Skip to main content

2021 Fall AMC 10B Problem 7

Problem 7 of 25EasierAlgebraNumber TheoryCounting & Probability

Call a fraction ab,\frac{a}{b}, not necessarily in simplest form, special if aa and bb are positive integers whose sum is 15.15. How many distinct integers can be written as the sum of two, not necessarily different, special fractions?

Answer choices

Show solution

Solution

A special fraction with denominator bb equals 15bb=15b1,\frac{15-b}{b}=\frac{15}{b}-1, where 1b14.1\le b\le14. We need integer values of 15x+15y2.\frac{15}{x}+\frac{15}{y}-2. Taking xy,x\le y, a check of the fourteen possible denominators gives the following pairs that produce integers: (1,1),(1,3),(1,5),(2,2),(2,6),(2,10),(3,3),(3,5),(4,12),(5,5),(6,6),(6,10),(10,10). \begin{gathered} (1,1),(1,3),(1,5),(2,2),(2,6),\\ (2,10),(3,3),(3,5),(4,12),\\ (5,5),(6,6),(6,10),(10,10). \end{gathered} Their distinct sums are 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,13,16,18,28.1,2,3,4,6,7,8,13,16,18,28. There are 1111 such integers. Thus, the answer is C .

More practice

Concepts: fraction · divisibility · systematic listing

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.