Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 143 of 400 #743 of 2000

Problem 743

AIME late
Number theory Difficulty 5.4 Find the answer

7.1. In a row, the numbers 7.301,7.302,7.303,,16.002,16.003\sqrt{7.301}, \sqrt{7.302}, \sqrt{7.303}, \ldots, \sqrt{16.002}, \sqrt{16.003} are written (under the square root - consecutive terms of an arithmetic progression with a common difference of 0.001). Find the number of rational numbers among the listed ones.

Official solution

# Answer: 13

Solution. Multiply the numbers by 100, we get 73010,73020,73030,,160030\sqrt{73010}, \sqrt{73020}, \sqrt{73030}, \ldots, \sqrt{160030} (in this case, rational numbers will remain rational, and irrational numbers will remain irrational). The square root of a natural number nn is a rational number if and only if nn is a perfect square. Furthermore, a natural number ending in 0 (i.e., divisible by 2 and 5) can only be a perfect square if it ends in 00 (i.e., divisible by 222^{2} and 525^{2}).

Thus, the required number is the number of perfect squares in the sequence of numbers 731,732,733,731, 732, 733, \ldots, 1600. Since 272<731<28227^{2}<731<28^{2} and 402=160040^{2}=1600, the answer is 4027=1340-27=13.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.