1996 AIME Problem 8

Attempt Problem 8 of the 1996 AIME below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1996 AIME solutions, or check the answer key.

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8.

The harmonic mean of two positive numbers is the reciprocal of the arithmetic mean of their reciprocals. For how many ordered pairs of positive integers (x,y),(x,y), with x<y,x<y, is the harmonic mean of xx and yy equal to 620?6^{20}?

Answer: 799
Concepts:harmonic meanfactor countingprime factorization
Difficulty rating: 2380
Small Hint:

For N=620,N=6^{20}, rearrange 2xyx+y=N\frac{2xy}{x+y}=N into a product

Big Hint:

Count complementary factor pairs of N2N^2 in which both factors are even

Solution:

Let N=620.N=6^{20}. Rearranging the harmonic-mean equation gives (2xN)(2yN)=N2.(2x-N)(2y-N)=N^2. Because x<N<yx<N<y and N<2x,N<2x, the two factors are positive, and both must be even. Conversely, each factorization AB=N2AB=N^2 with even A<BA<B gives one valid pair via x=A+N2x=\frac{A+N}{2} and y=B+N2.y=\frac{B+N}{2}.

Now N2=240340.N^2=2^{40}3^{40}. For both complementary factors to be even, the exponent of 22 in AA can be 1,,39,1,\ldots,39, while the exponent of 33 can be 0,,40.0,\ldots,40. This gives 3941=159939\cdot41=1599 divisors A,A, including the central factor A=N.A=N. Pairing complementary divisors and excluding that central case gives 159912=799.\frac{1599-1}{2}=799.

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