Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /165 of 173

Algebra Difficulty 3.2 AMC 10/12 Find the answer

Three distinct integers a,b,a, b, and cc satisfy the following three conditions: abc=17955abc=17955, a,b,a, b, and cc form an arithmetic sequence in that order, and (3a+b),(3b+c),(3a+b), (3b+c), and (3c+a)(3c+a) form a geometric sequence in that order. What is the value of a+b+ca+b+c?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Since a,ba, b and cc form an arithmetic sequence in this order, then a=bda=b-d and c=b+dc=b+d for some real number dd. We note that d0d \neq 0, since otherwise we would have a=b=ca=b=c and then abc=17955abc=17955 would tell us that b3=17955b^{3}=17955 or b=179553b=\sqrt[3]{17955}, which is not an integer. Writing the terms of the geometric sequence in terms of bb and dd, we have 3a+b=3(bd)+b=4b3d3b+c=3b+(b+d)=4b+d3c+a=3(b+d)+(bd)=4b+2d3a+b=3(b-d)+b=4b-3d \quad 3b+c=3b+(b+d)=4b+d \quad 3c+a=3(b+d)+(b-d)=4b+2d. Since 3a+b,3b+c3a+b, 3b+c and 3c+a3c+a form a geometric sequence in this order, then 3b+c3a+b=3c+a3b+c\frac{3b+c}{3a+b} =\frac{3c+a}{3b+c}. Simplifying, we get 12b=7d12b=-7d and d=127bd=-\frac{12}{7}b. Therefore, a=bd=b(127b)=197ba=b-d=b-\left(-\frac{12}{7}b\right)=\frac{19}{7}b and c=b+d=b+(127b)=57bc=b+d=b+\left(-\frac{12}{7}b\right)=-\frac{5}{7}b. Since abc=17955abc=17955, then (197b)(b)(57b)=17955\left(\frac{19}{7}b\right)(b)\left(-\frac{5}{7}b\right)=17955 or 9549b3=17955-\frac{95}{49}b^{3}=17955 or b3=9261b^{3}=-9261 and so b=21b=-21. Thus, a=197b=197(21)=57a=\frac{19}{7}b=\frac{19}{7}(-21)=-57 and c=57b=57(21)=15c=-\frac{5}{7}b=-\frac{5}{7}(-21)=15. We can check that a=57,b=21a=-57, b=-21 and c=15c=15 have a product of 17955, that 57,21,15-57,-21,15 is indeed an arithmetic sequence (with common difference 36), and that 3a+b=1923a+b=-192, 3b+c=483b+c=-48, and 3c+a=123c+a=-12 form a geometric sequence (with common ratio 14\frac{1}{4}). Therefore, a+b+c=(57)+(21)+15=63a+b+c=(-57)+(-21)+15=-63.

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