2000 AIME I Problem 6

Attempt Problem 6 of the 2000 AIME I 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 2000 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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6.

For how many ordered pairs (x,y)(x, y) of integers is it true that 0<x<y<1060 \lt x \lt y \lt 10^6 and that the arithmetic mean of xx and yy is exactly 22 more than the geometric mean of xx and y?y?

Answer: 997
Concepts:perfect squareradicalalgebraic manipulation
Difficulty rating: 2230
Solution:

The condition is x+y2=xy+2,\frac{x + y}{2} = \sqrt{xy} + 2, that is, x+y2xy=4,x + y - 2\sqrt{xy} = 4, so (yx)2=4(\sqrt{y} - \sqrt{x})^2 = 4 and (as y>xy \gt x) yx=2.\sqrt{y} - \sqrt{x} = 2. Note xy=x+y42\sqrt{xy} = \frac{x + y - 4}{2} is rational, hence y+x=yxyx=yx2\sqrt{y} + \sqrt{x} = \frac{y - x}{\sqrt{y} - \sqrt{x}} = \frac{y - x}{2} is rational too, so x\sqrt{x} and y\sqrt{y} are rational — and a rational square root of an integer is an integer.

Therefore x=a2x = a^2 and y=(a+2)2y = (a + 2)^2 for a positive integer a.a. The constraint y<106y \lt 10^6 means a+2999,a + 2 \le 999, so aa ranges over 1,2,,997,1, 2, \ldots, 997, and each value gives a valid pair.

Hence there are 997997 ordered pairs.

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