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Algebra Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Prove it Estonia

Mari chooses five distinct positive integers not greater than 20212021. From these five numbers, it must be possible to choose two numbers with sum 19191919 in two different ways. Likewise, from these five numbers, it must be possible to choose two numbers with sum 29292929 in two different ways. Find all possibilities of which five numbers Mari may choose.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Answer: 1,908,1011,1918,20211, 908, 1011, 1918, 2021 is the only possibility.

Let (a,1919a)(a, 1919 - a) and (b,1919b)(b, 1919 - b) be the two pairs of numbers with sum 19191919. If these sums had a common addend then both addends would be the same whence the choices of two numbers would not be different. Thus a,b,1919aa, b, 1919 - a and 1919b1919 - b are pairwise distinct. Let xx be the fifth chosen number; then the total sum of chosen numbers is 3838+x3838 + x.

Similarly, we see that the five numbers must be representable as c,2929c,d,2929d,yc, 2929 - c, d, 2929 - d, y; their total sum is 5858+y5858 + y. From 3838+x=5858+y3838 + x = 5858 + y, one gets xy=2020x - y = 2020. The only possibility for satisfying the latter equality is x=2021,y=1x = 2021, y = 1. Hence one of a,b,1919a,1919ba, b, 1919 - a, 1919 - b equals 11 and one of c,d,2929c,2929dc, d, 2929 - c, 2929 - d is 20212021; w.l.o.g., a=1a = 1 and c=2021c = 2021. Then the set of chosen numbers contains also 19191=19181919 - 1 = 1918 and 29292021=9082929 - 2021 = 908. W.l.o.g., b=908b = 908. The last chosen number must be 1919908=10111919 - 908 = 1011.

Solution 2

Let the chosen numbers be a,b,c,d,ea, b, c, d, e. W.l.o.g., a+b=1919a + b = 1919. If the other way to obtain 19191919 as the sum of two chosen numbers used either aa or bb as addend then the other addend would have to be bb or aa, respectively, which is not allowed. Hence, w.l.o.g., c+d=1919c + d = 1919.

Similarly, one must use four distinct numbers to get 29292929 as the sum of two chosen numbers in two different ways. If these four numbers were a,b,c,da, b, c, d, then a+b=c+d=1919a + b = c + d = 1919 implies a+b+c+d=3838a + b + c + d = 3838 while also a+b+c+d=2929+2929=5858a + b + c + d = 2929 + 2929 = 5858. The contradiction shows that one must use the number ee in at least one pair of numbers with sum 29292929. W.l.o.g., d+e=2929d + e = 2929. The other pair of numbers with sum 29292929 must use exactly two numbers among a,b,ca, b, c, but a+b=1919a + b = 1919. Hence, w.l.o.g., b+c=2929b + c = 2929.

These equalities together imply b=1919ab = 1919 - a, c=2929b=1010+ac = 2929 - b = 1010 + a, d=1919c=909ad = 1919 - c = 909 - a and e=2929d=2020+ae = 2929 - d = 2020 + a. The latter implies a=1a = 1 and e=2021e = 2021. Substituting a=1a = 1 into the other equalities gives b=1918b = 1918, c=1011c = 1011 and d=908d = 908.

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