2022 AMC 10B Problem 6

Attempt Problem 6 of the 2022 AMC 10B 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 2022 AMC 10B solutions, or check the answer key.

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

6.

How many of the first ten numbers of the sequence 121,11211,1112111,121, 11211, 1112111, \ldots are prime numbers?

0 0

1 1

2 2

3 3

4 4

Answer: A
Concepts:primefactoring
Difficulty rating: 1140
Solution:

We claim that none of these numbers can ever be prime.

We prove this claim by noticing that the nnth number is k=02n10k+10n=k=0n10k+\sum_{k=0}^{2n} 10^k + 10^n = \sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k + k=n2n10k=k=0n10k+k=0n10k10n \sum_{k=n}^{2n} 10^k =\sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k + \sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k \cdot 10^n =(10n+1)(k=0n10k).= (10^n+1)(\sum_{k=0}^{n} 10^k). This shows that the number can be written as the product of two numbers greater than 1,1, so there are no primes.

Thus, the answer is A .

← Problem 5#5
Full Exam

Problem 6 in Other Years