Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2012

Number theory Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Slovenia

Find all 3-digit natural numbers nn with non-zero digits that satisfy the following condition: if we delete the left digit of nn, the obtained number is a divisor of nn.

Solution

Let us write n=abcn = \overline{abc}. The condition of the problem says that bc\overline{bc} divides abc=100a+bc\overline{abc} = 100a + \overline{bc}, hence it also divides 100a100a. First suppose that bc\overline{bc} is not divisible by 55. Then bc\overline{bc} must divide 4a4a. Because bc\overline{bc} is a 2-digit natural number, 4a4a must also be a 2-digit natural number, hence 3a93 \le a \le 9. The number 4a4a can thus take values 1212, 1616, 2020, 2424, 2828, 3232 or 3636. 2-digit divisors of these numbers are 1212, 1616, 2020 and 1010, 2424 and 1212, 2828 and 1414, 3232 and 1616, 3636 and 1818 and 1212, respectively. Allowing only non-zero digits, we get the following solutions: 312312, 416416, 624624, 612612, 728728, 714714, 832832, 816816, 936936, 918918 and 912912.

If, on the other hand, bc\overline{bc} is divisible by 55, we get c=5c = 5, because cc must be a non-zero digit. Hence bc=10b+5=5(2b+1)\overline{bc} = 10b + 5 = 5(2b + 1), from which we conclude that 2b+12b + 1 must divide 20a20a. Because 2b+12b + 1 is odd, it must divide 5a5a. If 2b+12b + 1 is divisible by 55, we get b=2b = 2 (hence 2b+1=52b + 1 = 5) and aa is arbitrary or b=7b = 7 (hence 2b+1=152b + 1 = 15) and aa is equal to 33, 66 or 99. We get the following solutions: 125125, 225225, 325325, 425425, 525525, 625625, 725725, 825825 and 925925 as well as 375375, 675675 and 975975.

If, on the other hand, 2b+152b + 1 \ne 5, it is coprime to 55 and hence a divisor of aa. It must hold 2b+192b + 1 \le 9 and therefore b4b \le 4 and b2b \ne 2 (otherwise we would have 2b+1=52b + 1 = 5). If bb is successively equal to 44, 33 and 11, then aa can be successively equal to 99, 77 and 33 or 66 or 99. We get the following solutions: 945945, 735735, 315315, 615615 and 915915.

To summarize, the solutions are: 125125, 225225, 312312, 315315, 325325, 375375, 416416, 425425, 525525, 612612, 615615, 624624, 625625, 675675, 714714, 725725, 728728, 735735, 816816, 825825, 832832, 912912, 915915, 918918, 925925, 936936, 945945, 975975.

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