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Problem on Complex plane | AIME I, 1988| Question 11

Try this beautiful problem from the American Invitational Mathematics Examination I, AIME I, 1988, Question 11, based on Complex plane.

Try this beautiful problem from the American Invitational Mathematics Examination I, AIME I, 1988 based on Complex Plane.

Problem on Complex Plane – AIME I, 1988

Let w_1,w_2,….,w_n be complex numbers. A line L in the complex plane is called a mean line for the points w_1,w_2,….w_n if L contains points (complex numbers) z_1,z_2, …..z_n such that $\sum_{k=1}^{n}(z_{k}-w_{k})=0$ for the numbers $w_1=32+170i, w_2=-7+64i, w_3=-9+200i, w_4=1+27i$ and $w_5=-14+43i$, there is a unique mean line with y-intercept 3. Find the slope of this mean line.

• is 107
• is 163
• is 634
• cannot be determined from the given information

Key Concepts

Integers

Equations

Algebra

AIME I, 1988, Question 11

Elementary Algebra by Hall and Knight

Try with Hints

$\sum_{k=1}^{5}w_k=3+504i$

and $\sum_{k-1}^{5}z_k=3+504i$

taking the numbers in the form a+bi

$\sum_{k=1}^{5}a_k=3$ and $\sum_{k=1}^{5}b_k=504$

or, y=mx+3 where $b_k=ma_k+3$ adding all 5 equations given for each k

or, 504=3m+15

or, m=163.