Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 4 / 163 of 340 #423 of 2000

Problem 423

AMC 12 late, AIME early
Number theory Difficulty 4.8 Find the answer

Example 1. The lengths of the three sides a,b,ca, b, c of a triangle are all integers, and abca \leqslant b \leqslant c. If b=10b=10, then the number of such triangles is ( ).
(A) 10.
(B) 55.
(C) 10210^{2}.
(D) Infinitely many.
(1990, Suzhou High School Competition)

Official solution

When b=nb=n, take a=k(1kn)a=k(1 \leqslant k \leqslant n), and bc<a+bb \leqslant c<a+b, then nc<n+kn \leqslant c<n+k, at this time the value of cc has exactly kk possibilities, i.e., c=n,n+1,,n+k1c=n, n+1, \cdots, n+k-1. The table is as follows:
\begin{tabular}{c|c|c|c}
\hlineaa & bb & cc & Number of triangles \\
\hline 1 & nn & nn & 1 \\
\hline 2 & nn & n,n+1n, n+1 & 2 \\
\hline 3 & nn & n,n+1,n+2n, n+1, n+2 & 3 \\
\hline\vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots \\
\hlinekk & nn & n,n+1,,n+k1n, n+1, \cdots, n+k-1 & kk \\
\hline\vdots & \vdots & \vdots & \vdots \\
\hlinenn & nn & n,n+1,n+2,,2n2n, n+1, n+2, \cdots, 2 n-2, & nn \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

Therefore, when b=nb=n, the total number of triangles that meet the conditions is 1+2++n=12n(n+1)1+2+\cdots+n=\frac{1}{2} n(n+1). Taking n=10n=10, substituting into the above formula, we get
1210(10+1)=55(\frac{1}{2} \cdot 10 \cdot(10+1)=55( triangles), so the answer is (B)(B).

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