Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 4.8 AIME Find the answer Canada

The triple (x,y,z)(x,y,z) of
integers satisfies the following system of equations: 2x+2y+3z1=22592x+y+3z=70732x+2y+3z=6633\begin{align*} 2^x + 2^y + 3^{z-1} & = 2259\\ 2^{x+y} + 3^z & = 7073\\ 2^x+2^y+3^z & = 6633\end{align*} If PP is equal to the product xyzxyz, what is the integer formed by the
rightmost two digits of PP?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

We will begin by making the substitution A=2xA=2^x, B=2yB=2^y, and C=3zC=3^z.

With these substitutions, the three equations become A+B+13C=2259AB+C=7073A+B+C=6633\begin{align*} A+B+\frac{1}{3}C &= 2259 \tag{1} \\ AB+C &= 7073 \tag{2} \\ A+B+C &= 6633 \tag{3}\end{align*} Subtracting Equation
(1)(1) from Equation (3)(3) gives 23C=66332259=4374\dfrac{2}{3}C = 6633-2259 = 4374.

Hence, C=324374=6561C=\dfrac{3}{2}\cdot4374=6561.

Substituting C=6561C=6561 into Equation
(2)(2) gives AB+6561=7073AB+6561 = 7073 or AB=512AB=512.

Substituting C=6561C=6561 into Equation
(3)(3) gives A+B+6561=6633A+B+6561=6633 or A+B=72A+B=72.

Multiplying both sides of A+B=72A+B=72 by
AA (since A0A\neq0) gives A2+AB=72AA^2+AB=72A, into which we can substitute
AB=512AB=512 to get A2+512=72AA^2+512=72A.

Rearranging gives A272A+512=0A^2-72A+512=0
which can be factored to get (A64)(A8)=0(A-64)(A-8)=0.

If A=64A=64, then either AB=512AB=512 or A+B=72A+B=72 can be used to deduce that B=8B=8, and if A=8A=8, then we could similarly deduce that
B=64B=64.

Thus, we have that AA and BB are 88 and 6464, but we cannot determine the order.
Since 64=2664=2^6 and 8=238=2^3, we conclude that xx and yy are 66 and 33, though we cannot determine with
certainty which is which.

Returning to C=6561C=6561, we have 3z=6561=383^z=6561=3^8 so z=8z=8.

Regardless of which of xx and yy is 88 and which is 6464, we get that xyz=3×6×8=144xyz=3\times6\times8=144. The integer
formed by the rightmost two digits of 144144 is 4444.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,444 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: CEMC, University of Waterloo, licensed CC-BY-NC-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.