Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /2 of 4

, 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
aNbc+b+cbNca+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 aNbc+b+ca \mid Nbc + b + c becomes xdNyz+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
xyzx<2xyzx<<(xy)xyzx. 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 ixyzxjxyzx(modxy)ixyz - \sum x \equiv jxyz - \sum x \pmod{\sum xy}, then also xyijxyz\sum xy \mid |i - j|xyz, whence i=ji = j, since we have 0ij<xy0 \le |i - j| < \sum xy and gcd(xyz,xy)=1\gcd(xyz, \sum xy) = 1. Therefore there will exist some (unique) 1txy1 \le t \le \sum xy such that xytxyzx\sum xy \mid txyz - \sum x, i.e. txyzx=Cxytxyz - \sum x = C \sum xy for some positive integer CC, therefore txyz=Cxy+xtxyz = C \sum xy + \sum x, so xCyz+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(CC)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 aNbc+b+ca \mid Nbc + b + c, and the similar others, equivalent to xdNyz+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 ede \mid d, so eC+Mxyze \mid C + Mxyz. But then we also must have exyz(C+Mxyz)xy+xe \mid xyz \mid (C + Mxyz) \sum xy + \sum x, hence exe \mid \sum x.
Conversely, if exe \mid \sum x, then exyz(C+Mxyz)xy+xe \mid xyz \mid (C + Mxyz) \sum xy + \sum x, so eCxye \mid C \sum xy. Since clearly gcd(e,xy)=1\gcd(e, \sum xy) = 1, this means eCe \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 MCe(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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