Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1098 of 1394

Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Find the maximum possible value of HMMTH \cdot M \cdot M \cdot T over all ordered triples (H,M,T)(H, M, T) of integers such that HMMT=H+M+M+TH \cdot M \cdot M \cdot T = H + M + M + T.

Solution

Solution:
If any of H,M,TH, M, T are zero, the product is 00. We can do better (examples below), so we may now restrict attention to the case when H,M,T0H, M, T \neq 0.

When M{2,1,1,2}M \in \{-2, -1, 1, 2\}, a little casework gives all the possible (H,M,T)=(2,1,4),(4,1,2),(1,2,1),(1,2,1)(H, M, T) = (2, 1, 4), (4, 1, 2), (-1, -2, 1), (1, -2, -1).

- If M=2M = -2, i.e. H4+T=4HTH - 4 + T = 4 H T, then 15=(4H1)(4T1)-15 = (4H - 1)(4T - 1), so 4H1{±1,±3,±5,±15}4H - 1 \in \{ \pm 1, \pm 3, \pm 5, \pm 15 \} (only 1,+3,5,+15-1, +3, -5, +15 are possible) corresponding to 4T1{15,5,3,1}4T - 1 \in \{\mp 15, \mp 5, \mp 3, \mp 1\} (only +15,5,+3,1+15, -5, +3, -1 are possible). But H,TH, T are nonzero, we can only have 4H1{+3,5}4H - 1 \in \{+3, -5\}, yielding (1,2,1)(-1, -2, 1) and (1,2,1)(1, -2, -1).

- If M=+2M = +2, i.e. H+4+T=4HTH + 4 + T = 4 H T, then 17=(4H1)(4T1)17 = (4H - 1)(4T - 1), so 4H1{±1,±17}4H - 1 \in \{ \pm 1, \pm 17 \} (only 1,17-1, -17 are possible) corresponding to 4T1{±17,±1}4T - 1 \in \{ \pm 17, \pm 1 \} (only 17,1-17, -1 are possible). But H,TH, T are nonzero, so there are no possibilities here.

- If M=1M = -1, i.e. H2+T=HTH - 2 + T = H T, then 1=(H1)(T1)-1 = (H - 1)(T - 1), so we have H1{±1}H - 1 \in \{ \pm 1 \} and T1{1}T - 1 \in \{\mp 1\}, neither of which is possible (as H,T0H, T \neq 0).

- If M=+1M = +1, i.e. H+2+T=HTH + 2 + T = H T, then 3=(H1)(T1)3 = (H - 1)(T - 1), so we have H1{±1,±3}H - 1 \in \{ \pm 1, \pm 3 \}. Since H,T0H, T \neq 0, H1{+1,+3}H - 1 \in \{+1, +3\}, yielding (2,1,4)(2, 1, 4) and (4,1,2)(4, 1, 2).

Now suppose there is such a triple (H,M,T)(H, M, T) for M3|M| \geq 3. The equation in the problem gives (M2H1)(M2T1)=2M3+1(M^{2} H - 1)(M^{2} T - 1) = 2 M^{3} + 1. Note that since H,T0H, T \neq 0, 2M3+1=M2H1M2T1min(M21,M2+1)2=M42M2+1>2M3+1|2 M^{3} + 1| = |M^{2} H - 1| \cdot |M^{2} T - 1| \geq \min(M^{2} - 1, M^{2} + 1)^{2} = M^{4} - 2 M^{2} + 1 > 2|M|^{3} + 1 gives a contradiction.

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