Andy and Bobby have unique age!

Algebra Level 4

Andy and Bobby are playing a game with their ages. Their ages are less than 100. If they concatenate their ages, they'll have a 4-digit perfect square number. Twenty three years later, if they rewrite their ages, they'll have another 4-digit perfect square. Assuming that they are at different ages, What is the sum of their ages?


The answer is 36.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Let Andy's age be a b \overline{ab} and Bobby's age be c d \overline{cd} . If we write their ages consecutively, we have a b c d = m 2 \overline{abcd} = m^{2} . Twenty three years from now, Andy's age will be a b + 23 \overline{ab} + 23 and Bobby's age be c d + 23 \overline{cd} +23 . If we rewrite their ages, we have a b c d + 2323 = n 2 \overline{abcd} + 2323 = n^{2} .

We have m 2 + 2323 = n 2 n 2 m 2 = 2323 m^{2} + 2323 = n^2 \Rightarrow n^{2} - m^{2} = 2323

Factorize, we have ( n + m ) ( n m ) = 101 × 23 (n+m)(n-m) = 101 \times 23 . We know that n + m > n m \Rightarrow \color{#3D99F6} \text{We know that} \space n+m > n-m

We have n + m = 101 n+m = 101 and n m = 23 n-m =23 . Solving, we have n = 62 n = 62 and m = 39 m= 39 .

We note that m 2 = a b c d 1521 = a b c d \quad \begin{aligned} m^{2} & = & \overline{abcd} \\ 1521 & = & \overline{abcd} \end{aligned} .

Observing, we have a b = 15 \overline{ab} = 15 and c d = 21 \overline{cd} = 21 .

The sum of their ages is 36 \boxed{36} .

Did the same way

I Gede Arya Raditya Parameswara - 4 years, 3 months ago

Log in to reply

Wow, we have the same thought!

Fidel Simanjuntak - 4 years, 3 months ago

I also did the same way.. But I got stuck on m²+2323=n².. So, I used wolfram alpha to compute the solution and got the answer.I will be grateful to you if you can suggest me an easier way for this! Thanks...

Toshit Jain - 4 years, 3 months ago

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...