Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2015

Number theory Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:
Find the number of triples (a,b,c)(a, b, c) of positive integers such that a+ab+abc=11a + a b + a b c = 11.

Solution

Solution:
We can write a+ab+abc=a(1+b+bc)a + a b + a b c = a(1 + b + b c). Since 1111 is prime, a=11a = 11 or a=1a = 1. But since b,cb, c are both positive integers, we cannot have a=11a = 11, and so a=1a = 1.

Then 1+b+bc=11b+bc=10b(c+1)=101 + b + b c = 11 \Longrightarrow b + b c = 10 \Longrightarrow b(c + 1) = 10, and since cc is a positive integer, only b=1,2,5b = 1, 2, 5 are possible. This gives the 33 triples (a,b,c)=(1,1,9),(1,2,4),(1,5,1)(a, b, c) = (1, 1, 9), (1, 2, 4), (1, 5, 1).

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