Sum of Rationals

Find the sum of all positive rational numbers less than 10 which have 30 as their denominator when written as fractions in their lowest terms.

This is from an old AIME \textit{This is from an old AIME}


The answer is 400.

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2 solutions

Josh Rowley
Feb 23, 2014

If a number fits this property than it has a numerator, n , where 1 n 299 1 \le n \le 299 and g c d ( n , 30 ) = 1 gcd(n,30) = 1 . If 1 n 30 1 \le n \le 30 there are 8 valid values of n , namely 1 , 7 , 11 , 13 , 17 , 19 , 23 , 29 1,7,11,13,17,19,23,29 . Now, if g c d ( n , 30 ) = 1 gcd(n,30)=1 then g c d ( n + 30 k , 30 ) = 1 gcd(n+30k,30)=1 and if g c d ( n , 30 ) 1 gcd(n,30) \ne 1 then g c d ( n + 30 k , 30 ) 1 gcd(n+30k,30) \ne 1 . Therefore all possible values of n are just these first 8 values plus multiples of 30. The sum of these first 8 number is 1 + 7 + 11 + 13 + 17 + 19 + 23 + 29 = 120 1+7+11+13+17+19+23+29 = 120 . Therefore the sum of all possible numbers (including division by 30) is ( 120 ) + ( 120 + 30 × 8 ) + ( 120 + 60 × 8 ) + . . . + ( 120 + 270 × 8 ) 30 \dfrac{(120)+(120 + 30 \times 8) + (120 + 60 \times 8) + ... + (120 + 270 \times 8)}{30} = 120 × 10 + 240 ( 1 + 2 + . . . + 9 ) 30 = \dfrac{120 \times 10 + 240(1+2+...+9)}{30} = 40 + 8 45 = 400 = 40 + 8*45 = \fbox{400}

A sweet solution to a sweet problem

There are 8 fractions which fit the conditions between 0 and 1: 1 30 , 7 30 , 11 30 , 13 30 , 17 30 , 19 30 , 23 30 , 29 30 \frac{1}{30},\frac{7}{30},\frac{11}{30},\frac{13}{30},\frac{17}{30},\frac{19}{30},\frac{23}{30},\frac{29}{30}

Their sum is 4. Note that there are also 8 terms between 1 and 2 which we can obtain by adding 1 to each of our first 8 terms. For example, 1 + 19 30 = 49 30 1+\frac{19}{30}=\frac{49}{30} . Following this pattern, our answer is 4 ( 10 ) + 8 ( 1 + 2 + 3 + + 9 ) = 400 . 4(10)+8(1+2+3+\cdots+9)=\boxed{400}.

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