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2018/19 AHSMC Part 1 Problem 16

Problem 16 of 16

Let k≥1k \ge 1 be an integer and nk=⌊2k+201820192k+1⌋n_k = \left\lfloor \dfrac{2^k + 20182019}{2^{k+1}} \right\rfloor where ⌊x⌋\lfloor x \rfloor denotes the largest integer less than or equal to xx. The value of the sum n1+n2+n3+⋯n_1 + n_2 + n_3 + \cdots is

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Solution

Notice that for large enough kk, nk=0n_k = 0 and thus only a finite number of terms in the sum n1+n2+n3+⋯n_1 + n_2 + n_3 + \cdots are not equal to 00. It can be also mentioned that ⌊x⌋\lfloor x \rfloor counts the number of positive integers mm such that m≤xm \le x. Therefore, the requested sum counts the number of positive integer solutions of n≤2k+201820192k+1,k≥1  ⟺  2k(2n−1)≤20182019,k≥1. n \le \frac{2^k + 20182019}{2^{k+1}},\quad k \ge 1 \iff 2^k(2n-1) \le 20182019,\quad k \ge 1. Since every positive even integer can be written uniquely as a product of 2k2^k, for some integer k≥1k \ge 1, and an odd positive integer, the sum is equal to the number of positive even integers which are less than or equal to 2018201920182019, which is 1009100910091009. The answer is (B).