Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.8 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Problem:

There are many sets of two different positive integers aa and bb, both less than 5050, such that a2a^{2} and b2b^{2} end in the same last two digits. For example, 352=122535^{2}=1225 and 452=202545^{2}=2025 both end in 2525. What are all possible values for the average of aa and bb?

For the purposes of this problem, single-digit squares are considered to have a leading zero, so for example we consider 222^{2} to end with the digits 0404, not 44.

Solution

Solution:

Assume that bb is the larger of the two numbers. Then b2b^{2} and a2a^{2} end in the same last two digits, so b2a2b^{2}-a^{2} is a multiple of 100100. That is, using the difference of squares to factor, (b+a)(ba)(b+a) \cdot (b-a) is a multiple of 100100, and hence also a multiple of both 44 and 2525.

For the product to be a multiple of 2525, either at least one of the numbers is a multiple of 2525, or both are multiples of 55. If they are both multiples of 55, then aa must be a multiple of 55, so a2a^{2} ends in 2525 or 0000. There are many possibilities of this kind: Ending in 2525, we have 55 and 1515, 55 and 2525, 55 and 3535, and so on, up through 3535 and 4545, giving averages of 10,15,20,25,30,3510, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 4040. Ending in 0000, we have 1010 and 2020, and so on, up through 3030 and 4040, which gives the same list of averages. (We did give credit if you included 5050 and thus put 4545 in your list of possible averages.)

Now let's consider the possibility that one of the numbers is a multiple of 2525. Neither aba-b nor a+ba+b could equal 2525 or 7575, because if they did, then one of aa and bb is odd, while the other is even, so their squares can't end in the same digit. Also, bab-a can't be 5050, because b<50b<50. So the only way to obtain a multiple of 2525 is for b+a=50b+a=50, in which case the average is 2525.

Of course, you could also simply list all the squares from 121^{2} through 49249^{2} and find all the pairs with the same last two digits!

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.