2011 AMC 12A Problem 22
Problem 22 of 25HarderGeometryCounting & Probability
Let be a square region and an integer. A point in the interior of is called -ray partitional if there are rays emanating from that divide into triangles of equal area. How many points are -ray partitional but not -ray partitional?
Answer choices
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Solution
Scale the square to and write The rays must include those through the four vertices. Every small triangle has area The triangles whose bases partition the bottom side together have area so their number is Similarly, the numbers along the top, left, and right sides are and
These four numbers must be positive integers. Hence is even and Conversely, partitioning each side into the indicated number of equal segments and joining the division points to produces equal-area triangles. Thus these are exactly the partitional points.
For the points are with giving Such a point is also -ray partitional exactly when and for integers Thus and must both be multiples of There are choices for each, so the overlap has points.
So the count is
Thus, the correct answer is C.