Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it Brazil

Emerald writes the integers from 11 to 99 in a 3×33 \times 3 table, one number in each cell, each number appearing exactly once. Then she computes eight sums: the sums of three numbers on each row, the sums of the three numbers on each column and the sums of the three numbers on both diagonals.

a. Show a table such that exactly three of the eight sums are multiples of 33.

b. Is it possible that none of the eight sums is a multiple of 33?

Solution

a.
For instance,

123
456
897

The trick is to only adjust the last row. The usual order 77, 88, 99 yields all sums to be multiple of 33, so it's just a matter of rearranging them.

b.
No, it's not possible. First, notice that the sum of three numbers xx, yy, zz is a multiple of 33 iff xyz(mod3)x \equiv y \equiv z \pmod{3} or xx, yy, zz are 00, 11, 22 mod 33 in some order. Let aa, bb, cc, dd be the numbers in the corner modulo 33. So two of them are equal. We can suppose wlog that they are either a=ba = b or a=da = d. Also, let xx be the number in the central cell modulo 33.

ab
x
cd

If a=da = d, then xax \neq a and xx is equal to either bb or cc. Suppose wlog x=bax = b \neq a. Then we have the following situation:
ab
b
ca

Let mm be the other remainder (that is, mam \neq a and mbm \neq b). Then mm cannot be in the same line as aa and bb. This leaves only one possibility:
ab
mb
mma

But the remaining aa will necessarily yield a line with all three remainders. Now if a=ba = b, then both cc and dd are different from aa (otherwise, we reduce the problem to the previous case). If dcd \neq c, aa, cc, dd are the three distinct remainders, and we have no possibility for xx. So c=dc = d.
aa
x
cc

But this prevents the other remainder mm to appear in the middle row, leaving only two cells for three numbers, which is not possible.
So, in both cases, one of the sums is a multiple of 33.

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