Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Determine the numbers abc\overline{abc}, with a<b<ca < b < c, knowing that the remainders of divisions of the numbers abc,bca,cab\overline{abc}, \overline{bca}, \overline{cab} by 27 belong to the set {1,2,3,4,5}\{1, 2, 3, 4, 5\}.

Solution

The numbers abc,bca,cab\overline{abc}, \overline{bca}, \overline{cab} have the same sum of digits therefore they will have the same remainder rr when divided by 9.
Since the remainders modulo 27 are small, they are preserved modulo 9. Indeed if n=27k+rn = 27k + r, then n=93k+rn = 9 \cdot 3k + r, so rr will be a common remainder.
27 must divide the difference bcaabc=90b+9c99a=9(a+b+c)+81b108a=9(a+b+c)+27(3b4a)\overline{bca} - \overline{abc} = 90b + 9c - 99a = 9(a + b + c) + 81b - 108a = 9(a + b + c) + 27(3b - 4a), therefore 3a+b+c3 \mid a+b+c which implies r=3r = 3.

The numbers abcabc, with a<b<ca < b < c and a+b+c=12a+b+c = 12 are 129, 138, 147, 156, 237, 246 and 345. Only 138 and 246 have the remainder 3 modulo 27.
The numbers abcabc, with a<b<ca < b < c and a+b+c=21a + b + c = 21 are 489, 579 and 678. Convenient are 489 and 678.
In the end we have 4 solutions: 138, 246, 489 and 678.

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