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IRL ABooklet

Algebra Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Let AA be a set of five distinct integers and SS the set that contains all sums x+yx + y with x,y∈Ax, y \in A and x≠yx \neq y. The two smallest elements of SS are 2525 and 3131, while the two largest elements of SS are 5757 and 7171. Determine all possible sets AA.

Solution

Let a<b<c<d<ea < b < c < d < e be the elements of AA. The two smallest sums are 25=a+b<31=a+c25 = a + b < 31 = a + c. The two largest are 57=c+e<71=d+e57 = c + e < 71 = d + e. We then obtain
a+d=(a+c)−(c+e)+(d+e)=31−57+71=45 a + d = (a + c) - (c + e) + (d + e) = 31 - 57 + 71 = 45
e−a=(c+e)−(a+c)=57−31=26. e - a = (c + e) - (a + c) = 57 - 31 = 26.

This allows us to express the elements of AA in terms of aa as follows:
e=26+a,d=45−a,c=31−a,b=25−a. e = 26 + a, \quad d = 45 - a, \quad c = 31 - a, \quad b = 25 - a.
For a<b=25−aa < b = 25 - a we need 2a<252a < 25, i.e. a≤12a \le 12. For d<ed < e we need 45−a<26+a45 - a < 26 + a or 19<2a19 < 2a, i.e. 10≤a10 \le a. Therefore we only have the following three possibilities:

<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>a</th><th>10</th><th>11</th><th>12</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><th>b = 25 - a</th><td>15</td><td>14</td><td>13</td></tr>
<tr><th>c = 31 - a</th><td>21</td><td>20</td><td>19</td></tr>
<tr><th>d = 45 - a</th><td>35</td><td>34</td><td>33</td></tr>
<tr><th>e = 26 + a</th><td>36</td><td>37</td><td>38</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>

A straightforward check shows that these three possibilities indeed satisfy the given conditions:

<table>
<thead>
<tr><th>A</th><th>S</th></tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>10, 15, 21, 35, 36</td><td>25, 31, 36, 45, 46, 50, 51, 56, 57, 71</td></tr>
<tr><td>11, 14, 20, 34, 37</td><td>25, 31, 34, 45, 48, 51, 54, 57, 71</td></tr>
<tr><td>12, 13, 19, 33, 38</td><td>25, 31, 32, 45, 46, 50, 51, 52, 57, 71</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The set SS in the second case has only 9 elements because 48=11+37=14+3448 = 11 + 37 = 14 + 34.

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