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Algebra Difficulty 7.3 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Iran

a) A number mm is called mirror-symmetry if it is possible to divide the reverse decimal expansion of mm into some blocks such that the multiply of these blocks is equal to mm. For instance, numbers 66, 543543 and 2121 are such blocks for number 123456123456, if the multiply of these 33 numbers was equal to 123456123456, we would call it a mirror-symmetry number. Find all mirror-symmetry numbers with decimal digits of {1,2,3}\{1, 2, 3\}.

b) A number mm is called good if it is possible to divide mm itself into some blocks with multiply of m/7m/7. Prove that there are infinitely many good numbers.

Solution

a) For any number AA, let A\overleftarrow{A} be the reverse decimal expansion of AA. Assume that A=AnAn1A1A = \overline{A_nA_{n-1}\cdots A_1} is a mirror-symmetry number with mm digits, all from {1,2,3}\{1, 2, 3\}, and An,An1,,A1A_n, A_{n-1}, \dots, A_1 are blocks of AA with number of digits mn,,m1m_n, \dots, m_1 such that
A=An×An1××A1. A = \overleftarrow{A_n} \times \overleftarrow{A_{n-1}} \times \dots \times \overleftarrow{A_1}.
Note that for all 1in1 \le i \le n, we have
Ai33333mi=10mi13. \overleftarrow{A}_i \le \underbrace{333\cdots33}_{m_i} = \frac{10^{m_i} - 1}{3}.
On the other hand,
A11111m=10m19. A \ge \underbrace{111\cdots11}_{m} = \frac{10^m - 1}{9}.
Therefore we obtain
10m1910mn13××10m113. \frac{10^m - 1}{9} \le \frac{10^{m_n} - 1}{3} \times \dots \times \frac{10^{m_1} - 1}{3}.
If n2n \ge 2 we have
3n2(10m1)(10mn1)(10mn11)(10m11)<10mn×10mn1××10m2×(10m11)<10mn+mn1++m11=10m1. \begin{aligned} 3^{n-2}(10^m - 1) &\le (10^{m_n} - 1)(10^{m_{n-1}} - 1)\cdots(10^{m_1} - 1) \\ &< 10^{m_n} \times 10^{m_{n-1}} \times \cdots \times 10^{m_2} \times (10^{m_1} - 1) \\ &< 10^{m_n+m_{n-1}+\cdots+m_1} - 1 = 10^m - 1. \end{aligned}
Which is impossible. Therefore n=1n=1. So the only possible case is when A=AA = \overleftarrow{A}, that means AA is a Palindromic number (a number that remains the same when its digits are reversed). Clearly, all Palindromic numbers with digits of {1,2,3}\{1, 2, 3\} satisfy the conditions.

b) This part is a test of effort! Note that if we could find a good number m=A1A2Anm = \overline{A_1A_2\cdots A_n} where AiA_i's are blocks of mm such that
m7=A1××An, \frac{m}{7} = A_1 \times \cdots \times A_n,
then 10m10m is also a good number because
10m7=A1××An0. \frac{10m}{7} = A_1 \times \cdots \times \overline{A_n 0}.
Therefore m,10m,100m,m, 10m, 100m, \dots are all good numbers. So indeed, we just need to find a single good number. Now if we start to check the multiplies of 77 one by one, we shall finally reach 7×45=3157 \times 45 = 315 that for which
3157=3×15. \frac{315}{7} = 3 \times 15.
Therefore by putting m=315m = 315, we can find infinitely many good numbers, {315,3150,31500,}\{315, 3150, 31500, \dots\}.

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