CombinatoricsDifficulty 5.1AIME, harderFind the answer
Let S be the smallest subset of the integers with the property that 0∈S and for any x∈S, we have 3x∈S and 3x+1∈S. Determine the number of non-negative integers in S less than 2008.
A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.
Solution
Write the elements of S in their ternary expansion (i.e. base 3 ). Then the second condition translates into, if d1d2⋯dk∈S, then d1d2⋯dk0 and d1d2⋯dk1 are also in S. It follows that S is the set of nonnegative integers whose tertiary representation contains only the digits 0 and 1. Since 2⋅36<2008<37, there are 27=128 such elements less than 2008 . Therefore, there are 128 such non-negative elements.
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