2010 HMMT Algebra Practice Solutions

1. (2 points) What is the maximum value of sin + 5 cos ? 5 cos sin + = Solution sin + 5 cos = 26 1 26 sin + cos1 26 26 swer is 26
1 26

, so the an-

2. (3 points) Let y be the solution to log10 y + 2 log5 y = 3. What is ln y ? Solution 3 = log10 y + 2 log5 y =
ln y ln 10

2 ln y ln 5

ln 5 ln y +2 ln 10 ln y , ln 5 ln 10

so ln y =

3 ln 5 ln 10 . ln 5 + 2 ln 10

a+b+9 . What is the value 3. (3 points) Let a@b be dened as a@b = ab+a +b of (( ((2010@2009)@2008)@ )@2)@1?

Solution Notice that a@3 = 106 23 @1 = . 6 29

4a+12 a+3

= 4, so (( ((2010@2009)@2008)@ )@2)@1 = (4@2)@1 =

4. (4 points) Let P (x) be the nonconstant polynomial of smallest degree such that (x 4)P (x2 4) = xP (x 2)P (x 4). What is P (5)? Solution Plugging in x = 0, we see that 4P (4) = 0, so 4 must be a root of P . This means that P (x) = (x + 4)Q(x) for another polynomial Q. Plugging this in we get (x 4)(x2 )Q(x2 4) = x(x + 2)Q(x 2)(x)Q(x 4), so (x 4)Q(x2 4) = (x + 2)Q(x 2)Q(x 4). Plugging in x = 2 yields that Q(0) = 0, so Q(x) = xR(x) for another polynomial R. Plugging this in, we get that (x 4)(x2 4)R(x2 4) = (x + 2)(x 2)R(x 2)(x 4)R(x 4), or R(x2 4) = R(x 2)R(x 4). There are two constant polynomials that satisfy this equation, R(x) = 0 and R(x) = 1. Since we need P to be nonconstant, R(x) = 1, so P (x) = x(x + 4), so P (5) = 45 . 5. (5 points) Let an be dened as a1 = 0 and an = 1
1 n2

an1

1 . n2

What is a2010 ?

Solution Let bn = an +1. Then, after multiplying through by n2 , we have n2 an = (n2 1)an1 1, n2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 bn1 . or n (bn 1) = (n 1)(bn1 1)1, or n bn n = (n 1)bn1 n , so bn = n2 2010 2 2010 k 1 (k + 1)(k 1) Since we have b1 = 1, b2010 = = . Each numerator 2 2 k k k=2 k=2 cancels with the two surrounding denominators, leaving only a factor of 2011 in the numerator and factors of 2 and 2011 in the denominator. Therefore, b2010 = 2011 , so 4020 2009 a2010 = . 4020

2010

6. (5 points)
n=1 2010 2010

n a = 2 2010 for what integer a? n 2 2

n 2010 2010 2010 1 2m 2010

1 n 1 1 22011 Solution = = = 2n 2n m=1 n=m 2n m=1 1 2 n=1 n=1 m=1 1 1 2012 22010 = 2 2010 , so the answer is 2012 . 2 1 2

=
m=1

1 22010

1 2m1

2010 + 22010

7. (6 points) Let x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 , x5 be real numbers satisfying x1 + 16x2 + 81x3 + 256x4 + 625x5 16x1 + 81x2 + 256x3 + 625x4 + 1296x5 81x1 + 256x2 + 625x3 + 1296x4 + 2401x5 256x1 + 625x2 + 1296x3 + 2401x4 + 4096x5 625x1 + 1296x2 + 2401x3 + 4096x4 + 6561x5 What is 1296x1 + 2401x2 + 4096x3 + 6561x4 + 10000x5 ? Solution Notice that the coecients for xk in the system are k 4 , (k + 1)4 , (k + 2)4 , (k + 3)4 , and (k + 4)4 . In the expression we want to nd, the coecient of xk is (k + 5)4 . Notice that (k + 5)4 = k 4 5(k + 1)4 + 10(k + 2)4 10(k + 3)4 + 5(k + 4)4 , so our answer is 1 5 12 + 10 123 10 1234 + 5 12345 = 50556 . This interpolation can also be done using the method of nite dierences (notice that the equation that we used here is just that the fth dierence is identically 0). 8. (7 points) Suppose x, y , and z are three distinct complex numbers satisfying x3 + 5y + 5z = y 3 + 5x + 5z = z 3 + 5x + 5y = 5. What is x2 + y 2 + z 2 ? Solution Let 1 = x + y + z . Then x satises 5+5x = x3 +51 . y and z also satisfy this equation. Therefore, x, y , and z are the three roots to the equation x3 5x + 51 5 = 0. However, Vietas formulas then say that x + y + z = 0, so x, y , and z are the roots of x3 5x 5. Applying Vietas formulas again gives xy + yz + zx = 5, so then x2 + y 2 + z 2 = (x + y + z )2 2(xy + yz + zx) = 02 + 10 = 10 . 9. (7 points) How many coecients of (x + y + z )2010 are not divisible by 7? Solution The answer will simply be the number of terms mod 7. (x + y )7 x7 + y 7 (mod 7), because all of the intermediate coecients are divisble by 7. Applying this twice, we see that (x + y + z )7 x7 + y 7 + z 7 (mod 7). Now write (x + y + z )2010 = 5 6 (x + y + z )5343+649+1 = ((x + y + z )343 ) ((x + y + z )49 ) (x + y + z ). By applying our previous result repeatedly, we see that this is congruent to (x343 + y 343 + z 343 )5 (x49 + y 49 + z 49 )6 (x + y + z ). Now notice that if two terms are the same, their contributions from each of the three factors is identical, as 1 < 49 and 6 49 + 1 < 343. Furthermore, 2 =1 = 12 = 123 = 1234 = 12345

notice that no term here has a coecient divisible by 7. Therefore, the number of terms is the product of the number of terms for each of the three expansions, which is 7 8 3 = 1764 . 2 2 2 10. (8 points) Suppose x, y , and z , are three real numbers that satisfy 1 1 1 + + =1 x+1 y+1 z+1 1 1 1 + + =2 x+2 y+2 z+2 1 1 1 + + =3 x+3 y+3 z+3 What is 1 1 1 + + ? x+4 y+4 z+4

Solution Let x, y, z satisfy the equation t3 + at2 + bt + c = 0 for some numbers a, b, c. Then x + k , y + k , z + k satisfy the equation (t k )3 + a(t k )2 + b(t k ) + c = t3 + (a 3k )t2 + 1 (b 2ak + 3k 2 )t + (c bk + ak 2 k 3 ) = 0. Then x+ , 1 , 1 satisfy the equation k y +k z +k 1 1 1 (c bk + ak 2 k 3 )t3 + (b 2ak + 3k 2 )t2 + (a 3k )t + 1 = 0, so x+ + y+ + z+ = k k k
b2ak+3k c . Setting k = 1, 2, 3, we obtain the following equations: bk+ak2 k3
2

b 2a + 3 = c + b a + 1 b 4a + 12 = 2c + 4b 8a + 16 b 6a + 27 = 3c + 9b 27a + 81 b = 7, c = 17 . The quantity we are looking 6 49 b 8a + 48 98 = 3 for is then what we get when we set k = 4: 71 = c 4b + 16a 64 71 6 Solving these equations, we obtain a =
29 , 6