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Algebra Difficulty 4.1 AIME Find the answer United States

The product of three integers is 6060. What is the least possible positive sum of the three integers?

Pick one

Solution

Answer (B): Note that 60=10(1)(6)60 = 10 \cdot (-1) \cdot (-6), and the sum of these factors is 33. It remains to show that no positive sum can be less than 33. Such a sum would have to consist of one positive integer and two negative integers with smaller absolute value. If the positive integer is greater than or equal to 1010, then the sum is greater than or equal to 33. The possible sets of factors in this case are {10,6,1}\{10, -6, -1\}, {10,3,2}\{10, -3, -2\}, {12,5,1}\{12, -5, -1\}, {15,4,1}\{15, -4, -1\}, {15,2,2}\{15, -2, -2\}, {20,3,1}\{20, -3, -1\}, {30,2,1}\{30, -2, -1\}, and {60,1,1}\{60, -1, -1\}. None of these sets of factors has a sum less than 33.

The only other possible choices for the positive integer are 55 and 66, and in neither case is a positive sum possible. Indeed, if the positive integer is 55, then the only possible set of factors is {5,3,4}\{5, -3, -4\}. If the positive integer is 66, then the only possible set of factors is {6,5,2}\{6, -5, -2\}. In both of these cases, the sum is not positive.

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