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Algebra Difficulty 2.3 Junior Find the answer

If xx and yy are positive integers with xy=6xy = 6, what is the sum of all possible values of 2x+y2xy\frac{2^{x+y}}{2^{x-y}}?

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

Solution

Using exponent laws, the expression 2x+y2xy=2(x+y)(xy)=22y\frac{2^{x+y}}{2^{x-y}} = 2^{(x+y)-(x-y)} = 2^{2y}. Since xx and yy are positive integers with xy=6xy = 6, then the possible values of yy are the positive divisors of 6, namely 1,2,31, 2, 3, or 6. (These correspond to x=6,3,2,1x = 6, 3, 2, 1.) The corresponding values of 22y2^{2y} are 22=4,24=16,26=642^{2} = 4, 2^{4} = 16, 2^{6} = 64, and 212=40962^{12} = 4096. Therefore, the sum of the possible values of 2x+y2xy\frac{2^{x+y}}{2^{x-y}} is 4+16+64+4096=41804 + 16 + 64 + 4096 = 4180.

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