2018 AIME II Problem 3

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 3 of the 2018 AIME II, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2018 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:number baseperfect squareperfect powerbounding to limit cases

Difficulty rating: 2170

3.

Find the sum of all positive integers b<1000b \lt 1000 such that the base-bb integer 36b36_{b} is a perfect square and the base-bb integer 27b27_{b} is a perfect cube.

Solution:

The conditions say 3b+63b + 6 is a perfect square and 2b+72b + 7 is a perfect cube. Since 2b+72b + 7 is odd and b<1000b \lt 1000 forces 2b+7<2007,2b + 7 \lt 2007, the cube must be one of 1,1, 27,27, 125,125, 343,343, 729,729, 1331,1331, giving b=3,b = -3, 10,10, 59,59, 168,168, 361,361, 662.662.

The corresponding values of 3b+63b + 6 for the positive candidates are 36,36, 183,183, 510,510, 1089,1089, 1992,1992, and only 36=6236 = 6^2 (for b=10b = 10) and 1089=3321089 = 33^2 (for b=361b = 361) are perfect squares. The requested sum is 10+361=371.10 + 361 = 371.

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