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Fourth STARS OF MATHEMATICS COMPETITION, 2010

Number theory Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Let aa, bb, cc be given positive integers. Prove there exists some positive integer NN such that
a∣Nbc+b+cb∣Nca+c+a \begin{aligned} a &\mid Nbc + b + c \\ b &\mid Nca + c + a \end{aligned}

Solution

The necessity of having xx, yy, zz be pairwise co-prime is proved by, say, assuming gcd⁡(x,y)>1\gcd(x, y) > 1.
Then a∣Nbc+b+ca \mid Nbc + b + c becomes x∣dNyz+y+zx \mid dNyz + y + z, and so we must have gcd⁡(x,y)∣z\gcd(x, y) \mid z, absurd, since under this assumption it then follows gcd⁡(x,y)∣gcd⁡(x,y,z)=1\gcd(x, y) \mid \gcd(x, y, z) = 1.

On the other hand, if the co-primality condition holds, consider the integers
xyz−∑x<2xyz−∑x<⋯<(∑xy)xyz−∑x. xyz - \sum x < 2xyz - \sum x < \dots < (\sum xy) xyz - \sum x.
These ∑xy\sum xy integer numbers will yield different remainders modulo ∑xy\sum xy, since if ixyz−∑x≡jxyz−∑x(mod∑xy)ixyz - \sum x \equiv jxyz - \sum x \pmod{\sum xy}, then also ∑xy∣∣i−j∣xyz\sum xy \mid |i - j|xyz, whence i=ji = j, since we have 0≤∣i−j∣<∑xy0 \le |i - j| < \sum xy and gcd⁡(xyz,∑xy)=1\gcd(xyz, \sum xy) = 1. Therefore there will exist some (unique) 1≤t≤∑xy1 \le t \le \sum xy such that ∑xy∣txyz−∑x\sum xy \mid txyz - \sum x, i.e. txyz−∑x=C∑xytxyz - \sum x = C \sum xy for some positive integer CC, therefore txyz=C∑xy+∑xtxyz = C \sum xy + \sum x, so x∣Cyz+y+zx \mid Cyz + y + z et al. We found a suitable value CC for the triplet xx, yy, zz (for similar relations with the ones sought for aa, bb, cc). Then all the other suitable values must be of the form C′=C+MxyzC' = C + Mxyz, since we need have xyz∣(C′−C)∑xyxyz \mid (C' - C) \sum xy, while gcd⁡(xyz,∑xy)=1\gcd(xyz, \sum xy) = 1.

Now the time has come to analyze the last condition. In order to have a∣Nbc+b+ca \mid Nbc + b + c, and the similar others, equivalent to x∣dNyz+y+zx \mid dNyz + y + z et al., we need have dN=C+MxyzdN = C + Mxyz for some non-negative integer MM. Denote e=gcd⁡(d,xyz)e = \gcd(d, xyz); then e∣de \mid d, so e∣C+Mxyze \mid C + Mxyz. But then we also must have e∣xyz∣(C+Mxyz)∑xy+∑xe \mid xyz \mid (C + Mxyz) \sum xy + \sum x, hence e∣∑xe \mid \sum x.
Conversely, if e∣∑xe \mid \sum x, then e∣xyz∣(C+Mxyz)∑xy+∑xe \mid xyz \mid (C + Mxyz) \sum xy + \sum x, so e∣C∑xye \mid C \sum xy. Since clearly gcd⁡(e,∑xy)=1\gcd(e, \sum xy) = 1, this means e∣Ce \mid C. Therefore we need have deN=Ce+Mxyze\frac{d}{e}N = \frac{C}{e} + M\frac{xyz}{e}, and since clearly gcd⁡(de,xyze)=1\gcd(\frac{d}{e}, \frac{xyz}{e}) = 1, take M≡−Ce(xyze)−1(modd/e)M \equiv -\frac{C}{e}(\frac{xyz}{e})^{-1} \pmod{d/e}, wherefore de\frac{d}{e} divides Ce+Mxyze\frac{C}{e} + M\frac{xyz}{e}. Take now N=C+MxyzdN = \frac{C + Mxyz}{d} (of course, N′=N+MabcN' = N + Mabc also works).

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