2011 AMC 10A Problem 25

Attempt Problem 25 of the 2011 AMC 10A 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 2011 AMC 10A solutions, or check the answer key.

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25.

Let RR be a square region and n4n \geq 4 an integer. A point XX in the interior of RR is called n-ray partitional if there are nn rays emanating from XX that divide RR into nn triangles of equal area. How many points are 100100-ray partitional but not 6060-ray partitional?

15001500

15601560

23202320

24802480

25002500

Answer: C
Concepts:area decompositionlattice pointinclusion-exclusion
Difficulty rating: 2490
Solution:

Scale the square to have side length 1,1, and write X=(u,v),X=(u,v), where uu and vv are its distances from the left and bottom sides. Every corner must be joined to XX; otherwise one of the regions containing that corner would not be a triangle.

Each of the nn triangles has area 1/n.1/n. A triangle whose base lies on the bottom side has height v,v, so its base has length 2/(nv).2/(nv). Therefore the number of triangles along the bottom side is nv/2,nv/2, which must be a positive integer. Applying the same argument to all four sides shows that nu2,n(1u)2,nv2,n(1v)2\begin{gathered} \dfrac{nu}{2},\quad\dfrac{n(1-u)}{2},\\ \dfrac{nv}{2},\quad\dfrac{n(1-v)}{2} \end{gathered} are positive integers. Conversely, whenever these four numbers are integers, subdividing each side into the indicated number of equal bases and joining the division points to XX produces the required triangles.

For n=100,n=100, this says u=i/50u=i/50 and v=j/50v=j/50 for i,j{1,2,,49}.i,j\in\{1,2,\ldots,49\}. Hence the 100100-ray points form a 49×4949\times49 grid. Similarly, the 6060-ray points have coordinates u=i/30u=i/30 and v=j/30v=j/30 with i,j{1,2,,29}.i,j\in\{1,2,\ldots,29\}.

A coordinate belongs to both grids exactly when i/50=j/30,i/50=j/30, or 3i=5j.3i=5j. Thus the common coordinates are 1/10,2/10,,9/10,1/10,2/10,\ldots,9/10, giving a 9×99\times9 overlap. The requested number is 49292=240181=2320.49^2-9^2=2401-81=2320.

Thus, C is the correct answer.

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