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HMMT February

Algebra Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Find the answer

Evaluate the sum 12⌊1⌋+1+12⌊2⌋+1+12⌊3⌋+1+⋯+12⌊100⌋+1\frac{1}{2\lfloor\sqrt{1}\rfloor+1}+\frac{1}{2\lfloor\sqrt{2}\rfloor+1}+\frac{1}{2\lfloor\sqrt{3}\rfloor+1}+\cdots+\frac{1}{2\lfloor\sqrt{100}\rfloor+1}

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

Solution

The first three terms all equal 1/31 / 3, then the next five all equal 1/51 / 5; more generally, for each a=1,2,…,9a=1,2, \ldots, 9, the terms 1/(2⌊a2⌋+1)1 /(2\lfloor\sqrt{a^{2}}\rfloor+1) to 1/(2⌊a2+2a⌋+1)1 /(2\lfloor\sqrt{a^{2}+2 a}\rfloor+1) all equal 1/(2a+1)1 /(2 a+1), and there are 2a+12 a+1 such terms. Thus our terms can be arranged into 9 groups, each with sum 1 , and only the last term 1/(2⌊100⌋+1)1 /(2\lfloor\sqrt{100}\rfloor+1) remains, so the answer is 9+1/21=190/219+1 / 21=190 / 21.

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