1998 AIME Problem 1

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 1 of the 1998 AIME, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1998 AIME solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:least common multipleprime factorization

Difficulty rating: 1890

1.

For how many values of kk is 121212^{12} the least common multiple of the positive integers 66,6^6, 88,8^8, and k?k?

Solution:

Since 1212=224312,12^{12} = 2^{24} 3^{12}, 66=2636,6^6 = 2^6 3^6, and 88=224,8^8 = 2^{24}, the number kk can involve no primes other than 22 and 3,3, so write k=2a3b.k = 2^a 3^b. The least common multiple of the three numbers is then 2max(24,a)3max(6,b).2^{\max(24,\,a)} \, 3^{\max(6,\,b)}.

Matching this to 2243122^{24} 3^{12} requires max(24,a)=24,\max(24, a) = 24, i.e. 0a24,0 \le a \le 24, and max(6,b)=12,\max(6, b) = 12, i.e. b=12.b = 12. That gives 2525 choices for aa and one for b,b, so there are 2525 values of k.k.

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