Keep the streak alive

Algebra Level 2

After solving problems for a few days in a row, I observed my Brilliant leaderboard and noticed that my friend George's streak is exactly 14 times more than mine. What's more interesting is that, should we both keep our run of problem solving for one more day, his streak would be the square of mine.

How many days is my current streak?

Click here for a harder Brilliant themed algebra problem.

The answer is 12.

1 solution

Zee Ell
Jan 22, 2017

Let n be Dan's current streak (in days).

Then:

$(n + 1)^2 = 14n +1$

$n^2 + 2n + 1 = 14n +1$

$n^2 - 12n = 0$

$n(n-12) = 0$

n = 0 or n = 12

If we assume, that Dan has at least a 1 day streak now, then our answer should be:

$\boxed { 12 \text { days} }$

Keep the streak alive

Click here for a harder Brilliant themed algebra problem.

The answer is 12.

1 solution

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