Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it Soviet Union

Problem:
Prove that any 39 successive natural numbers include at least one whose digit sum is divisible by 11.

Solution

Solution:
Let nn be the smallest number in the sequence and mm the smallest with last digit 00. mm and m+10m+10 have different digit sums unless (possibly) the penultimate digit of mm is 99, but in that case m+10m+10 and m+20m+20 have different digit sums. So two of mm, m+10m+10, m+20m+20 are sure to have different digit sums. Hence at least one has a digit sum not congruent to 1(mod11)1 \pmod{11}. Adding the appropriate final digit gives a number whose digit sum is divisible by 1111. This number lies in the range mm to m+29m+29 and mn+9m \leq n+9. Hence the result. n=999981n=999981 shows it is best possible.

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