Don't write all the possibilities, part 1

Algebra Level 5

Given y = x + x + x + . . . y=\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+\sqrt{x+...}}} , where x x is a natural number, what's the probability that y y will be a natural number, within the range 1 y 2015 1 \leq y \leq 2015 ? Express the probability in the form a b \dfrac{a}{b} (fraction in simplest form), and enter into the answer box the value of a + b a+b .


The answer is 2016.

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2 solutions

Maggie Miller
Aug 5, 2015

We have y 2 y x = 0 y^2-y-x=0 , so y = 1 2 ( 1 + 1 + 4 x ) y=\frac{1}{2}(1+\sqrt{1+4x}) . Then y y will be a natural number exactly when 1 + 4 x 1+4x is an odd square (and note all odd squares are of this form) and 1 y 2015 1\le y\le 2015 when 5 1 + 4 x 402 9 2 5\le1+4x\le 4029^2 (note 1 + 4 x 5 1+4x\ge 5 , since x x is a natural number).

There are 4029 1 2 \frac{4029-1}{2} odd squares between 5 5 and 402 9 2 4029^2 inclusive, and 402 9 2 1 4 = ( 4029 1 ) ( 4029 + 1 ) 4 \frac{4029^2-1}{4}=\frac{(4029-1)(4029+1)}{4} numbers of the form 4 x + 1 4x+1 .

Therefore, the probability that y y is a natural number (given 1 y 2015 1\le y\le 2015 ) is 4028 2 4 4028 4030 = 1 2015 \frac{4028}{2}\frac{4}{4028\cdot 4030}=\frac{1}{2015} , so the answer is 2016 \boxed{2016} .

Interesting! What I noticed is that in order for y y to be a natural number, x x must be in the form n ( n + 1 ) n(n+1) , where n n is a natural number, and y y will be equal to ( n + 1 ) (n+1) . By that, the highest value of x x would be 2014 2015 2014\cdot 2015 , which gives y = 2015 y = 2015 . There are 2014 2014 such numbers ( 1 2 , 2 3 , 3 4... ) (1\cdot 2, 2 \cdot 3, 3 \cdot 4...) etc. that will give y y as a natural number, and there are 2014 2015 2014 \cdot 2015 total possibilities for x x . Finally, 2014 2014 2015 = 1 2015 \dfrac{2014}{2014\cdot 2015} = \dfrac{1}{2015} , and a + b = 2016 a+b = \boxed{2016} .

Hobart Pao - 5 years, 10 months ago

Rewriting the equation as y^2 = y+ x ............... or y ( y 1 ) = x y(y-1) = x we can see that as y y varies in all real numbers x x takes certain real values . Now for x x to be a natural number it is clear that y y must also be a natural number except 1 . So y y \in 2 , 3 , 4 , . . . . . . . . . 2015 {2,3,4,.........2015} , for which x takes certain natural number values. So thinking in the reverse sense it is easy to understand as x runs from values 1 1 to 2015 2014 2015*2014 , y y will only take natural number values for only 2014 2014 values of x x which correspond to y y \in 2 , 3 , 4 , . . . . . . . . . 2015 {2,3,4,.........2015} . So as x runs through all natural numbers from 1 to 2015 2014 2015*2014 there are only 2014 2014 such values of x for which y is a natural number. So probability is 2014 2015 2014 \frac{2014}{2015*2014} = 1 2015 \frac{1}{2015} . So our answer is 1 + 2015 1+2015 = 2016 2016

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