2000 AIME II Problem 15

Attempt Problem 15 of the 2000 AIME II 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 II solutions, or check the answer key.

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15.

Find the least positive integer nn such that 1sin45sin46+1sin47sin48++1sin133sin134=1sinn. \begin{aligned} &\frac{1}{\sin 45^\circ \sin 46^\circ} + \frac{1}{\sin 47^\circ \sin 48^\circ} \\ &\quad {}+ \cdots + \frac{1}{\sin 133^\circ \sin 134^\circ} \\ &= \frac{1}{\sin n^\circ}. \end{aligned}

Answer: 1
Concepts:trigonometric identitytelescoping
Difficulty rating: 3060
Solution:

Since sin1=sin((k+1)k)\sin 1^\circ = \sin\big((k+1)^\circ - k^\circ\big) =sin(k+1)cosk= \sin(k+1)^\circ \cos k^\circ cos(k+1)sink,- \cos(k+1)^\circ \sin k^\circ, dividing by sinksin(k+1)\sin k^\circ \sin(k+1)^\circ gives 1sinksin(k+1)=cotkcot(k+1)sin1. \begin{aligned} \small \frac{1}{\sin k^\circ \sin(k+1)^\circ} \\ &\scriptsize = \frac{\cot k^\circ - \cot(k+1)^\circ}{\sin 1^\circ}. \end{aligned} So the sum times sin1\sin 1^\circ equals cot45cot46+cot47\cot 45^\circ - \cot 46^\circ + \cot 47^\circ cot48- \cot 48^\circ ++cot133cot134,+ \cdots + \cot 133^\circ - \cot 134^\circ, with ++ signs on odd arguments and - signs on even arguments.

Because cot(180x)=cotx\cot(180^\circ - x) = -\cot x and supplementary arguments here have the same parity, the terms cancel in supplementary pairs: +cot133+\cot 133^\circ cancels +cot47,+\cot 47^\circ, cot134-\cot 134^\circ cancels cot46,-\cot 46^\circ, and so on for every pair of arguments summing to 180.180^\circ. The only survivors are cot45=1\cot 45^\circ = 1 (its partner 135135^\circ is out of range) and cot90=0.-\cot 90^\circ = 0.

Hence the sum equals cot45sin1=1sin1,\frac{\cot 45^\circ}{\sin 1^\circ} = \frac{1}{\sin 1^\circ}, so the least such nn is 1.1.

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