Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it North Macedonia

Find all three digit numbers equal to the sum of the factorials of their digits.

Solution

100a+10b+c=a!+b!+c!100a + 10b + c = a! + b! + c!
a!+b!+c!<1000max(a,b,c)6(7!>1000, 6!<1000) a! + b! + c! < 1000 \Rightarrow \max(a, b, c) \le 6 \\ (7! > 1000,\ 6! < 1000)
Because a!+b!+c!>99a! + b! + c! > 99, one of the digits aa, bb, or cc has to be equal to 55 or 66 (since 4!+4!+4!<994! + 4! + 4! < 99).
If one of the digits is equal to 66, then a!+b!+c!>6!=720a! + b! + c! > 6! = 720, which is a contradiction.
Now max(a,b,c)=5\max(a, b, c) = 5. We have three cases:

a) 5bc5bc
This case is not possible because the largest number is 5!+5!+5!=360<5005! + 5! + 5! = 360 < 500.

b) a5ca5c
The largest number in this case is 4!+5!+5!=2644! + 5! + 5! = 264, so a=1a = 1 or a=2a = 2, i.e.
150, 1!+5!+0!150 150,\ 1! + 5! + 0! \neq 150
151, 1!+5!+1!151 151,\ 1! + 5! + 1! \neq 151
152, 1!+5!+2!152 152,\ 1! + 5! + 2! \neq 152
153, 1!+5!+3!153 153,\ 1! + 5! + 3! \neq 153
154, 1!+5!+4!154 154,\ 1! + 5! + 4! \neq 154
155, 1!+5!+5!155 155,\ 1! + 5! + 5! \neq 155
254, 2!+5!+4!<200 254,\ 2! + 5! + 4! < 200
255, 2!+5!+5!255 255,\ 2! + 5! + 5! \neq 255

c) ab5ab5
If a=1a = 1 or a=2a = 2, then the case is similar to b), i.e. solution is 1!+4!+5!=1451! + 4! + 5! = 145.

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