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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Set AA consists of 7 consecutive positive integers less than 20112011, while set BB consists of 11 consecutive positive integers. If the sum of the numbers in AA is equal to the sum of the numbers in BB, what is the maximum possible element that AA could contain?

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let
A={x+1,x+2,,x+7}A=\{x+1, x+2, \ldots, x+7\} and B={y+1,y+2,,y+11}B=\{y+1, y+2, \ldots, y+11\}, where x<2004x<2004. We have
(x+1)+(x+2)++(x+7)=(y+1)+(y+2)++(y+11)(x+1)+(x+2)+\ldots+(x+7)=(y+1)+(y+2)+\ldots+(y+11)
hence
7x+782=11y+11122 7x+\frac{7 \cdot 8}{2}=11y+\frac{11 \cdot 12}{2}
This equation is equivalent to
7x11y=38. 7x-11y=38.
The smallest solution in positive integers to this is (7,1)(7,1) and all solutions are x=7+11nx=7+11n, y=1+7ny=1+7n, where nn is an arbitrary positive integer.
Since x<2004x<2004, it follows 7+11n<20047+11n<2004, that is n<199711n<\frac{1997}{11}. We get n181n \leq 181, hence the maximum possible element of AA is x+7=14+11181=2005x+7=14+11 \cdot 181=2005.

Solution 2

Choose
A={a3,a2,a1,a,a+1,a+2,a+3} A=\{a-3, a-2, a-1, a, a+1, a+2, a+3\}
and
B={b5,b4,,b1,b,b+1,,b+4} B=\{b-5, b-4, \ldots, b-1, b, b+1, \ldots, b+4\}
We have 7a=11b7a=11b, hence 11a11 \mid a and 7b7 \mid b. It follows a=11ma=11m and b=7mb=7m, for some positive integer mm. But a+32010a+3 \leq 2010 implies 11m200711m \leq 2007, that is m200711m \leq \frac{2007}{11}, hence m=182m=182. The desired number is 11182+3=200511 \cdot 182+3=2005.

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