Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Find the answer Italy

Problem:

Francesco and Andrea decide to consult the mathematical oracle to find out whether they have any lucky pairs (x,y)(x, y) of (real) numbers. To determine the pair (or pairs) of lucky numbers, the oracle asks both Francesco and Andrea for their day (g)(g) and month (m)(m) of birth, after which, for each of them, it solves the system:
{13xy=181gxmy=362 \left\{\begin{array}{l} 13 x - y = 181 \\ g x - m y = 362 \end{array}\right.

The oracle's answer is that Andrea has no pair of lucky numbers, while Francesco's lucky pairs are infinite. Which of the following statements is correct?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (D). Let us examine Francesco's situation: for the system to admit infinitely many solutions it is necessary that the second equation be equivalent to the first, that is, that they differ at most by a multiplicative constant. The constant term of the second equation is 362=181×2362 = 181 \times 2, so in Francesco's case the coefficients of the second equation are twice those of the first, that is, g=26g = 26 and m=2m = 2. Francesco was born on February 26th.

In Andrea's case, instead, the two equations must be incompatible, and this happens when the coefficients of the unknowns are proportional to each other but the proportionality factor is not the same as that between the respective constant terms. This means that for Andrea g=13 mg = 13~m. Since g31g \leq 31, two values of mm are possible: 1 and 2. However, for m=2m = 2 the system has infinitely many solutions, so Andrea was born on January 13th.

Note that it is also possible to approach the problem geometrically, interpreting the equations as lines in the Cartesian plane and the solutions of the system as their intersections. In Francesco's case the two equations must represent the same line, while in Andrea's case they must represent two parallel but distinct lines. The conclusions are, of course, the same.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.