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Algebra Difficulty 3.2 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

For how many positive integers kk do the lines with equations 9x+4y=6009x+4y=600 and kx4y=24kx-4y=24 intersect at a point whose coordinates are positive integers?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Suppose that kk is a fixed, but unknown, positive integer. Suppose also that the lines with equations 9x+4y=6009x+4y=600 and kx4y=24kx-4y=24 intersect at the point with positive integer coordinates (x,y)(x, y). Since 9x+4y=6009x+4y=600 and kx4y=24kx-4y=24, adding these equations, we get 9x+kx=6249x+kx=624 and so (9+k)x=624(9+k)x=624. Since xx and yy are to be positive integers and k>0k>0, then 9+k9+k and xx are a positive divisor pair of 624 with 9+k>99+k>9. Now 624=6104=6813=2431131624=6 \cdot 104=6 \cdot 8 \cdot 13=2^{4} 3^{1} 13^{1}, and so the positive divisors of 624 are 1,2,3,4,6,8,12,13,16,24,26,39,48,52,78,104,156,208,312,6241,2,3,4,6,8,12,13,16,24,26,39,48,52,78,104,156,208,312,624. We also want the value of yy to be a positive integer. Since the point (x,y)(x, y) lies on the line with equation 9x+4y=6009x+4y=600, then 4y=6009x4y=600-9x which gives y=15094xy=150-\frac{9}{4}x, which is an integer exactly when xx is a multiple of 4. Therefore, we want xx to be a positive divisor of 624 which is a multiple of 4. Thus, the possible values of xx are 4,8,12,16,24,48,52,104,156,208,312,6244,8,12,16,24,48,52,104,156,208,312,624. The corresponding values of 9+k9+k are 156,78,52,39,26,13,12,6,4,3,2,1156,78,52,39,26,13,12,6,4,3,2,1. Since 9+k>99+k>9, we eliminate 6,4,3,2,16,4,3,2,1 from this list. Thus, the possible values of 9+k9+k are 156,78,52,39,26,13,12156,78,52,39,26,13,12. The corresponding values of kk are 147,69,43,30,17,4,3147,69,43,30,17,4,3. These correspond to the following values of x:4,8,12,16,24,48,52x: 4,8,12,16,24,48,52. Using y=15094xy=150-\frac{9}{4}x, these give the following values of y:141,132,123,114,96,42,33y: 141,132,123,114,96,42,33. These are indeed all positive. This means that there are 7 values of kk with the required properties.

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.