Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /1059 of 1394

, 2015

Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Let N=302015N = 30^{2015}. Find the number of ordered 4-tuples of integers (A,B,C,D){1,2,,N}4(A, B, C, D) \in \{1, 2, \ldots, N\}^4 (not necessarily distinct) such that for every integer nn, An3+Bn2+2Cn+DA n^3 + B n^2 + 2 C n + D is divisible by NN.

Solution

Solution:
Answer: 24

Note that n0=(n0)n^{0} = \binom{n}{0}, n1=(n1)n^{1} = \binom{n}{1}, n2=2(n2)+(n1)n^{2} = 2\binom{n}{2} + \binom{n}{1}, n3=6(n3)+6(n2)+(n1)n^{3} = 6\binom{n}{3} + 6\binom{n}{2} + \binom{n}{1} (generally see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_numbers_of_the_second_kind). Thus the polynomial rewrites as
6A(n3)+(6A+2B)(n2)+(A+B+2C)(n1)+D(n0), 6A \binom{n}{3} + (6A + 2B) \binom{n}{2} + (A + B + 2C) \binom{n}{1} + D \binom{n}{0},
which by the classification of integer-valued polynomials is divisible by NN always if and only if 6A6A, 6A+2B6A + 2B, A+B+2CA + B + 2C, DD are always divisible by NN.

We can eliminate BB and (trivially) DD from the system: it's equivalent to the system 6A0(modN)6A \equiv 0 \pmod{N}, 4A4C0(modN)4A - 4C \equiv 0 \pmod{N}, BA2C(modN)B \equiv -A - 2C \pmod{N}, D0(modN)D \equiv 0 \pmod{N}. So we want 121^2 times the number of (A,C)(A, C) with A0(modN/6)A \equiv 0 \pmod{N/6}, CA(modN/4)C \equiv A \pmod{N/4}. So there are N/(N/6)=6N/(N/6) = 6 choices for AA, and then given such a choice of AA there are N/(N/4)=4N/(N/4) = 4 choices for CC. So we have 6412=246 \cdot 4 \cdot 1^2 = 24 solutions total.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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