Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2013

Number theory Difficulty 4.5 AIME Find the answer United States

Problem:
How many positive integers kk are there such that
k2013(a+b)=lcm(a,b) \frac{k}{2013}(a+b)=\operatorname{lcm}(a, b)
has a solution in positive integers (a,b)(a, b)?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Solution:
First, we can let h=gcd(a,b)h=\operatorname{gcd}(a, b) so that (a,b)=(hA,hB)(a, b)=(h A, h B) where gcd(A,B)=1\operatorname{gcd}(A, B)=1. Making these substitutions yields
k2013(hA+hB)=hAB, \frac{k}{2013}(h A+h B)=h A B,
so
k=2013ABA+B. k=\frac{2013 A B}{A+B}.
Because AA and BB are relatively prime, A+BA+B shares no common factors with either AA or BB, so in order to have kk be an integer, A+BA+B must divide 20132013, and since AA and BB are positive, A+B>1A+B>1.

We first show that for different possible values of A+BA+B, the values of kk generated are distinct. In particular, we need to show that
2013ABA+B2013ABA+B \frac{2013 A B}{A+B} \neq \frac{2013 A' B'}{A'+B'}
whenever A+BA+BA+B \neq A'+B'. Assume that such an equality exists, and cross-multiplying yields
AB(A+B)=AB(A+B). A B (A'+B') = A' B' (A+B).
Since ABA B is relatively prime to A+BA+B, we must have A+BA+B divide A+BA'+B'. With a similar argument, we can show that A+BA'+B' must divide A+BA+B, so A+B=A+BA+B=A'+B'.

Now, we need to show that for the same denominator A+BA+B, the values of kk generated are also distinct for some relatively prime non-ordered pair (A,B)(A, B). Let n=A+B=C+Dn=A+B=C+D. Assume that
2013ABn=2013CDn, \frac{2013 A B}{n}=\frac{2013 C D}{n},
or equivalently, A(nA)=C(nC)A(n-A)=C(n-C). After some rearrangement, we have (C+A)(CA)=n(CA)(C+A)(C-A)=n(C-A). This implies that either C=AC=A or C=nA=BC=n-A=B. But in either case, (C,D)(C, D) is some permutation of (A,B)(A, B).

Our answer can therefore be obtained by summing up the totients of the factors of 20132013 (excluding 11) and dividing by 22 since (A,B)(A, B) and (B,A)(B, A) correspond to the same kk value, so our answer is
201312=1006. \frac{2013-1}{2}=1006.

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