AlgebraDifficulty 5.5AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Problem: Let N be the set of positive integers, and let f:N→N be a function satisfying - f(1)=1; - for n∈N, f(2n)=2f(n) and f(2n+1)=2f(n)−1. Determine the sum of all positive integer solutions to f(x)=19 that do not exceed 2019.
Solution
Solution: For n=2a0+2a1+⋯+2ak where a0>a1>⋯>ak, we can show that f(n)=2a0−2a1−⋯−2ak=2a0+1−n by induction: the base case f(1)=1 clearly holds; for the inductive step, when n is even we note that f(n)=2f(2n)=2(2a0−2n)=2a0+1−n as desired, and when n is odd we also have f(n)=2f(2n−1)−1=2(2a0−2n−1)−1=2a0+1−n, again as desired.
Since 19=f(n)≤2a0≤n, we have a0≥5 and n=2a0+1−19≤2019 gives a0≤9. So the answer is ∑a=59(2a+1−19)=(211−26)−19⋅5=1889.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.