Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1262 of 1394

, 2022

Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Given a positive integer kk, let k\|k\| denote the absolute difference between kk and the nearest perfect square. For example, 13=3\|13\|=3 since the nearest perfect square to 1313 is 1616. Compute the smallest positive integer nn such that
1+2++nn=100. \frac{\|1\|+\|2\|+\cdots+\|n\|}{n}=100.
Proposed by: Carl Schildkraut

Solution

Solution:
Note that from n=m2n = m^2 to n=(m+1)2n = (m+1)^2, n\|n\| increases from 00 to a peak of mm (which is repeated twice), and then goes back down to 00. Therefore
n=1m2n=k=1m12(1+2++k)=k=1m12(k+12)=2(m+13)=m3(m21) \sum_{n=1}^{m^2} \|n\| = \sum_{k=1}^{m-1} 2(1+2+\cdots+k) = \sum_{k=1}^{m-1} 2\binom{k+1}{2} = 2\binom{m+1}{3} = \frac{m}{3}\left(m^2-1\right)
In particular, if n=m21n = m^2 - 1,
1+2++nn=m3, \frac{\|1\|+\|2\|+\cdots+\|n\|}{n} = \frac{m}{3},
so n=30021n = 300^2 - 1 satisfies the condition. However, this does not prove that there are not smaller solutions for nn.
Let N=30021N = 300^2 - 1 and suppose that NkN - k satisfies the condition. Then, we know that
N+N1++N(k1)k=100. \frac{\|N\| + \|N-1\| + \cdots + \|N-(k-1)\|}{k} = 100.
Since Nk=k+1\|N-k\| = k+1 for k298k \leq 298, one can show that k=199k = 199 works. By looking at further terms, one can convince oneself that no larger value of kk works. Thus, the answer is 30021199=90000200=89800300^2 - 1 - 199 = 90000 - 200 = 89800.

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