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Algebra Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let ζ=cos2π13+isin2π13\zeta=\cos \frac{2 \pi}{13}+i \sin \frac{2 \pi}{13}. Suppose a>b>c>da>b>c>d are positive integers satisfying ζa+ζb+ζc+ζd=3\left|\zeta^{a}+\zeta^{b}+\zeta^{c}+\zeta^{d}\right|=\sqrt{3} Compute the smallest possible value of 1000a+100b+10c+d1000 a+100 b+10 c+d.

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

Solution

We may as well take d=1d=1 and shift the other variables down by dd to get ζa+ζb+ζc+1=\left|\zeta^{a^{\prime}}+\zeta^{b^{\prime}}+\zeta^{c^{\prime}}+1\right|= 3\sqrt{3}. Multiplying by its conjugate gives (ζa+ζb+ζc+1)(ζa+ζb+ζc+1)=3(\zeta^{a^{\prime}}+\zeta^{b^{\prime}}+\zeta^{c^{\prime}}+1)(\zeta^{-a^{\prime}}+\zeta^{-b^{\prime}}+\zeta^{-c^{\prime}}+1)=3 Expanding, we get 1+x,yS,xyζxy=01+\sum_{x, y \in S, x \neq y} \zeta^{x-y}=0 where S={a,b,c,0}S=\{a^{\prime}, b^{\prime}, c^{\prime}, 0\}. This is the sum of 13 terms, which hints that SSS-S should form a complete residue class mod 13. We can prove this with the fact that the minimal polynomial of ζ\zeta is 1+x+x2++x121+x+x^{2}+\cdots+x^{12}. The minimum possible value of aa^{\prime} is 6, as otherwise every difference would be between -5 and 5 mod 13. Take a=6a^{\prime}=6. If b2b^{\prime} \leq 2 then we couldn't form a difference of 3 in SS, so b3b^{\prime} \geq 3. Moreover, 63=306-3=3-0, so 3S3 \notin S, so b=4b^{\prime}=4 is the best possible. Then c=1c^{\prime}=1 works. If a=6,b=4a^{\prime}=6, b^{\prime}=4, and c=1c^{\prime}=1, then a=7,b=5,c=2a=7, b=5, c=2, and d=1d=1, so the answer is 7521.

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