a) A number m is called mirror-symmetry if it is possible to divide the reverse decimal expansion of m into some blocks such that the multiply of these blocks is equal to m. For instance, numbers 6, 543 and 21 are such blocks for number 123456, if the multiply of these 3 numbers was equal to 123456, we would call it a mirror-symmetry number. Find all mirror-symmetry numbers with decimal digits of {1,2,3}.
b) A number m is called good if it is possible to divide m itself into some blocks with multiply of m/7. Prove that there are infinitely many good numbers.
Solution
a) For any number A, let A be the reverse decimal expansion of A. Assume that A=AnAn−1⋯A1 is a mirror-symmetry number with m digits, all from {1,2,3}, and An,An−1,…,A1 are blocks of A with number of digits mn,…,m1 such that A=An×An−1×⋯×A1. Note that for all 1≤i≤n, we have Ai≤mi333⋯33=310mi−1. On the other hand, A≥m111⋯11=910m−1. Therefore we obtain 910m−1≤310mn−1×⋯×310m1−1. If n≥2 we have 3n−2(10m−1)≤(10mn−1)(10mn−1−1)⋯(10m1−1)<10mn×10mn−1×⋯×10m2×(10m1−1)<10mn+mn−1+⋯+m1−1=10m−1. Which is impossible. Therefore n=1. So the only possible case is when A=A, that means A 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} satisfy the conditions.
b) This part is a test of effort! Note that if we could find a good number m=A1A2⋯An where Ai's are blocks of m such that 7m=A1×⋯×An, then 10m is also a good number because 710m=A1×⋯×An0. Therefore m,10m,100m,… are all good numbers. So indeed, we just need to find a single good number. Now if we start to check the multiplies of 7 one by one, we shall finally reach 7×45=315 that for which 7315=3×15. Therefore by putting m=315, we can find infinitely many good numbers, {315,3150,31500,…}.
■
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.