Maths Olympiad Prep

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Problem 798

AMC 12 late, AIME early
Algebra Difficulty 4.4 Find the answer HMMT November · United States · 2015

James writes down three integers. Alex picks some two of those integers, takes the average of them, and adds the result to the third integer. If the possible final results Alex could get are 4242, 1313, and 3737, what are the three integers James originally chose?

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

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Official solution

Solution:
Let xx, yy, zz be the integers. We have
x+y2+z=42y+z2+x=13x+z2+y=37 \begin{aligned} & \frac{x+y}{2} + z = 42 \\ & \frac{y+z}{2} + x = 13 \\ & \frac{x+z}{2} + y = 37 \end{aligned}
Adding these three equations yields 2(x+y+z)=922(x+y+z) = 92, so x+y+z=46x+y+z = 46.

Now, from x+y2+z=42\frac{x+y}{2} + z = 42:
x+y2+z=42x+y=2(42z) \frac{x+y}{2} + z = 42 \\ \Rightarrow x+y = 2(42 - z) \\
But x+y+z=46x+y+z = 46, so x+y=46zx+y = 46 - z.

Set equal:
46z=2(42z)46z=842z2zz=8446z=38 46 - z = 2(42 - z) \\ 46 - z = 84 - 2z \\ 2z - z = 84 - 46 \\ z = 38

Now x+y=4638=8x+y = 46 - 38 = 8.

From x+z2+y=37\frac{x+z}{2} + y = 37:
x+z2+y=37x+z=2(37y) \frac{x+z}{2} + y = 37 \\ x+z = 2(37 - y) \\
But x+z=(x+y+z)y=46yx+z = (x+y+z) - y = 46 - y.

Set equal:
46y=2(37y)46y=742y2yy=7446y=28 46 - y = 2(37 - y) \\ 46 - y = 74 - 2y \\ 2y - y = 74 - 46 \\ y = 28

Now x=462838=20x = 46 - 28 - 38 = -20.

Therefore, the three integers are 20-20, 2828, 3838.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty, ordering) added by this project.