Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Find all solutions in positive integers a,b,ca, b, c to the equation a!=15b!+45c!a! = \frac{1}{5}b! + \frac{4}{5}c!.

Solution

There are trivial solutions when a=b=ca = b = c, and one non-trivial solution when a=2,b=3,c=1a = 2, b = 3, c = 1 as:
2!=2=15×6+45×1=15×3!+45×1! 2! = 2 = \frac{1}{5} \times 6 + \frac{4}{5} \times 1 = \frac{1}{5} \times 3! + \frac{4}{5} \times 1!
We will prove that there are no other solutions. If b=cb = c the equation becomes a!=b!a! = b! and we must have a=ba = b, which gives the trivial solution.

Suppose that bcb \neq c. Then, as a!a! is a weighted average of b!b! and c!c!, then a!a! lies strictly between b!b! and c!c!. As the factorial is a strictly increasing function, this implies aa lies strictly between bb and cc, and in particular max{b,c}a+1\max\{b, c\} \geq a+1. This gives
a!=b!+4c!5>b!+c!5>(a+1)!5=a+15a! a! = \frac{b! + 4c!}{5} > \frac{b! + c!}{5} > \frac{(a+1)!}{5} = \frac{a+1}{5}a!
Dividing by a!a! and multiplying by 5 gives 5>a+15 > a + 1 whence a{1,2,3}a \in \{1, 2, 3\}. The case a=1a = 1 is excluded, since aa strictly exceeds the lesser of the positive integers bb and cc.

The case a=2a = 2 leads to b!+4c!=10b! + 4c! = 10, so c!<104c! < \frac{10}{4} and c2c \le 2. The sub-case c=1c = 1 gives the non-trivial solution above, while c=2c = 2 is not possible as aa is strictly between bb and cc.

When a=3a = 3, we have to solve b!+4c!=30b! + 4c! = 30. As c!<304c! < \frac{30}{4} we must have c3c \le 3. We cannot have c=3c = 3 because aa is strictly between bb and cc. When c=2c = 2 we should have b!+8=30b! + 8 = 30, and when c=1c = 1 we should have b!+4=30b! + 4 = 30, neither of which has a solution.

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