Number theoryDifficulty 5.1AIME, harderProve itRomania
If a1,a2,…,a2017 are positive integers, show that the fraction 9(a1+a2)(a2+a3)…(a2016+a2017)(a2017+a1)−192017−7⋅32017+7 is reducible.
Solution
The last digit of 32017 is 3, so the last digit of the numerator is 5. (a1+a2)+(a2+a3)+⋯+(a2016+a2017)+(a2017+a1)=2(a1+a2+⋯+a2017). The sum of these 2017 nonnegative integers being even, one of the summands, and hence their product, is even, so the last digit of the number 9(a1+a2)(a2+a3)…(a2016+a2017)(a2017+a1) is 1, and the denominator is divisible by 10. Hence, the fraction can be simplified by 5.
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