If we graph each term separately, we will notice that all of the zeros occur at m1, where m is any integer from 1 to 119, inclusive: ∣mx−1∣=0⟹mx=1⟹x=m1.
The minimum value of f(x) occurs where the absolute value of the sum of the slopes is at a minimum ≥0, since it is easy to see that the value will be increasing on either side. That means the minimum must happen at some m1.
The sum of the slopes at x=m1 is
\begin{align*}&\sum_{i=m+1}^{119}i - \sum_{i=1}^{m}i\\ &=\sum_{i=1}^{119}i - 2\sum_{i=1}^{m}i\\ &=-m^2-m+7140\end{align*}
Now we want to minimize −m2−m+7140. The zeros occur at −85 and 84, which means the slope is 0 where m=84,85.
We can now verify that both x=841 and x=851 yield 49 (A).
You can also think of the slopes playing 'tug of war', where the slope of each absolute function upon passing its x-intercept is negated, positively tugging on the remaining negative slopes.
The sum of the slopes is 1+2+3+4…119=∑m=1119m=2119⋅120=60⋅119=7140
So we need to find the least integer a such that 1+2+3+…a=∑n=1an=2a(a+1)≥27140=3570:
a(a+1)≥7140⟹a2+a−7140≥0→a=84 exactly!
This "exactly" means that the slope is ZERO between the whole interval x∈(851,841). We can explicitly evaluate both to check that they are both equal to the desired minimum value of f(x):
8584+83+⋯+2+1+1+2+⋯+33+34=8584(85)/2+34(35)/2=8585(14+84)/2=49
8483+82+⋯+2+1+1+2+⋯+34+35=8483(84)/2+35(36)/2=8484(15+83)/2=49
Thus the minimum value of f(x) is 49.