2006 AIME I Problem 3

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 3 of the 2006 AIME I, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2006 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

All of the real AMC 8, AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME problems in our complete solution collection are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

Concepts:digitsplace valuedivisibility

Difficulty rating: 2020

3.

Find the least positive integer such that when its leftmost digit is deleted, the resulting integer is 129\frac{1}{29} of the original integer.

Solution:

Let dd be the leftmost digit and nn the integer that remains after deleting it, so the original integer is d10p+nd \cdot 10^p + n for some positive integer p.p. The condition says d10p+n=29n,d \cdot 10^p + n = 29n, so d10p=28n.d \cdot 10^p = 28n.

Since 728n7 \mid 28n but 710p,7 \nmid 10^p, the digit dd must be a multiple of 7,7, so d=7.d = 7. Then 10p=4n,10^p = 4n, giving n=2510p2,n = 25 \cdot 10^{p-2}, which requires p2.p \ge 2. The smallest case is p=2,p = 2, n=25.n = 25.

The least such integer is 725,725, and indeed 725=2925.725 = 29 \cdot 25.

← Problem 2Full ExamProblem 4

Problem 3 in Other Years