Question

The zeros of the function $f(x)=x^2-ax+2a$ are integers. What is the sum of the possible values of $a?$

$7$

$8$

$16$

$17$

$18$

Answer: C

Concepts:Vieta’s Formulas Simon’s Favorite Factoring Trick quadratic

Difficulty rating: 1660

Solution:

Let the zeros be $r$ and $s.$ Using Vieta's formulas, we have that $a = r + s$ and $2a = rs.$

Then we get that $rs = 2(r + s),$ which rearranges to $rs - 2r - 2s = 0$ $rs - 2r - 2s + 4 = 4$ $(r - 2)(s - 2) = 4.$

The only possible pairs $(r - 2, s - 2)$ that work are $(1, 4), (-1, -4), (4, 1), (-4, -1),$ $(2, 2), (-2, -2).$ For any of these pairs, we have that $a = r - 2 + s - 2 + 4.$ We want all the such unique values of $a.$ We get that they are $-1, 0, 8, 9.$ The sum of these values is $-1 + 8 + 9 = 16.$

Thus, C is the correct answer.

2015 AMC 10A Problem 23

Answer: C

Difficulty rating: 1660

Solution:

Problem 23 in Other Years