2026 AIME II Problem 1

Attempt Problem 1 of the 2026 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 2026 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

1.

Find the sum of the 1010th terms of all arithmetic sequences of integers that have first term equal to 44 and include both 2424 and 3434 as terms.

Answer: 178
Concepts:arithmetic sequencedivisibilitygreatest common divisor
Difficulty rating: 1840
Small Hint:

If the common difference is d,d, then 2424 and 3434 both being terms forces dd to divide both 2020 and 30.30.

Big Hint:

The common difference must be a positive divisor of 10;10; add up the 1010th terms 4+9d4 + 9d over all such d.d.

Solution:

Let the common difference be d.d. Since the first term is 44 and both 2424 and 3434 appear, dd divides 244=2024 - 4 = 20 and 344=30,34 - 4 = 30, so dd divides gcd(20,30)=10.\gcd(20, 30) = 10. The difference must be positive to reach 2424 and 3434 from 4,4, so d{1,2,5,10}d \in \{1, 2, 5, 10\} (and each of these works, since 2020 and 3030 are both divisible by d,d, which puts both targets in the sequence).

The 1010th term is 4+9d,4 + 9d, so the requested sum is d{1,2,5,10}(4+9d)=44+9(1+2+5+10)=16+162=178. \begin{aligned} &\sum_{d \in \{1,2,5,10\}} (4 + 9d) \\ &= 4 \cdot 4 + 9(1 + 2 + 5 + 10) \\ &= 16 + 162 = 178. \end{aligned}

Full Exam

Problem 1 in Other Years