Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2011

Number theory Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it South Africa

Find all triples (p,q,r)(p, q, r) of prime numbers which satisfy
(p+1)(q+2)(r+3)=4pqr. (p + 1)(q + 2)(r + 3) = 4pqr.

Solution

Dividing both sides of the equation by pqrpqr, we obtain
(1+1p)(1+2q)(1+3r)=4. \left(1 + \frac{1}{p}\right) \left(1 + \frac{2}{q}\right) \left(1 + \frac{3}{r}\right) = 4.
If p,q,r5p, q, r \ge 5, then
(1+1p)(1+2q)(1+3r)657585<4, \left(1 + \frac{1}{p}\right) \left(1 + \frac{2}{q}\right) \left(1 + \frac{3}{r}\right) \le \frac{6}{5} \cdot \frac{7}{5} \cdot \frac{8}{5} < 4,
hence at least one of p,qp, q or rr is less than 55, and since they're all prime, we have the following cases:

Case 1: p=2p = 2. Then 3(q+2)(r+3)=8qr    (5q6)(5r9)=1443(q+2)(r+3) = 8qr \implies (5q-6)(5r-9) = 144 which has the solution (q,r)=(3,5)(q, r) = (3, 5).

Case 2: p=3p = 3. Then 4(q+2)(r+3)=12qr    (q1)(2r3)=94(q+2)(r+3) = 12qr \implies (q-1)(2r-3) = 9, which has no solutions.

Case 3: q=2q = 2. Then 4(p+1)(r+3)=8pr    (p1)(r3)=64(p+1)(r+3) = 8pr \implies (p-1)(r-3) = 6, which has no solutions.

Case 4: q=3q = 3. Then 5(p+1)(r+3)=12pr    (7p5)(7r15)=1805(p+1)(r+3) = 12pr \implies (7p-5)(7r-15) = 180 which has the two solutions (p,r)=(5,3),(2,5)(p, r) = (5, 3), (2, 5).

Case 5: r=2r=2. Then 5(p+1)(q+2)=8pq    (3p5)(3q10)=805(p+1)(q+2) = 8pq \implies (3p-5)(3q-10) = 80
which has the solution (p,q)=(7,5)(p, q) = (7, 5).

Case 6: r=3r = 3. Then 6(p+1)(q+2)=12pq    (p1)(q2)=46(p + 1)(q + 2) = 12pq \implies (p - 1)(q - 2) = 4
which has the solution (p,q)=(5,3)(p, q) = (5, 3).

Hence the equation has the three solutions (p,q,r)=(2,3,5),(5,3,3)(p, q, r) = (2, 3, 5), (5, 3, 3) and (7,5,2)(7, 5, 2).

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