Olympiad Maths Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Given three pairwise distinct positive integers aa, bb, cc, whose product is 320320. Determine the smallest possible prime sum of these numbers.

Solution

Clearly, their sum is greater than 22, so the prime sum has to be odd. Since all three numbers can't be odd simultaneously, since their product is 320320, then two numbers are even and one is odd. There are exactly two odd divisors of 320=265320 = 2^6 \cdot 5: 11 and 55. Consider these cases.

c=1c = 1, the following is possible:

a=2a = 2, b=160b = 160, a+b+c=163a+b+c = 163 is prime.
a=4a = 4, b=80b = 80, a+b+c=85a+b+c = 85 is not prime.
a=8a = 8, b=40b = 40, a+b+c=49a+b+c = 49 is not prime.
a=16a = 16, b=20b = 20, a+b+c=37a+b+c = 37 is prime and less than 163163.
a=32a = 32, b=10b = 10, a+b+c=43>37a+b+c>37a+b+c = 43 > 37 \Rightarrow a+b+c > 37.

c=5c = 5, the following is possible:
a=2a = 2, b=32b = 32, a+b+c=39a+b+c = 39 is not prime.
a=4a = 4, b=16b = 16, a+b+c=25a+b+c = 25 is not prime.

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