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Number theory Difficulty 7.6 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Japan

Players AA and BB wrote down two positive integers each on a black board. The product of the two numbers AA wrote is twice the sum of the two numbers BB wrote, and the product of the two numbers BB wrote is twice the sum of the two numbers AA wrote, and furthermore, the sum of the two numbers AA wrote is greater than or equal to the sum of the two numbers BB wrote. Determine all possible values for the sum of the two numbers BB wrote. Note that four numbers written down need not be distinct.

Solution

8,9,10,13,17,19,278, 9, 10, 13, 17, 19, 27

Let aa be the sum of two numbers the player AA wrote, and bb be the sum of the two numbers BB wrote. If we let t,st, s be the two numbers AA wrote, then t+s=at+s = a and ts=2bts = 2b, so t,st, s must be the solutions of the quadratic equation x2ax+2b=0x^2 - a x + 2b = 0. Similarly, the two numbers BB wrote down are the solutions of the equation x2bx+2a=0x^2 - b x + 2a = 0. From this we obtain the fact that the discriminants a28ba^2 - 8b and b28ab^2 - 8a of these equations must be perfect squares. Conversely, suppose that a28ba^2 - 8b is a perfect square, equal to k2k^2 for positive integer kk, say. Then, we see that from (a+k)(ak)=8b(a+k)(a-k) = 8b that a>ka > k and that aa and kk have the same even-odd parity. Therefore, the two roots a+k2\frac{a+k}{2}, ak2\frac{a-k}{2} of the equation x2ax+2b=0x^2 - a x + 2b = 0 are positive integers. Similarly, if b28ab^2 - 8a is a perfect square, we see that the two roots of the equation x2bx+2a=0x^2 - b x + 2a = 0 are positive integers. Thus, we see that the conditions for the problem are equivalent to the following:
aa and bb are positive integers and both a28ba^2-8b and b28ab^2-8a are perfect squares, and aba \ge b.
In the sequel, we determine the pairs (a,b)(a, b) satisfying these conditions.
Since aba \ge b, we see that if a>9a > 9, then
a2>a28ba28a>(a6)2 a^2 > a^2 - 8b \geq a^2 - 8a > (a-6)^2
must hold. As a28ba^2 - 8b and aa have the same even-odd parity, we must have either a28b=(a2)2a^2 - 8b = (a-2)^2 or a28b=(a4)2a^2 - 8b = (a-4)^2. From the former we get b=a12b = \frac{a-1}{2} and from the latter b=a2b = a - 2.
Now, suppose b=a12b = \frac{a-1}{2} is satisfied. Then, we have b28a=b28(2b+1)=b216b8<(b8)2b^2 - 8a = b^2 - 8(2b + 1) = b^2 - 16b - 8 < (b-8)^2. Since b28ab^2 - 8a and bb have the same even-odd parity, we see that we can write
b216b8=(b2)2, b^2 - 16b - 8 = (b - 2\ell)^2,
where \ell is an integer greater than 4. Then, we get
b=2+22=(+4)+184 b = \frac{\ell^2+2}{2} = (\ell + 4) + \frac{18}{\ell-4}
and we conclude that =5,6,7,10,13,22\ell = 5, 6, 7, 10, 13, 22 must hold and these values of \ell yield b=17,19,27b = 17, 19, 27 with corresponding values for a=35,39,55a = 35, 39, 55 respectively.
Next suppose b=a2b = a-2 is satisfied. Then, we have b28a16<(b4)2b^2 - 8a - 16 < (b-4)^2. Since b28ab^2 - 8a and bb have the same even-odd parity, we can write
b28b16=(b2j)2, b^2 - 8b - 16 = (b - 2j)^2,
where jj is an integer greater than 2. Then, we get
b=j2+4j2=(j+2)+8j2, b = \frac{j^2+4}{j-2} = (j + 2) + \frac{8}{j-2},
from which we get j=3,4,6,10j = 3, 4, 6, 10, which yield b=10,13b = 10, 13 and a=12,15a = 12, 15 respectively.
Finally, let us consider the case where a9a \le 9. If b<8b < 8, then we get b28ab28b<0b^2 - 8a \le b^2 - 8b < 0, which does not satisfy our requirement. So, we must have b=8b = 8 or 99. It is easy to check that (a,b)=(9,8)(a,b) = (9,8) does not satisfy the requirement, while (a,b)=(8,8),(9,9)(a,b) = (8,8), (9,9) do. So, we conclude that the possible values that bb can take to satisfy the requirement of the problem are 8,9,10,13,17,19,278, 9, 10, 13, 17, 19, 27.

Alternate Solution:

Let us denote by x,yx, y and z,wz, w the two numbers that the players AA and BB wrote down, respectively. We may assume that xyx \ge y and zwz \ge w are satisfied. The conditions of the problems can be stated as
xy=2(z+w),zw=2(x+y),x+yz+w. xy = 2(z+w), \quad zw = 2(x+y), \quad x+y \ge z+w.

Adding the respective sides of the first two equations, we obtain xy+zw=2(x+y+z+w)xy + zw = 2(x + y + z + w), which can be transformed into the form
(x2)(y2)+(z2)(w2)=8. (x-2)(y-2) + (z-2)(w-2) = 8.
First, let us consider the case where y=1y = 1. Since x=2z+2wx = 2z + 2w, we get zw=2(x+y)=4z+4w+2zw = 2(x + y) = 4z + 4w + 2, which is transformed to (z4)(w4)=18(z - 4)(w - 4) = 18. From this we obtain (x,w)=(22,5)(x, w) = (22, 5), (13,6)(13, 6), (10,7)(10, 7). We find the corresponding values of xx are 54,38,3454, 38, 34, respectively, and the requirement x+yz+wx + y \geq z + w is also satisfied in all of the three cases. We also find that z+w=27,19,17z + w = 27, 19, 17, respectively.
When w=1w = 1, we can argue in the same way as above, and find the other two are no solutions satisfying the conditions of the problem.
Next, we assume that xy2x \geq y \geq 2 and zw2z \geq w \geq 2 are satisfied. Then, we have (x2)(y2)0(x-2)(y-2) \geq 0 and (z2)(w2)0(z-2)(w-2) \geq 0, and since (x2)(y2)+(z2)(w2)=8(x-2)(y-2)+(z-2)(w-2) = 8, we must have (x2)(y2)8(x-2)(y-2) \leq 8 and (z2)(w2)8(z-2)(w-2) \leq 8. If y5y \geq 5, then we get (x2)(y2)(y2)29(x-2)(y-2) \geq (y-2)^2 \geq 9. So, we must have y4y \leq 4.
If y=4y = 4, then from (x2)(y2)8(x-2)(y-2) \leq 8, we conclude that x=4x = 4 or 55 or 66.
* When x=4x = 4: From zw=2(x+y)=16zw = 2(x + y) = 16, z+w=xy2=8z + w = \frac{xy}{2} = 8, we get (x,w)=(4,4)(x, w) = (4, 4).
* When x=5x = 5: We see there are no pairs (x,w)(x, w) satisfying zw=18zw = 18 and z+w=10z + w = 10.
* When x=6x = 6: We get zw=20zw = 20 and z+w=12z + w = 12, which yield (x,w)=(10,2)(x, w) = (10, 2).
We see that among the possibilities found for (x,w)(x, w) above only (x,w)=(4,4)(x, w) = (4, 4) satisfies the condition x+yz+wx + y \geq z + w. So, the only solution we get for the case y=4y = 4 is (x,y,z,w)=(4,4,4,4)(x, y, z, w) = (4, 4, 4, 4) for which z+w=8z + w = 8.
If y=3y = 3, then from xy=2(z+w)xy = 2(z + w) we see that xx must be even, and from (x2)(y2)8(x-2)(y-2) \leq 8, xx must be one of 4,6,8,104, 6, 8, 10.
* When x=4x = 4: There are no (x,w)(x, w) satisfying zw=14zw = 14, z+w=6z + w = 6.
* When x=6x = 6: Only (x,w)=(6,3)(x, w) = (6, 3) satisfies zw=18zw = 18, z+w=9z + w = 9.
* When x=8x = 8: There are no (x,w)(x, w) satisfying zw=22zw = 22, z+w=12z + w = 12.
* When x=10x = 10: Only (x,w)=(13,2)(x, w) = (13, 2) satisfies zw=26zw = 26, z+w=15z + w = 15.
Among the possibilities found above, we see that only (x,y,z,w)=(6,3,6,3)(x, y, z, w) = (6, 3, 6, 3) satisfies the additional condition x+yz+wx + y \geq z + w, and we have z+w=9z + w = 9 in this case.
Finally, when y=2y = 2, we see that from (z2)(w2)=8(z-2)(w-2) = 8, we must have w=3w = 3 or w=4w = 4. When w=3w = 3, then z=10z = 10 and x=2(z+w)y=13x = \frac{2(z+w)}{y} = 13, and (x,y,z,w)=(13,2,10,3)(x, y, z, w) = (13, 2, 10, 3) satisfies the requirements, and we get z+w=13z+w = 13 in this case. If w=4w = 4, then we have z=6z = 6, x=2(z+w)y=10x = \frac{2(z+w)}{y} = 10, and (x,y,z,w)=(10,2,6,4)(x, y, z, w) = (10, 2, 6, 4) satisfies the requirements, and we get z+w=10z+w = 10.
Summarizing what we considered above, we get the possible values for the sum of the two numbers BB wrote to be 8,9,10,13,17,19,278, 9, 10, 13, 17, 19, 27.

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