2023 AMC 10B Problem 22

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 22 of the 2023 AMC 10B, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2023 AMC 10B 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:floor and ceiling functionssubstitutionbounding to limit cases

Difficulty rating: 2120

22.

How many distinct values of xx satisfy x23x+2=0,\lfloor x \rfloor^2 - 3x + 2 = 0, where x\lfloor x \rfloor denotes the largest integer less than or equal to x?x?

an infinite number

44

22

33

00

Solution:

Set n=x.n = \lfloor x \rfloor. Then n23x+2=0n^2 - 3x + 2 = 0 gives x=n2+23.x = \frac{n^2 + 2}{3}. For this to be consistent we need nn2+23<n+1.n \le \frac{n^2 + 2}{3} \lt n + 1. The left side, n23n+20,n^2 - 3n + 2 \ge 0, holds for every integer n.n. The right side, n23n1<0,n^2 - 3n - 1 \lt 0, holds only for n{0,1,2,3}.n \in \{0, 1, 2, 3\}. Those give x=23,1,2,113,x = \frac{2}{3}, 1, 2, \frac{11}{3}, so there are 44 distinct values. Therefore, the answer is B.

Problem 22 in Other Years