A positive integer is a multiple of 7. The square root of is between 17 and 18. How many possible values of are there?
CEMC Pascal
Solution
Since the square root of is between 17 and 18, then is between and . Since is a multiple of 7, we need to count the number of multiples of 7 between 289 and 324. Since and , then 294 is the smallest multiple of 7 larger than 289. Since and , then 322 is the largest multiple of 7 smaller than 324. This means that the multiples of 7 between 289 and 324 are , and , of which there are 5. (We note that we could have determined that there were 5 such multiples by calculating which equals 5.) Therefore, there are 5 possible values for .
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.