2022 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 11

Problem

Ted mistakenly wrote $2^m\cdot\sqrt{\frac{1}{4096}}$ as $2\cdot\sqrt[m]{\frac{1}{4096}}.$ What is the sum of all real numbers $m$ for which these two expressions have the same value?

$\textbf{(A) } 5 \qquad \textbf{(B) } 6 \qquad \textbf{(C) } 7 \qquad \textbf{(D) } 8 \qquad \textbf{(E) } 9$

Solution

We are given that $2^m\cdot\sqrt{\frac{1}{4096}} = 2\cdot\sqrt[m]{\frac{1}{4096}}.$ Converting everything into powers of $2,$ we have $\begin{align*} 2^m\cdot(2^{-12})^{\frac12} &= 2\cdot (2^{-12})^{\frac1m} \\ 2^{m-6} &= 2^{1-\frac{12}{m}} \\ m-6 &= 1-\frac{12}{m}. \end{align*}$ We multiply both sides by $m$ , then rearrange as $m^2-7m+12=0.$ By Vieta's Formulas, the sum of such values of $m$ is $\boxed{\textbf{(C) } 7}.$

Note that $m=3$ or $m=4$ from the quadratic equation above.

~MRENTHUSIASM ~KingRavi

2022 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 10	Followed by Problem 12
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2022 AMC 10A Problems/Problem 11

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