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Algebra Difficulty 2.4 Junior Find the answer

A positive integer nn is a multiple of 7. The square root of nn is between 17 and 18. How many possible values of nn are there?

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

Solution

Since the square root of nn is between 17 and 18, then nn is between 172=28917^2 = 289 and 182=32418^2 = 324. Since nn is a multiple of 7, we need to count the number of multiples of 7 between 289 and 324. Since 41×7=28741 \times 7 = 287 and 42×7=29442 \times 7 = 294, then 294 is the smallest multiple of 7 larger than 289. Since 46×7=32246 \times 7 = 322 and 47×7=32947 \times 7 = 329, then 322 is the largest multiple of 7 smaller than 324. This means that the multiples of 7 between 289 and 324 are 42×7=294,43×7=301,44×7=308,45×7=31542 \times 7 = 294, 43 \times 7 = 301, 44 \times 7 = 308, 45 \times 7 = 315, and 46×7=32246 \times 7 = 322, of which there are 5. (We note that we could have determined that there were 5 such multiples by calculating 4642+146 - 42 + 1 which equals 5.) Therefore, there are 5 possible values for nn.

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