2004 AIME I Problem 15

Attempt Problem 15 of the 2004 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 2004 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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15.

For all positive integers x,x, let f(x)={1if x=1,x/10if x is divisible by 10,x+1otherwise,f(x) = \scriptsize\begin{cases} 1 & \text{if } x = 1, \\ x/10 & \text{if } x \text{ is divisible by } 10, \\ x + 1 & \text{otherwise,} \end{cases} and define a sequence as follows: x1=xx_1 = x and xn+1=f(xn)x_{n+1} = f(x_n) for all positive integers n.n. Let d(x)d(x) be the smallest nn such that xn=1.x_n = 1. (For example, d(100)=3d(100) = 3 and d(87)=7.d(87) = 7.) Let mm be the number of positive integers xx such that d(x)=20.d(x) = 20. Find the sum of the distinct prime factors of m.m.

Answer: 511
Concepts:recursive countingtree diagramwork backwards
Difficulty rating: 3370
Solution:

Work backwards: f(z)=zf(z') = z for z=10zz' = 10z (always) and for z=z1z' = z - 1 (provided z1z - 1 is not a multiple of 1010 and z11,z - 1 \ne 1, i.e. zz does not end in 11 and z2z \ne 2). So the integers with d(x)=nd(x) = n form column nn of a tree rooted at 1:1: the columns begin {1},\{1\}, {10},\{10\}, {9,100},\{9, 100\}, {8,90,99,1000},\{8, 90, 99, 1000\}, and every vertex has two children except 22 and the vertices ending in 1,1, which have only the child 10z.10z.

Locate those one-child vertices. Since 23101,2 \to 3 \to \cdots \to 10 \to 1, the vertex 22 sits in column 10.10. A vertex ending in 11 is reached by subtracting 11 nine times from a vertex ending in 0,0, so such vertices sit 99 columns after the multiples of 1010 in the tree. Columns 22 through 1010 double perfectly (no one-child vertices occur that early), so column jj has 2j22^{j-2} vertices, of which the multiples of 1010 — the children 10z10z of column j1j - 1 — number 2j3.2^{j-3}. Hence for 12k19,12 \le k \le 19, column kk contains 2k122^{k-12} vertices ending in 11 (column 1111 has none, because the multiple of 1010 in column 22 is 1010 itself, whose descendant 11 is excluded — that exclusion is exactly the missing child of 22).

A one-child vertex in column kk removes 219k2^{19-k} of the potential 2182^{18} vertices from column 20.20. Therefore m=21829k=12192k12219k=21829827=29(2912)=29509. \begin{aligned} m &= 2^{18} - 2^{9} \\ &\quad {}- \sum_{k=12}^{19} 2^{k-12} \cdot 2^{19-k} \\ &= 2^{18} - 2^9 - 8 \cdot 2^7 \\ &= 2^9(2^9 - 1 - 2) \\ &= 2^9 \cdot 509. \end{aligned} Since 509509 is prime, the sum of the distinct prime factors of mm is 2+509=511.2 + 509 = 511.

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