2003 AIME I Problem 9

Attempt Problem 9 of the 2003 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 2003 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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9.

An integer between 10001000 and 9999,9999, inclusive, is called balanced if the sum of its two leftmost digits equals the sum of its two rightmost digits. How many balanced integers are there?

Answer: 615
Concepts:digitscaseworksum of first n squares
Difficulty rating: 2430
Solution:

Group the balanced integers by the common sum ss of each digit pair, where 1s18.1 \le s \le 18. For s9,s \le 9, the leftmost pair (first digit at least 11) can be formed in ss ways and the rightmost pair in s+1s + 1 ways. For s10,s \ge 10, both digits of each pair must be at least s9,s - 9, giving 19s19 - s ways for each pair.

The total count is s=19s(s+1)+s=1018(19s)2=s=19(s2+s)+k=19k2=2285+45=615. \begin{aligned} &\sum_{s=1}^{9} s(s+1) + \sum_{s=10}^{18} (19 - s)^2 \\ &= \sum_{s=1}^{9} (s^2 + s) + \sum_{k=1}^{9} k^2 \\ &= 2 \cdot 285 + 45 = 615. \end{aligned}

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