How many integers n are there such that n differs from 101 by less than 1?
Pick one
Solution
Solution:
The answer is (D). Let us denote by A the set of integers n satisfying the required property. Let us first observe that: 101−81>100−81=1, that is 81∈/A.
If n is a positive integer, the difference n+1−n=n+1+n1 between the square roots of two consecutive integers decreases as n increases. Consequently 82−81>101−100, that is 101−82<100−81=1, and therefore 82∈A; In the same way one shows that 122∈A, in fact 122−121<101−100, from which 122−101<121−100=1. To show that 123∈/A, one can do the brute calculation (123−101)2=123+101−2⋅123⋅101, that is one must show that 224>2⋅12423 that is that 12423<112; this is true because 1122=12544>12423.
Ultimately, A={n∈N:82≤n≤122} and it is made up of 122−82+1=41 elements.
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 translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.