Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /151 of 220

Algebra Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Ukraine

Increasing geometric progression (sequence) of 5 natural numbers satisfies the following condition: the square of the sum of first and fourth elements is 100 times greater than the sum of first, fifth, and doubled third elements. Find the largest 3-digit number that can be a member of such progression.

(Bogdan Rublyov)

Solution

Let b1=bb_1 = b, b2=bqb_2 = bq, b3=bq2b_3 = bq^2, b4=bq3b_4 = bq^3, b5=bq4b_5 = bq^4 denote elements of the progression. Rewriting the problem by using our notation, we get:
(b2+b4)2=100(b1+2b3+b5) (b_2 + b_4)^2 = 100(b_1 + 2b_3 + b_5)
Substitute the terms:
(bq+bq3)2=100(b+2bq2+bq4) (bq + bq^3)^2 = 100(b + 2bq^2 + bq^4)
b2q2(1+q2)2=100b(1+2q2+q4) b^2q^2(1 + q^2)^2 = 100b(1 + 2q^2 + q^4)
Divide both sides by bb (since b>0b > 0):
bq2(1+q2)2=100(1+2q2+q4) bq^2(1 + q^2)^2 = 100(1 + 2q^2 + q^4)
Let bq2=100bq^2 = 100, then b=100q2b = \frac{100}{q^2}.

Now, since the sequence consists of natural numbers, bb is a natural number and q=mnq = \frac{m}{n} is rational, where (m,n)=1(m, n) = 1. Therefore bm2=100n2b m^2 = 100 n^2. Hence we have m{2,5,10}m \in \{2, 5, 10\} as m>nm > n and m2100m^2 \mid 100.

Let us recall that b3=100b_3 = 100 for all cases.

For q=2q = 2:
b4=bq3=1002/4=200,b5=bq4=1004/4=400. b_4 = bq^3 = 100 \cdot 2 / 4 = 200,\quad b_5 = bq^4 = 100 \cdot 4 / 4 = 400.
For q=5q = 5:
b4=bq3=100125/25=500,b5=bq4=100625/25=2500. b_4 = bq^3 = 100 \cdot 125 / 25 = 500,\quad b_5 = bq^4 = 100 \cdot 625 / 25 = 2500.
For q=10q = 10:
b4=bq3=1001000/100=1000,b5=bq4=10010000/100=10000. b_4 = bq^3 = 100 \cdot 1000 / 100 = 1000,\quad b_5 = bq^4 = 100 \cdot 10000 / 100 = 10000.
For q=52q = \frac{5}{2}:
b4=bq3=100(52)3/(52)2=1001258/254=1005=250,b5=bq4=100(52)4/(52)2=10062516/254=10025=625. b_4 = bq^3 = 100 \cdot \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^3 / \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^2 = 100 \cdot \frac{125}{8} / \frac{25}{4} = 100 \cdot 5 = 250,\quad b_5 = bq^4 = 100 \cdot \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^4 / \left(\frac{5}{2}\right)^2 = 100 \cdot \frac{625}{16} / \frac{25}{4} = 100 \cdot 25 = 625.

So the desired value is 625625.

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.

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