2022 AMC 10B Problem 15

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Concepts:arithmetic sequencesummation

Difficulty rating: 1820

15.

Let SnS_n be the sum of the first nn term of an arithmetic sequence that has a common difference of 2.2. The quotient S3nSn\dfrac{S_{3n}}{S_n} does not depend on n.n. What is S20?S_{20}?

340 340

360 360

380 380

400 400

420 420

Solution:

Let the sequence be a1,a2,.a_1, a_2, \cdots. Create aa by making it the term before a1a_1 in the sequence. This would make an=a+2n.a_n = a+2n.

This would make Sn=i=1n(a+2i)=S_n = \sum_{i=1}^n (a+2i) = an+2i=1ni=an+n2+n. a\cdot n + 2\sum_{i=1}^ni = an + n^2+n.

This makes S3nSn=3an+9n2+3nan+n2+n=\dfrac{S_{3n}}{S_n} = \dfrac{3an + 9n^2+3n}{an + n^2+n} = 3a+9n+3a+n+1. \dfrac{3a + 9n+3}{a + n+1}. Thus, we must find aa such that this value is constant.

If our given value is constant, than the given value minus 99 is constant, so 3a+9n+3a+n+19=6a6a+n+1 \dfrac{3a + 9n+3}{a + n+1}-9 = \dfrac{-6a-6}{a+n+1} is constant. As nn increases, the numerator is constant and the denominator is increasing. Therefore, if the number is constant, the numerator must be 0.0.

Since 6a6=0,-6a-6 = 0, we have a=1.a=-1.

With our formula from before, we have S20=1(20)+202+20=400.S_{20} = -1(20)+20^2+20 = 400.

Thus, the answer is D .

Problem 15 in Other Years