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Number theory Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it Austria

Let a,b,ca, b, c be integers with a3+b3+c3a^3 + b^3 + c^3 divisible by 1818. Prove that abcabc is divisible by 66.

Solution

We need to prove that abcabc is divisible by 22 and by 33. We will give proofs by contradiction.

Suppose abcabc odd. This implies that aa, bb and cc are odd. Therefore, a3+b3+c3a^3 + b^3 + c^3 is odd and certainly not divisible by 1818. This contradiction shows that abcabc is even.

Suppose that abcabc is not divisible by 33. Then aa, bb and cc are not divisible by 33, i.e. they are in (possibly distinct) congruence classes among the following congruence classes mod 99.

xx1122444-42-21-1
x3x^3111-1111-1111-1

We conclude that a3+b3+c3a^3 + b^3 + c^3 is equal to 3-3, 1-1, 11 or 3(mod9)3 \pmod 9. Therefore, a3+b3+c3a^3 + b^3 + c^3 is not divisible by 99 and consequently not by 1818. This contradiction shows that abcabc is divisible by 33.

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