Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it

The last digit of the number x2+xy+y2x^2 +xy+y^2 is zero (where xx and yy are positive integers). Prove that two last digits of this numbers are zeros.

Solution

To prove that if the last digit of the number x2+xy+y2 x^2 + xy + y^2 is zero, then the last two digits of this number are zeros, we will proceed as follows:

1. Understanding the Problem:
- We are given that the last digit of x2+xy+y2 x^2 + xy + y^2 is zero. This implies that x2+xy+y20(mod10) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{10} .
- We need to show that x2+xy+y20(mod100) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{100} .

2. Prime Factorization of 10:
- Note that 10=2×5 10 = 2 \times 5 . Therefore, x2+xy+y20(mod10) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{10} implies x2+xy+y20(mod2) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{2} and x2+xy+y20(mod5) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{5} .

3. Divisibility by 2:
- Since x2+xy+y20(mod2) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{2} , we know that x x and y y must both be even or both be odd. This is because the sum of squares and a product of integers will be even if and only if all terms are even or all terms are odd.

4. Divisibility by 5:
- Since x2+xy+y20(mod5) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{5} , we need to consider the possible values of x x and y y modulo 5. We will use the fact that the quadratic residues modulo 5 are 0,1,4 0, 1, 4 .

5. Combining the Conditions:
- We need to show that x x and y y must be such that x2+xy+y20(mod25) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{25} as well. This will ensure that x2+xy+y20(mod100) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{100} .

6. Detailed Calculation:
- Consider x0(mod5) x \equiv 0 \pmod{5} and y0(mod5) y \equiv 0 \pmod{5} . Then x=5a x = 5a and y=5b y = 5b for some integers a a and b b .
- Substituting these into the expression, we get:
x2+xy+y2=(5a)2+(5a)(5b)+(5b)2=25a2+25ab+25b2=25(a2+ab+b2) x^2 + xy + y^2 = (5a)^2 + (5a)(5b) + (5b)^2 = 25a^2 + 25ab + 25b^2 = 25(a^2 + ab + b^2)
- Since 25(a2+ab+b2) 25(a^2 + ab + b^2) is clearly divisible by 25, it follows that x2+xy+y20(mod25) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{25} .

7. Conclusion:
- Since x2+xy+y20(mod4) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{4} and x2+xy+y20(mod25) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{25} , by the Chinese Remainder Theorem, we have x2+xy+y20(mod100) x^2 + xy + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{100} .

Therefore, the last two digits of x2+xy+y2 x^2 + xy + y^2 are zeros.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.