2018 AMC 12B Problem 24

Attempt Problem 24 of the 2018 AMC 12B 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 2018 AMC 12B solutions, or check the answer key.

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24.

Let ⌊x⌋\lfloor x\rfloor denote the greatest integer less than or equal to x.x. How many real numbers xx satisfy the equation x2+10,000⌊x⌋=10,000x?x^2+10{,}000\lfloor x\rfloor=10{,}000x?
197197
198198
199199
200200
201201
Answer: C
Concepts:floor and ceiling functionscounting intersections
Small hint:
Rewrite the equation as x2=10,000 (x−⌊x⌋)x^2=10{,}000\,(x-\lfloor x\rfloor) =10,000{x}=10{,}000\{x\}
Big hint:
Then 0≤x210,000<1,0\le\dfrac{x^2}{10{,}000}\lt1, so −100<x<100;-100\lt x\lt100; count one solution per unit interval
Solution:
Let {x}=x−⌊x⌋.\{x\}=x-\lfloor x\rfloor. The equation becomes x2=10,000{x},x^2=10{,}000\{x\}, so x210,000={x}.\tfrac{x^2}{10{,}000}=\{x\}. Since 0≤{x}<1,0\le\{x\}\lt1, we need 0≤x2<10,000,0\le x^2\lt10{,}000, i.e. −100<x<100.-100\lt x\lt100.
On each interval [k,k+1),[k,k+1), write x=k+tx=k+t with 0≤t<1.0\le t\lt1. The equation becomes (k+t)2−10,000t=0.(k+t)^2-10{,}000t=0. For −100≤k≤98,-100\le k\le98, the left side is strictly decreasing; at t=0t=0 it is k2≥0,k^2\ge0, while as tt approaches 11 it approaches (k+1)2−10,000<0.(k+1)^2-10{,}000\lt0. Thus each of these intervals contains exactly one solution. There are 98−(−100)+1=19998-(-100)+1=199 such intervals.
Thus, the correct answer is C.
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