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Algebra Difficulty 2.5 Junior Find the answer

The integer 636405 may be written as the product of three 2-digit positive integers. What is the sum of these three integers?

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

Solution

We begin by factoring the given integer into prime factors. Since 636405 ends in a 5, it is divisible by 5, so 636405=5×127281636405=5 \times 127281. Since the sum of the digits of 127281 is a multiple of 3, then it is a multiple of 3, so 636405=5×3×42427636405=5 \times 3 \times 42427. The new quotient (42427) is divisible by 7, which gives 636405=5×3×7×6061636405=5 \times 3 \times 7 \times 6061. We can proceed by systematic trial and error to see if 6061 is divisible by 11,13,17,1911,13,17,19, and so on. After some work, we can see that 6061=11×551=11×19×296061=11 \times 551=11 \times 19 \times 29. Therefore, 636405=3×5×7×11×19×29636405=3 \times 5 \times 7 \times 11 \times 19 \times 29. We want to rewrite this as the product of three 2-digit numbers. Since 3×5×7=1053 \times 5 \times 7=105 which has three digits, and the product of any three of the six prime factors of 636405 is at least as large as this, then we cannot take the product of three of these prime factors to form a two-digit number. Thus, we have to combine the six prime factors in pairs. The prime factor 29 cannot be multiplied by any prime factor larger than 3, since 29×3=8729 \times 3=87 which has two digits, but 29×5=14529 \times 5=145, which has too many digits. This gives us 636405=87×5×7×11×19636405=87 \times 5 \times 7 \times 11 \times 19. The prime factor 19 can be multiplied by 5 (since 19×5=9519 \times 5=95 which has two digits) but cannot be multiplied by any prime factor larger than 5, since 19×7=13319 \times 7=133, which has too many digits. This gives us 636405=87×95×7×11=87×95×77636405=87 \times 95 \times 7 \times 11=87 \times 95 \times 77. The sum of these three 2-digit divisors is 87+95+77=25987+95+77=259.

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