Harvard-MIT Mathematics Tournament

February 28, 2004

Individual Round: Algebra Subject Test — Solutions

1. How many ordered pairs of integers (a,b) satisfy all of the following inequalities?
a2 + b2 < 16
a2 + b2 < 8a
a2 + b2 < 8b

Solution: 6
This is easiest to see by simply graphing the inequalities. They correspond to the
(strict) interiors of circles of radius 4 and centers at (0, 0), (4, 0), (0, 4), respectively. So
we can see that there are 6 lattice points in their intersection (circled in the figure).

2. Find the largest number n such that (2004!)! is divisible by ((n!)!)!.

Solution: 6
For positive integers a, b, we have
a! | b! ⇔ a! ≤ b! ⇔ a ≤ b.
Thus,
((n!)!)! | (2004!)! ⇔ (n!)! ≤ 2004! ⇔ n! ≤ 2004 ⇔ n ≤ 6.

3. Compute: $ %
20053 20033
− .
2003 · 2004 2004 · 2005

Solution: 8
Let x = 2004. Then the expression inside the floor brackets is
(x + 1)3 (x − 1)3 (x + 1)4 − (x − 1)4 8x3 + 8x 16x
− = = 3 =8+ 3 .
(x − 1)x x(x + 1) (x − 1)x(x + 1) x −x x −x
Since x is certainly large enough that 0 < 16x/(x3 − x) < 1, the answer is 8.

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4. Evaluate the sum
1 1 1 1
√ + √ + √ + ··· + √ .
2b 1c + 1 2b 2c + 1 2b 3c + 1 2b 100c + 1

Solution: 190/21
The first three terms all equal 1/3, thenj√theknext five all equal
j√ 1/5; kmore generally,
for each a = 1, 2, . . . , 9, the terms 1/(2 a + 1) to 1/(2 a2 + 2a + 1) all equal
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1/(2a + 1), and there are 2a + 1 such terms. Thus ourjtermskcan be arranged into
√
9 groups, each with sum 1, and only the last term 1/(2 100 + 1) remains, so the
answer is 9 + 1/21 = 190/21.

5. There exists a positive real number x such that cos(tan−1 (x)) = x. Find the value of
x2 .
√
Solution: (−1 + 5)/2
with legs 1, x; then the angle θ opposite x is tan√−1 x, and we can
Draw a right triangle √
compute cos(θ)√= 1/ x2 + 1. Thus, we only need to solve x = 1/ x2 + 1. This is
equivalent to x x2 + 1 = 1. Square both sides to get x4 + √ x2 = 1 ⇒ x4 + x2 − 1 = 0.
Use the quadratic formula to get the solution x2 = (−1 + 5)/2 (unique since x2 must
be positive).

6. Find all real solutions to x4 + (2 − x)4 = 34.

√
Solution: 1 ± 2
Let y = 2 − x, so x + y = 2 and x4 + y 4 = 34. We know

(x + y)4 = x4 + 4x3 y + 6x2 y 2 + 4xy 3 + y 4 = x4 + y 4 + 2xy(2x2 + 2y 2 + 3xy).

Moreover, x2 +y 2 = (x+y)2 −2xy, so the preceding equation becomes 24 = 34+2xy(2·

22 −xy), or (xy)2 −8xy−9 = 0. Hence xy = 9 or −1. Solving xy = 9, x + y =√2 produces
√
complex√solutions,
√ and solving xy =√−1, x + y = 2 produces (x, y) = (1 + 2, 1 − 2)
or (1 − 2, 1 + 2). Thus, x = 1 ± 2.

7. If x, y, k are positive reals such that

à ! à !
x2 y 2 x y
3 = k2 + +k + ,
y 2 x2 y x

find the maximum possible value of k.

√
Solution: (−1 + 7)/2
We have 3 = k 2 (x2 /y√
2
+ y 2 /x2 ) + k(x/y + y/x) ≥ 2k 2 + 2k, hence 7 ≥ 4k 2 + 4k + 1 =
(2k +1)2 , hence k ≤ ( 7−1)/2. Obviously k can assume this value, if we let x = y = 1.

8. Let x be a real number such that x3 + 4x = 8. Determine the value of x7 + 64x2 .

Solution: 128

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 For any integer n ≥ 0, the given implies xn+3 = −4xn+1 + 8xn , so we can rewrite any
such power of x in terms of lower powers. Carrying out this process iteratively gives
x7 = −4x5 + 8x4
= 8x4 + 16x3 − 32x2
= 16x3 − 64x2 + 64x
= −64x2 + 128.
Thus, our answer is 128.
9. A sequence of positive integers is defined by a0 = 1 and an+1 = a2n + 1 for each n ≥ 0.
Find gcd(a999 , a2004 ).
Solution: 677
If d is the relevant greatest common divisor, then a1000 = a2999 + 1 ≡ 1 = a0 (mod d),
which implies (by induction) that the sequence is periodic modulo d, with period 1000.
In particular, a4 ≡ a2004 ≡ 0. So d must divide a4 . Conversely, we can see that
a5 = a24 + 1 ≡ 1 = a0 modulo a4 , so (again by induction) the sequence is periodic
modulo a4 with period 5, and hence a999 , a2004 are indeed both divisible by a4 . So the
answer is a4 , which we can compute directly; it is 677.
10. There exists a polynomial P of degree 5 with the following property: if z is a complex
number such that z 5 +2004z = 1, then P (z 2 ) = 0. Calculate the quotient P (1)/P (−1).
Solution: −2010012/2010013
Let z1 , . . . , z5 be the roots of Q(z) = z 5 +2004z −1. We can check these are distinct (by
using the fact that there’s one in a small neighborhood of each root of z 5 + 2004z, or by
noting that Q(z) is relatively prime to its derivative). And certainly none of the roots
of Q is the negative of another, since z 5 + 2004z = 1 implies (−z)5 + 2004(−z) = −1,
so their squares are distinct as well. Then, z12 , . . . , z52 are the roots of P , so if we write
C for the leading coefficient of P , we have
P (1) C(1 − z12 ) · · · (1 − z52 )
=
P (−1) C(−1 − z12 ) · · · (−1 − z52 )
[(1 − z1 ) · · · (1 − z5 )] · [(1 + z1 ) · · · (1 + z5 )]
=
[(i − z1 ) · · · (i − z5 )] · [(i + z1 ) · · · (i + z5 )]
[(1 − z1 ) · · · (1 − z5 )] · [(−1 − z1 ) · · · (−1 − z5 )]
=
[(i − z1 ) · · · (i − z5 )] · [(−i − z1 ) · · · (−i − z5 )]
(15 + 2004 · 1 − 1)(−15 + 2004 · (−1) − 1)
=
(i5 + 2004 · i − 1)(−i5 + 2004 · (−i) − 1)
(2004)(−2006)
=
(−1 + 2005i)(−1 − 2005i)
20052 − 1
= −
20052 + 1
= −4020024/4020026 = −2010012/2010013.

Alternative Solution: In fact, we can construct the polynomial P explicitly (up to

multiplication by a constant). We write P (z 2 ) as a polynomial in z; it must use only

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even powers of z and be divisible by z 5 +2004z −1, so we are inspired to try a difference
of squares,

P (z 2 ) = (z 5 + 2004z − 1)(z 5 + 2004z + 1) = (z 5 + 2004z)2 − 12 = z 2 (z 4 + 2004)2 − 1,

giving
P (z) = z(z 2 + 2004)2 − 1.
Now plugging in z = 1 and z = −1 rapidly gives (20052 − 1)/(−20052 − 1) as before.