A certain country is taking part in the IMO this year for the 24th time. The team would like to mark the occasion by finding positive integers such that
Determine whether or not such a set of numbers exists.
Solution
0.
We first claim that if is odd, then . This can be verified inductively: first prove it for , and the inductive step reduces to checking that is divisible by .
It follows that is congruent to either 0 or 1 (mod 32), depending on whether is even or odd. Thus the desired left-hand side sum can only have remainder between 0 and 24 inclusive modulo 32, but not .
Now, 2000 is a multiple of 16 but not a multiple of 32, so . Thus as well, and there are no solutions of the desired equation.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.