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2021 Fall AMC 12B Problem 5

Problem 5 of 25EasierArithmeticProblem-Solving Techniques

Call a fraction ab,\dfrac{a}{b}, not necessarily in the 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?

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Solution

Listing a15−a\frac{a}{15-a} for 1≤a≤14,1\le a\le14, the integers are 2,4,14;2,4,14; the fractions with fractional part 12\frac{1}{2} are 12,32,132;\tfrac12,\tfrac32,\tfrac{13}{2}; and 14,114\tfrac14,\tfrac{11}{4} have complementary fractional parts 14,34.\frac{1}{4},\frac{3}{4}. The remaining fractional parts are 114,213,411,23,78,17,\frac{1}{14},\frac{2}{13},\frac{4}{11},\frac{2}{3},\frac{7}{8},\frac{1}{7}, and none of their complements occurs. Thus only the integer, half-integer, and quarter cases can give integer sums. Integer pairs give 4,6,8,16,18,28.4, 6, 8, 16, 18, 28. Half-integer pairs (12,32,132)\left(\tfrac12, \tfrac32, \tfrac{13}{2}\right) give 1,2,3,7,8,13.1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 13. The quarter pair 14+114\tfrac14 + \tfrac{11}{4} gives 3.3. The distinct integers are 1,2,3,4,6,7,8,13,16,18,28,1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 13, 16, 18, 28, a total of 11.11. Thus, the correct answer is C.
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