Maths Olympiad Prep

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Combinatorics Difficulty 3.6 AMC 10/12 Find the answer Philippines

Problem:

How many solutions does the equation x+y+z=2016x+y+z=2016 have, where xx, yy and zz are integers with x>1000x>1000, y>600y>600, and z>400z>400?

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Solution:

First, note that the equation is equivalent to (x1001)+(y601)+(z401)=13(x-1001)+(y-601)+(z-401)=13. Letting x=x1001x' = x-1001, y=y601y' = y-601, and z=z401z' = z-401, we can instead count the number of solutions of x+y+z=13x' + y' + z' = 13, where xx', yy', zz' are nonnegative integers. Now note that each solution (x,y,z)(x', y', z') to this equation corresponds to a way of choosing 13 items from a pile of objects of 3 types; the number of such choices is
(13+3113)=15!13!2!=105 \binom{13+3-1}{13} = \frac{15!}{13!2!} = 105

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