2021 AIME I Problem 8

Below is the professionally curated solution for Problem 8 of the 2021 AIME I, from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2021 AIME I solutions, or check the answer key.

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Concepts:absolute valuefunctioncasework

Difficulty rating: 2560

8.

Find the number of integers cc such that the equation 20xx2c=21\left|\left|20|x| - x^2\right| - c\right| = 21 has 1212 distinct real solutions.

Solution:

Set f(x)=20xx2,f(x) = \left|20|x| - x^2\right|, an even function; the equation says f(x)=c+21f(x) = c + 21 or f(x)=c21.f(x) = c - 21. For x0,x \ge 0, the graph of ff rises from 00 to 100100 on [0,10],[0, 10], falls back to 00 at x=20,x = 20, then increases without bound. So for kk with 0<k<100,0 \lt k \lt 100, the equation f(x)=kf(x) = k has 33 positive solutions, hence 66 solutions in all; for k=100k = 100 it has 4;4; for k>100k \gt 100 it has 2;2; and for k=0k = 0 it has 33 (namely 00 and ±20\pm 20).

The two levels c+21c + 21 and c21c - 21 are distinct, so the only way to reach 1212 solutions is 6+6:6 + 6: both c21c - 21 and c+21c + 21 must lie strictly between 00 and 100.100. This means c22c \ge 22 and c78,c \le 78, and every such integer works: there are 7822+1=5778 - 22 + 1 = 57 values.

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