Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:

Decipher the equality (LARNACA):(CYP+RUS)=CYPRUS(\overline{L A R N}-\overline{A C A}):(\overline{C Y P}+\overline{R U S})=C^{Y^{P}} \cdot R^{U^{S}} where different symbols correspond to different digits and equal symbols correspond to equal digits. It is also supposed that all these digits are different from 00.

Solution

Solution:

Denote x=LARNACAx=\overline{L A R N}-\overline{A C A}, y=CYP+RUSy=\overline{C Y P}+\overline{R U S} and z=CYPRUSz=C^{Y^{P}} \cdot R^{U^{S}}. It is obvious that 1823898x91871211823-898 \leq x \leq 9187-121, 135+246y975+864135+246 \leq y \leq 975+864, that is 925x9075925 \leq x \leq 9075 and 381y1839381 \leq y \leq 1839, whence it follows that 9251839xy9075381\frac{925}{1839} \leq \frac{x}{y} \leq \frac{9075}{381}, or 0.502xy23.810.502\ldots \leq \frac{x}{y} \leq 23.81\ldots Since xy=z\frac{x}{y}=z is an integer, it follows that 1xy231 \leq \frac{x}{y} \leq 23, hence 1CYPRUS231 \leq C^{Y^{P}} \cdot R^{U^{S}} \leq 23. So both values CYPC^{Y^{P}} and RUSR^{U^{S}} are 23\leq 23. From this and the fact that 223>232^{2^{3}}>23 it follows that at least one of the symbols in the expression CYPC^{Y^{P}} and at least one of the symbols in the expression RUSR^{U^{S}} correspond to the digit 11. This is impossible because of the assumption that all the symbols in the set {C,Y,P,R,U,S}\{C, Y, P, R, U, S\} correspond to different digits.

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