Puzzles and logic › Processes, invariants and strategy › Board operations and invariants

Erasing triples on a board

High school · ●●○○○ 20 pts

On a board the numbers 1,2,3,…,271, 2, 3, \ldots, 27 are written. One step consists of erasing three numbers a,b,ca, b, c from the board and writing in their place the number a+b+c+na+b+c+n, where nn is a fixed positive integer. Determine the positive integer nn such that, after 13 steps, the number n2n^2 is written on the board.

Sign in to save your progress.

invariantssums of sequencesquadratic equations