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Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions

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+7⋅82=11y+11⋅122 7x+\frac{7 \cdot 8}{2}=11y+\frac{11 \cdot 12}{2}
This equation is equivalent to
7x−11y=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 n≤181n \leq 181, hence the maximum possible element of AA is x+7=14+11⋅181=2005x+7=14+11 \cdot 181=2005.

Solution 2

Choose
A={a−3,a−2,a−1,a,a+1,a+2,a+3} A=\{a-3, a-2, a-1, a, a+1, a+2, a+3\}
and
B={b−5,b−4,…,b−1,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 11∣a11 \mid a and 7∣b7 \mid b. It follows a=11ma=11m and b=7mb=7m, for some positive integer mm. But a+3≤2010a+3 \leq 2010 implies 11m≤200711m \leq 2007, that is m≤200711m \leq \frac{2007}{11}, hence m=182m=182. The desired number is 11⋅182+3=200511 \cdot 182+3=2005.

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