Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2023

Number theory Difficulty 2.7 Junior Find the answer Canada

A line has equation y=mx50y=mx-50
for some positive integer mm. The
line passes through the point (a,0)(a,0)
for some positive integer aa. What
is the sum of all possible values of mm?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Since the line with equation $y = mx -
50 passes through the point (a,
0),then, then 0 = ma - 50$ or
ma=50ma = 50.

Since mm and aa are positive integers whose product is
50, then mm and aa are a divisor pair of 50.

Therefore, the possible values of mm
are the positive divisors of 50, which are 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50.

The sum of the possible values of mm
is thus $1 + 2 + 5 + 10 + 25 + 50 =
93$.

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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.