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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

Find the maximum possible value of HMMTH \cdot M \cdot M \cdot T over all ordered triples (H,M,T)(H, M, T) of integers such that HMMT=H+M+M+TH \cdot M \cdot M \cdot T=H+M+M+T.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

If any of H,M,TH, M, T are zero, the product is 0. We can do better (examples below), so we may now restrict attention to the case when H,M,T0H, M, T \neq 0. When M{2,1,1,2}M \in\{-2,-1,1,2\}, a little casework gives all the possible (H,M,T)=(2,1,4),(4,1,2),(1,2,1),(1,2,1)(H, M, T)=(2,1,4),(4,1,2),(-1,-2,1),(1,-2,-1). If M=2M=-2, i.e. H4+T=4HTH-4+T=4 H T, then 15=(4H1)(4T1)-15=(4 H-1)(4 T-1), so 4H1{±1,±3,±5,±15}4 H-1 \in\{ \pm 1, \pm 3, \pm 5, \pm 15\} (only 1,+3,5,+15-1,+3,-5,+15 are possible) corresponding to 4T1{15,5,3,1}4 T-1 \in\{\mp 15, \mp 5, \mp 3, \mp 1\} (only +15,5,+3,1+15,-5,+3,-1 are possible). But H,TH, T are nonzero, we can only have 4H1{+3,5}4 H-1 \in\{+3,-5\}, yielding (1,2,1)(-1,-2,1) and (1,2,1)(1,-2,-1). If M=+2M=+2, i.e. H+4+T=4HTH+4+T=4 H T, then 17=(4H1)(4T1)17=(4 H-1)(4 T-1), so 4H1{±1,±17}4 H-1 \in\{ \pm 1, \pm 17\} (only 1,17-1,-17 are possible) corresponding to 4T1{±17,±1}4 T-1 \in\{ \pm 17, \pm 1\} (only 17,1-17,-1 are possible). But H,TH, T are nonzero, so there are no possibilities here. If M=1M=-1, i.e. H2+T=HTH-2+T=H T, then 1=(H1)(T1)-1=(H-1)(T-1), so we have H1{±1}H-1 \in\{ \pm 1\} and T1{1}T-1 \in\{\mp 1\}, neither of which is possible (as H,T0)H, T \neq 0). If M=+1M=+1, i.e. H+2+T=HTH+2+T=H T, then 3=(H1)(T1)3=(H-1)(T-1), so we have H1{±1,±3}H-1 \in\{ \pm 1, \pm 3\}. Since H,T0,H1{+1,+3}H, T \neq 0, H-1 \in\{+1,+3\}, yielding (2,1,4)(2,1,4) and (4,1,2)(4,1,2). Now suppose there is such a triple (H,M,T)(H, M, T) for M3|M| \geq 3. The equation in the problem gives (M2H\left(M^{2} H-\right. 1) (M2T1)=2M3+1\left(M^{2} T-1\right)=2 M^{3}+1. Note that since H,T0,2M3+1=M2H1M2T1min(M2H, T \neq 0,\left|2 M^{3}+1\right|=\left|M^{2} H-1\right| \cdot\left|M^{2} T-1\right| \geq \min \left(M^{2}-\right. 1,M2+1)2=M42M2+1>2M3+1\left.1, M^{2}+1\right)^{2}=M^{4}-2 M^{2}+1>2|M|^{3}+1 gives a contradiction.

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