiple of 3. Since 3x+33x+3 and 3x+63x+6 are always multiples of 3 and 3x+53x+5 is 2 more than a multiple of 3, then
we must have 3x+4=8473x + 4 = 847 and so
3x=8433x = 843 or x=281x = 281. (Alternatively, we could have
set each of the four sums above equal to 847 to determine in which case
or cases we obtained an integer solution for xx.)

Therefore, the original integers were 281, 282, 283, 284 and Lexi erased
x+2=283x + 2 = 283.
From the given information, the 7 terms in the
arithmetic sequence are d2,  d2+d,  d2+2d,  d2+3d,  d2+4d,  d2+5d,  d2+6dd^2,~~d^2 + d,~~d^2 + 2d,~~d^2 + 3d,~~d^2 + 4d,~~d^2 + 5d,~~d^2 + 6d Since the sum
of these 7 terms is 756, we obtain the following equivalent equations:
d2+(d2+d)+(d2+2d)+(d2+3d)+(d2+4d)+(d2+5d)+(d2+6d)=7567d2+21d=756d2+3d=108d2+3d108=0(d+12)(d9)=0\begin{align*} d^2 + (d^2 + d) + (d^2 + 2d) + (d^2 + 3d) + (d^2 + 4d) + (d^2 + 5d) + (d^2 + 6d) & = 756 \\ 7d^2 + 21d & = 756 \\ d^2 + 3d & = 108 \\ d^2 + 3d - 108 & = 0 \\ (d + 12)(d - 9) & = 0\end{align*} and so d=12d = -12 or $d
= 9$.

The corresponding arithmetic sequences are 144,132,120,108,96,84,72   and   81,90,99,108,117,126,135144, 132, 120, 108, 96, 84, 72 ~~\text{ and } ~~ 81, 90, 99, 108, 117, 126, 135

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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.