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Algebra Difficulty 2.4 Junior Find the answer

Reading from left to right, a sequence consists of 6 X's, followed by 24 Y's, followed by 96 X's. After the first nn letters, reading from left to right, one letter has occurred twice as many times as the other letter. What is the sum of the four possible values of nn?

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

Solution

First, we note that we cannot have n6n \leq 6, since the first 6 letters are X's. After 6 X's and 3 Y's, there are twice as many X's as Y's. In this case, n=6+3=9n=6+3=9. After 6 X's and 12 Y's, there are twice as many Y's as X's. In this case, n=6+12=18n=6+12=18. The next letters are all Y's (with 24 Y's in total), so there are no additional values of nn with n6+24=30n \leq 6+24=30. At this point, there are 6 X's and 24 Y's. After 24 Y's and 12 X's (that is, 6 additional X's), there are twice as many Y's as X's. In this case, n=24+12=36n=24+12=36. After 24 Y's and 48 X's (that is, 42 additional X's), there are twice as many X's as Y's. In this case, n=24+48=72n=24+48=72. Since we are told that there are four values of nn, then we have found them all, and their sum is 9+18+36+72=1359+18+36+72=135.

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