Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Find the answer

Find the number of ordered triples of nonnegative integers (a,b,c)(a, b, c) that satisfy (ab+1)(bc+1)(ca+1)=84(ab+1)(bc+1)(ca+1)=84.

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

Solution

The solutions are (0,1,83)(0,1,83) and (1,2,3)(1,2,3) up to permutation. First, we do the case where at least one of a,b,ca, b, c is 0. WLOG, say a=0a=0. Then we have 1+bc=84bc=831+bc=84 \Longrightarrow bc=83. As 83 is prime, the only solution is (0,1,83)(0,1,83) up to permutation. Otherwise, we claim that at least one of a,b,ca, b, c is equal to 1. Otherwise, all are at least 2, so (1+ab)(1+bc)(1+ac)53>84(1+ab)(1+bc)(1+ac) \geq 5^{3}>84. So WLOG, set a=1a=1. We now need (b+1)(c+1)(bc+1)=84(b+1)(c+1)(bc+1)=84. Now, WLOG, say bcb \leq c. If b=1b=1, then (c+1)2=42(c+1)^{2}=42, which has no solution. If b3b \geq 3, then (b+1)(c+1)(bc+1)4210=160>84(b+1)(c+1)(bc+1) \geq 4^{2} \cdot 10=160>84. So we need b=2b=2. Then we need (c+1)(2c+1)=21(c+1)(2c+1)=21. Solving this gives c=3c=3, for the solution (1,2,3)(1,2,3). Therefore, the answer is 6+6=126+6=12.

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