2022 AMC 10B Problems/Problem 7

Revision as of 17:12, 17 November 2022 by MRENTHUSIASM (talk | contribs)
The following problem is from both the 2022 AMC 10B #7 and 2022 AMC 12B #4, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

For how many values of the constant $k$ will the polynomial $x^{2}+kx+36$ have two distinct integer roots?

$\textbf{(A)}\ 6 \qquad\textbf{(B)}\ 8 \qquad\textbf{(C)}\ 9 \qquad\textbf{(D)}\ 14 \qquad\textbf{(E)}\ 16$

Solution 1

Let $p$ and $q$ be the roots of $x^{2}+kx+36.$ By Vieta's Formula, we have $p+q=-k$ and $pq=36.$

This shows that $p$ and $q$ must be distinct factors of $36.$ The possibilities of $\{p,q\}$ are \[\pm\{1,36\},\pm\{2,18\},\pm\{3,12\},\pm\{4,9\}.\] Each unordered pair gives a unique value of $k.$ Therefore, there are $\boxed{\textbf{(B) }8}$ values of $k,$ namely $\pm37,\pm20,\pm15,\pm13.$

~Stevens0209

~MRENTHUSIASM

See Also

2022 AMC 10B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 5
Followed by
Problem 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions
2022 AMC 12B (ProblemsAnswer KeyResources)
Preceded by
Problem 3
Followed by
Problem 5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

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