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Croatian Mathematical Competitions

Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Azra thought of four real numbers and wrote on the blackboard the sums of all pairs of imagined numbers, and then she deleted one of the sums. There were numbers −2-2, 11, 22, 33 and 66 left on the blackboard. What numbers did Azra think of? (M. Bašić, M. Bombardelli)

Solution

Let aa, bb, cc and dd be the numbers Azra thought of. Without loss of generality, we can assume that the deleted sum is c+dc+d. Then there are numbers a+ba+b, a+ca+c, a+da+d, b+cb+c and b+db+d written on the blackboard, i.e.
{−2,1,2,3,6}={a+b,a+c,a+d,b+c,b+d}. \{-2, 1, 2, 3, 6\} = \{a+b, a+c, a+d, b+c, b+d\}.
Since
(a+c)+(b+d)=(a+d)+(b+c), (a+c) + (b+d) = (a+d) + (b+c),
among the numbers on the blackboard we can choose two pairs of numbers with equal sums. We easily find the only such pairs −2+6=1+3=4-2+6=1+3=4, and therefore the sum of all numbers Azra thought of equals 44.
Among the numbers on the blackboard, the number 22 does not appear in the last equality (so a+b=2a+b = 2) and the deleted number c+dc+d equals 4−2=24-2=2.
Let us now change the notation. Let aa, bb, cc, dd be the numbers Azra thought of, such that a≤b≤c≤da \le b \le c \le d. We know that {−2,1,2,2,3,6}={a+b,a+c,a+d,b+c,b+d,c+d}\{-2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 6\} = \{a+b, a+c, a+d, b+c, b+d, c+d\}.
Since a≤b≤c≤da \le b \le c \le d, obviously a+ba+b is the smallest sum, and c+dc+d is the largest, so a+b=−2a+b = -2, c+d=6c+d = 6. Now it is easy to see that the sum a+ca+c is smaller than all the sums except a+ba+b, and analogously b+db+d is larger than all the sums except c+dc+d. So, a+c=1a+c = 1 and b+d=3b+d = 3. Finally, a+d=b+c=2a+d = b+c = 2.
We see that 2a=(a+b)+(a+c)−(b+c)=−2+1−2=−32a = (a+b) + (a+c) - (b+c) = -2+1-2 = -3, i.e. a=−32a = -\frac{3}{2}, and further b=−2−a=−12b = -2 - a = -\frac{1}{2}, c=1−a=52c = 1 - a = \frac{5}{2} and d=2−a=72d = 2 - a = \frac{7}{2}.
Let us check that the other equalities are satisfied: b+c=−12+52=2b+c = -\frac{1}{2} + \frac{5}{2} = 2, b+d=−12+72=3b+d = -\frac{1}{2} + \frac{7}{2} = 3, c+d=52+72=6c+d = \frac{5}{2} + \frac{7}{2} = 6.
Azra thought of numbers −32-\frac{3}{2}, −12-\frac{1}{2}, 52\frac{5}{2} and 72\frac{7}{2}.

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