1994 AIME Problems/Problem 4

Problem

Find the positive integer $n\,$ for which $\lfloor\log_2{1}\rfloor+\lfloor\log_2{2}\rfloor+\lfloor\log_2{3}\rfloor+\cdots+\lfloor\log_2{n}\rfloor=1994$ (For real $x\,$ , $\lfloor x\rfloor\,$ is the greatest integer $\le x.\,$ )

Solution

Note that if $2^x \le a<2^{x+1}$ for some $x\in\mathbb{Z}$ , then $\lfloor\log_2{a}\rfloor=\log_2{2^{x}}=x$ .

Thus, there are $2^{x+1}-2^{x}=2^{x}$ integers $a$ such that $\lfloor\log_2{a}\rfloor=x$ . So the sum of $\lfloor\log_2{a}\rfloor$ for all such $a$ is $x\cdot2^x$ .

Let $k$ be the integer such that $2^k \le n<2^{k+1}$ . So for each integer $j<k$ , there are $2^j$ integers $a\le n$ such that $\lfloor\log_2{a}\rfloor=j$ , and there are $n-2^k+1$ such integers such that $\lfloor\log_2{a}\rfloor=k$ .

Therefore, $\lfloor\log_2{1}\rfloor+\lfloor\log_2{2}\rfloor+\lfloor\log_2{3}\rfloor+\cdots+\lfloor\log_2{n}\rfloor= \sum_{j=0}^{k-1}(j\cdot2^j) + k(n-2^k+1) = 1994$ .

Through computation: $\sum_{j=0}^{7}(j\cdot2^j)=1538<1994$ and $\sum_{j=0}^{8}(j\cdot2^j)=3586>1994$ . Thus, $k=8$ .

So, $\sum_{j=0}^{k-1}(j\cdot2^j) + k(n-2^k+1) = 1538+8(n-2^8+1)=1994 \Rightarrow n = \boxed{312}$ .

1994 AIME (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 3	Followed by Problem 5
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1994 AIME Problems/Problem 4

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