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Algebra Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it JBMO

Problem:

Decipher the equality
(VERIA):(GRE+ECE)=GRE (\overline{V E R}-\overline{I A}):(\overline{G R E}+\overline{E C E})=G^{R^{E}}
assuming that the number GREECE\overline{G R E E C E} has a maximum value. It is supposed that each letter corresponds to a unique digit from 0 to 9 and different letters correspond to different digits, and also that all letters G,E,VG, E, V and II are different from 0. Also, the notation ana1a0\overline{a_{n} \ldots a_{1} a_{0}} stands for the number an10n++101a1+a0a_{n} \cdot 10^{n}+\cdots+10^{1} \cdot a_{1}+a_{0}.

Solution

Solution:

Denote
x=VERIA,y=GRE+ECE,z=GRE x=\overline{V E R}-\overline{I A}, \quad y=\overline{G R E}+\overline{E C E}, \quad z=G^{R^{E}}
Then obviously, we have
(201+131 or 231+101)y(879+969 or 869+979 or. 769+989)332y184810298x987104x977, \begin{aligned} & (201+131 \text{ or } 231+101) \leq y \leq (879+969 \text{ or } 869+979 \text{ or. } 769+989) \\ \Rightarrow \quad & 332 \leq y \leq 1848 \Rightarrow 102-98 \leq x \leq 987-10 \Rightarrow 4 \leq x \leq 977, \end{aligned}
hence it follows that
41848xy=z9773321z2 \frac{4}{1848} \leq \frac{x}{y}=z \leq \frac{977}{332} \Rightarrow 1 \leq z \leq 2
This shows that z=GRE{1,2}z=G^{R^{E}} \in\{1,2\}. Hence, if R1R \geq 1, then RE1R^{E} \geq 1, which implies that 2GREG2 \geq G^{R^{E}} \geq G. Thus, if R1R \geq 1, then it must be G2G \leq 2. In view of this and the assumption of the problem that the number GREECE\overline{G R E E C E} has a maximum value, we will consider the case when R=0R=0 hoping to get a solution with G>2G>2. Then GRE=G0=1G^{R^{E}}=G^{0}=1 for all digits GG and EE with 1G,E91 \leq G, E \leq 9, and therefore, the above equality becomes
VERIA=GRE+ECE \overline{V E R}-\overline{I A}=\overline{G R E}+\overline{E C E}
which substituting R=0R=0, can be written as
VEO=GOE+ECE+IA \overline{V E O}=\overline{G O E}+\overline{E C E}+\overline{I A}
Now we consider the following cases:

Case 1: G=9G=9. Then V8V \leq 8, so VE0900\overline{V E 0} \leq 900, while the right hand side of (1) is greater than 900. This is impossible, and no solution exists in this case.

Case 2: G=8G=8. Then (14) becomes
VE0=80E+ECE+IA \overline{V E 0}=\overline{80 E}+\overline{E C E}+\overline{I A}
hence it immediately follows that V=9V=9. For V=9V=9, (15) becomes
9E0=80E+ECE+IA \overline{9 E 0}=\overline{80 E}+\overline{E C E}+\overline{I A}
Notice that for E2E \geq 2, the right hand side of (16) is greater than 1000, while the left hand side of (16) is less than 1000. Therefore, it must be E1E \leq 1, that is, E=1E=1 in view of the fact that R=0R=0. Substituting E=1E=1 into (16), we get
910=801+1C1+IA \overline{910}=\overline{801}+\overline{1 C 1}+\overline{I A}
hence it follows that
109=1C1+IA 109=\overline{1 C 1}+\overline{I A}
But the right hand side of (18) is greater than 121. This shows that G=8G=8 does not lead to any solution.

Case 3: G=7G=7. Then (14) becomes
VEO=70E+ECE+IA \overline{V E O}=\overline{70 E}+\overline{E C E}+\overline{I A}
Thus it must be V8V \geq 8.

Subcase 3(a): V=8V=8. Then (19) gives
8E0=70E+ECE+IA \overline{8 E 0}=\overline{70 E}+\overline{E C E}+\overline{I A}
hence we immediately obtain E=1E=1 (since the right hand side of (6) must be less than 900). For E=1E=1, (20) reduces to
109=1C1+IA 109=\overline{1 C 1}+\overline{I A}
which is impossible since 1C1121\overline{1 C 1} \geq 121.

Subcase 3(b): V=9V=9. Then (19) gives
9E0=70E+ECE+IA \overline{9 E 0}=\overline{70 E}+\overline{E C E}+\overline{I A}
hence we immediately obtain E2E \leq 2 (since the right hand side of (7) must be less than 1000). For E=2E=2, (22) reduces to
218=2C2+IA 218=\overline{2 C 2}+\overline{I A}
which is impossible since 2C2232\overline{2 C 2} \geq 232. Finally, for E=1E=1, (22) reduces to
209=1C1+IA 209=\overline{1 C 1}+\overline{I A}
Since it is required that the number GREECE\overline{G R E E C E} has a maximum value, taking C=8C=8 into (24) we find that
28=IA 28=\overline{I A}
which yields 8=A=C8=A=C. This is impossible since must be ACA \neq C. Since CG=7C \neq G=7, then taking C=6C=6 into (24) we obtain
48=IA 48=\overline{I A}
hence we have I=4I=4 and A=8A=8. Previously, we have obtained G=7,R=0,V=9,E=1G=7, R=0, V=9, E=1 and C=6C=6. For these values, we obtain that GREECE=701161\overline{G R E E C E}=701161 is the desired maximum value.

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