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Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Argentina

A natural number is written on each face of a cube. To each vertex of the cube assign the product of the numbers of the three faces that have this vertex in common. Let the sum of these 8 products be 315. Determine the sum of the numbers on the faces (find all possibilities).

Solution

Let the numbers on the pair of opposite faces be a1,a2,b1,b2,c1,c2a_1, a_2, b_1, b_2, c_1, c_2. Note that a1a_1 participates in 4 products: a1b1c1,a1b1c2,a1b2c1,a1b2c2a_1b_1c_1, a_1b_1c_2, a_1b_2c_1, a_1b_2c_2. Likewise a2a_2 participates in the remaining 4 products and in a completely analogous fashion the products are a2b1c1,a2b1c2,a2b2c1,a2b2c2a_2b_1c_1, a_2b_1c_2, a_2b_2c_1, a_2b_2c_2. It follows that the 8 products have sum

a1(b1c1+b1c2+b2c1+b2c2)+a2(b1c1+b1c2+b2c1+b2c2)=(a1+a2)(b1+b2)(c1+c2). a_1(b_1c_1 + b_1c_2 + b_2c_1 + b_2c_2) + a_2(b_1c_1 + b_1c_2 + b_2c_1 + b_2c_2) = (a_1 + a_2)(b_1 + b_2)(c_1 + c_2).

Then by hypothesis (a1+a2)(b1+b2)(c1+c2)=315(a_1 + a_2)(b_1 + b_2)(c_1 + c_2) = 315. Note that each factor on the left is greater than 1.
Thus a1+a2,b1+b2,c1+c2a_1 + a_2, b_1 + b_2, c_1 + c_2 are divisors of 315 that are greater than 1 and have product 315.
Conversely, let d1,d2,d3d_1, d_2, d_3 be divisors of 315 with these properties. Since di>1d_i > 1, one can write
d1=a1+a2,d2=b1+b2,d3=c1+c2d_1 = a_1 + a_2, d_2 = b_1 + b_2, d_3 = c_1 + c_2 with a1,a2,b1,b2,c1,c2a_1, a_2, b_1, b_2, c_1, c_2 natural numbers. Place them on the faces of the cube (so that the aia_i's are on opposite faces; the same for the bib_i's and the cic_i's). Then, by the above, the sum of the 8 vertex products aibjcka_i b_j c_k equals (a1+a2)(b1+b2)(c1+c2)=d1d2d3=315(a_1 + a_2)(b_1 + b_2)(c_1 + c_2) = d_1 d_2 d_3 = 315.

Note that the representations d1=a1+a2,d2=b1+b2,d3=c1+c2d_1 = a_1 + a_2, d_2 = b_1 + b_2, d_3 = c_1 + c_2 can be chosen in different ways. But the sum a1+a2+b1+b2+c1+c2a_1 + a_2 + b_1 + b_2 + c_1 + c_2 which we are interested in is the same, equal to d1+d2+d3d_1 + d_2 + d_3 and depending only on the triple of divisors d1,d2,d3d_1, d_2, d_3 with the properties stated above.
In this way the question reduces to finding all factorizations 315=d1d2d3315 = d_1d_2d_3 with factors di>1d_i > 1. All solutions to the problem are the respective sums D=d1+d2+d3D = d_1 + d_2 + d_3. Since 315=3257315 = 3^2 \cdot 5 \cdot 7, consider two cases. If one of the did_i's be divisible by 32=93^2 = 9 then it is immediate that the factorization is 5795 \cdot 7 \cdot 9 and D=5+7+9=21D = 5 + 7 + 9 = 21. Otherwise two did_i's are exactly divisible by 3, and it is clear that one of them is in fact equal to 3. It remains to factorize 3573 \cdot 5 \cdot 7 into two factors greater than 1, which can be done in 3 ways: 157315 \cdot 7 \cdot 3, 353535 \cdot 3 \cdot 5, 2121. Hence the remaining possibilities for admissible factorizations of 315 are 31573 \cdot 15 \cdot 7, 33533 \cdot 35 \cdot 3, 5215 \cdot 21. They yield respectively D=25,41,29D = 25, 41, 29. In summary the answer to the problem is 21, 25, 29, and 41.

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