Sylvia chose positive integers and . Peter determined the value of and got an answer of 101. Paul determined the value of and got an answer of 68. Mary determined the value of and got an answer of . What is the value of ?
Solution
Since is a positive integer and is a positive integer, then is a positive integer. In other words, is a multiple of . Similarly, since is a positive integer and is a positive integer, then is a multiple of . Thus, we can write and for some positive integers and . Therefore, becomes and becomes . Adding these new equations gives or and so . Since , then is a divisor of 169. Since , then the positive divisors of 169 are . Since are positive integers, then and . Since neither nor can equal 1, then . Finally, and so .
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