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2023 AMC 12B Problem 23

Problem 23 of 25HarderNumber TheoryProblem-Solving Techniques

When nn standard six-sided dice are rolled, the product of the numbers rolled can be any of 936936 possible values. What is n?n?

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Solution

Each die contributes an exponent vector in the primes 2,3,52,3,5 (face 1→(0,0,0),1\to(0,0,0), 2→(1,0,0),2\to(1,0,0), 3→(0,1,0),3\to(0,1,0), 4→(2,0,0),4\to(2,0,0), 5→(0,0,1),5\to(0,0,1), 6→(1,1,0)6\to(1,1,0)), and a product is determined by the sum of these vectors. Fix the exponent of 55 by requiring exactly kk dice to show 5,5, and put m=n−k.m=n-k. For an exponent bb of 3,3, where 0≤b≤m,0\le b\le m, the possible exponents aa of 22 are precisely 0,1,…,2m−b.0,1,\ldots,2m-b. If a≤b,a\le b, use aa faces showing 66 and b−ab-a showing 3.3. If a>b,a\gt b, use bb faces showing 66 and make the remaining a−ba-b factors of 22 with faces 44 and, if needed, one face 2.2. The bound a≤2m−ba\le 2m-b says this uses at most mm dice; fill unused dice with 11’s. Thus the number of exponent pairs is ∑b=0m(2m−b+1)=(m+1)(3m+2)2. \begin{gathered} \sum_{b=0}^{m}(2m-b+1)\\ {}=\frac{(m+1)(3m+2)}2. \end{gathered} Summing over k=0,1,…,nk=0,1,\ldots,n, equivalently over m=0,1,…,n,m=0,1,\ldots,n, the number of distinct products is ∑m=0n(m+1)(3m+2)2=(n+1)2(n+2)2. \begin{gathered} \sum_{m=0}^{n}\frac{(m+1)(3m+2)}2\\ {}=\frac{(n+1)^2(n+2)}2. \end{gathered} For n=11n=11 this is 122⋅132=936,\dfrac{12^2\cdot13}{2}=936, so n=11.n=11. Thus, the correct answer is A.
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