What is the smallest positive integer that cannot be written as the sum of two nonnegative palindromic integers?
Solution
We need to first prove that every positive integer less than 21 can be written as sum of two nonnegative palindromic integers. If is in the interval , then it can be written as . If is in the interval , it can be written as . In addition, 19 and 20 can be written as and , respectively. Second, we need to show that 21 cannot be expressed in such a way. Lets suppose with . It follows that has to be at least 11. Since , the only way for to be palindromic is that . However, this leads to , which is not a palindrome. Therefore, 21 is the smallest number that satisfy the problem condition.
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