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Algebra Difficulty 6.5 National olympiad Prove it Austria

We call a set of three numbers "arithmetic" if one of its elements is the arithmetic mean of the other two. Similarly, we call a set of three numbers "harmonic" if one of its elements is the harmonic mean of the other two. How many three element subsets of the set
{z2011<z<2011} \{z \mid -2011 < z < 2011\}
of integers are both arithmetic and harmonic?

Solution

Choosing an arithmetic set {u,v,w}\{u, v, w\}, we can assume that u<v<wu < v < w holds, and we can therefore write u=adu = a - d, v=av = a and w=a+dw = a + d with d>0d > 0. We now wish this set to also be harmonic. If some number qq is the harmonic mean of numbers pp and rr, we have 1p+1r=2q\frac{1}{p} + \frac{1}{r} = \frac{2}{q}, which is equivalent to qr2rp+pq=0qr - 2rp + pq = 0. If vv is the harmonic mean of uu and ww, this equation yields a(a+d)2(a+d)a+(ad)a=2d2=0a(a + d) - 2(a + d)a + (a - d)a = 2d^2 = 0, which means that all three elements of the set are equal, which is a contradiction. There can therefore be no such subsets. If ww is the harmonic mean of uu and vv, we obtain
(a+d)a2a(ad)+(ad)(a+d)=3add2=d(3ad)=0, (a+d)a - 2a(a-d) + (a-d)(a+d) = 3ad - d^2 = d(3a-d) = 0,
which yields d=3ad = 3a, since d=0d = 0 is not possible. We see that any set of the form {2a,a,4a}\{-2a, a, 4a\} has the required properties. Finally, if uu is the harmonic mean of vv and ww, we obtain (ad)(a+d)2(a+d)a+a(ad)=3add2=d(3a+d)=0(a-d)(a+d) - 2(a+d)a + a(a-d) = -3ad - d^2 = -d(3a+d) = 0, which yields d=3ad = -3a and therefore the same sets as the previous case. Since aa can assume any integer value not equal to 00 such that 2011<4a<2011-2011 < 4a < 2011, we have 502a502-502 \le a \le 502, and we see that there are 10041004 subsets with the required properties.

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