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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Find the answer

Compute the number of positive real numbers xx that satisfy (32log2xx)16=2022x13\left(3 \cdot 2^{\left\lfloor\log _{2} x\right\rfloor}-x\right)^{16}=2022 x^{13}.

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

Solution

Let f(x)=32log2xxf(x)=3 \cdot 2^{\left\lfloor\log _{2} x\right\rfloor}-x. Note that for each integer ii, if x[2i,2i+1)x \in\left[2^{i}, 2^{i+1}\right), then f(x)=32ixf(x)=3 \cdot 2^{i}-x. This is a line segment from (2i,2i+1)\left(2^{i}, 2^{i+1}\right) to (2i+1,2i)\left(2^{i+1}, 2^{i}\right), including the first endpoint but not the second. Now consider the function f(x)16/x13f(x)^{16} / x^{13}. This consists of segments of decreasing functions connecting (2i,23i+16)\left(2^{i}, 2^{3 i+16}\right) and (2i+1,23i13)\left(2^{i+1}, 2^{3 i-13}\right). Note that for each 1i7-1 \leq i \leq 7, we have that 23i13210<2022<21123i+162^{3 i-13} \leq 2^{10}<2022<2^{11} \leq 2^{3 i+16}. This gives us 9 solutions in total.

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