Mock AIME I 2012 Problems/Problem 10

Problem 10

Consider the function $f(n,x) = \dfrac{\sin{x} + \sin{2x} + \sin{3x} + \cdots + \sin{(n-1)x} + \sin{nx}}{\cos{x} + \cos{2x} + \cos{3x} + \cdots + \cos{(n-1)x} + \cos{nx}}$ . Find the sum of all $x$ for which $f(23,x)=f(33,x)$ , where $x$ is measured in degrees and $100<x<200$ .

Solution 1

Recalling the trigonometric sum-to-product identities, we can rearrange terms and evaluate $f(23,x)$ as follows: \begin{align*} f(23, x) &= \dfrac{\sin{x} + \sin{2x} + \sin{3x} + \cdots + \sin{22x} + \sin{23x}}{\cos{x} + \cos{2x} + \cos{3x} + \cdots + \cos{22x} + \cos{23x}} \\ &= \dfrac{(\sin{x} + \sin{23x}) + (\sin{2x} + \sin{22x}) + \cdots + (\sin{11x} + \sin{13x}) + \sin{12x}}{(\cos{x} + \cos{23x}) + (\cos{2x} + \cos{22x}) + \cdots + (\cos{11x} + \cos{13x}) + \cos{12x}} \\ &= \dfrac{2\sin{12x}\cos{11x}+2\sin{12x}\cos{10x}+\cdots+2\sin{12x}\cos{x}+\sin{12x}}{2\cos{12x}\cos{11x}+2\cos{12x}\cos{10x}+\cdots+2\cos{12x}\cos{x}+\cos{12x}} \\ &= \dfrac{2\sin{12x}(\cos{11x}+\cos{10x}+\cos{9x}+\cdots+\cos{x}+1)}{2\cos{12x}(\cos{11x}+\cos{10x}+\cdots+\cos{x}+1)} \\ &= \dfrac{\sin{12x}}{\cos{12x}} \\ &= \tan{12x} \end{align*}

Likewise, we can show that $f(33,x)=\dfrac{\sin{17x}}{\cos{17x}}=\tan{17x}.$

Now, we desire to find all $x\in(100^{\circ},200^{\circ})$ that satisfy the following equation: $f(22,x)=f(33,x)\iff\tan{12x}=\tan{17x}.$ Because $\tan x$ has a period of $180^{\circ}$ and it only reaches any given value once per period (by virtue of being monotone increasing between its asymptotes), we know that $5x$ must then be some integer multiple of tangent's period, $180^{\circ}$ . Thus, $x$ must be a multiple of $\tfrac{180^{\circ}}5=36^{\circ}$ , and so the possible values of $x$ between $100^{\circ}$ and $200^{\circ}$ are $108^{\circ}$ , $144^{\circ}$ , and $180^{\circ}$ .

Now, we can add these three values to compute our final answer: $108+144+180=\boxed{432}.$

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Mock AIME I 2012 Problems/Problem 10

Problem 10

Solution 1