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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Find the answer United States

The numbers, in order, of each row and the numbers, in order, of each column of a 5×55 \times 5 array of integers form an arithmetic progression of length 55. The numbers in positions (5,5)(5, 5), (2,4)(2, 4), (4,3)(4, 3), and (3,1)(3, 1) are 00, 4848, 1616, and 1212, respectively. What number is in position (1,2)(1, 2)?
[?4812160] \begin{bmatrix} \cdot & ? & \cdot & \cdot & \cdot \\ \cdot & \cdot & \cdot & 48 & \cdot \\ 12 & \cdot & \cdot & \cdot & \cdot \\ \cdot & \cdot & 16 & \cdot & \cdot \\ \cdot & \cdot & \cdot & \cdot & 0 \end{bmatrix}

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

Solution

Answer (C): Let aija_{ij} be the integer at row ii and column jj. It is given that a55=0a_{55} = 0, a24=48a_{24} = 48, a43=16a_{43} = 16, and a31=12a_{31} = 12. Suppose a54=da_{54} = d. Then row 55 is 4d,3d,2d,d,04d, 3d, 2d, d, 0 because it is an arithmetic progression with common difference d-d. The arithmetic progression in column 11 gives
a41=a31+a512=12+4d2=6+2d. a_{41} = \frac{a_{31} + a_{51}}{2} = \frac{12 + 4d}{2} = 6 + 2d.

Row 44 gives
a43=16=2a44+a413=43d+32+6+2d3, a_{43} = 16 = \frac{2a_{44} + a_{41}}{3} = \frac{\frac{4}{3}d + 32 + 6 + 2d}{3},
which implies 48=103d+3848 = \frac{10}{3}d + 38, so d=3d = 3. Filling in column 33 with common difference 166=1016 - 6 = 10 and column 11 with difference 1212=012 - 12 = 0 produces a13=46a_{13} = 46 and a11=12a_{11} = 12. Finally,
a12=a13+a112=46+122=29. a_{12} = \frac{a_{13} + a_{11}}{2} = \frac{46 + 12}{2} = 29.

The full array looks like this:
[1229466380122436486012192633401214161820129630] \begin{bmatrix} 12 & \underline{\mathbf{29}} & 46 & 63 & 80 \\ 12 & 24 & 36 & \mathbf{48} & 60 \\ \mathbf{12} & 19 & 26 & 33 & 40 \\ 12 & 14 & \mathbf{16} & 18 & 20 \\ 12 & 9 & 6 & 3 & \mathbf{0} \end{bmatrix}

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.