Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 6 / 115 of 400 #1115 of 2000

Problem 1115

National olympiad, first round
Number theory Difficulty 6.2 Find the answer caucasus_mathematical_olympiad

Find some four different natural numbers with the following property: if you add to the product of any two of them the product of the two remaining numbers. you get a prime number.

Official solution

To solve this problem, let's denote the four different natural numbers as a a , b b , c c , and d d . The condition given is that for any pair of these numbers, say (a,b) (a, b) , the expression:

ab+cd ab + cd

must be a prime number. Similarly, for the other pairs, the following expressions must also be prime numbers:

ac+bd ac + bd
ad+bc ad + bc
bc+ad bc + ad

Now, let's try choosing small, distinct natural numbers and checking these conditions. The reference answer provides the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 5. Let's verify:

### Calculations:

1. **Pair (1,2) (1, 2) :**

12+35=2+15=17(prime) 1 \cdot 2 + 3 \cdot 5 = 2 + 15 = 17 \quad (\text{prime})

2. **Pair (1,3) (1, 3) :**

13+25=3+10=13(prime) 1 \cdot 3 + 2 \cdot 5 = 3 + 10 = 13 \quad (\text{prime})

3. **Pair (1,5) (1, 5) :**

15+23=5+6=11(prime) 1 \cdot 5 + 2 \cdot 3 = 5 + 6 = 11 \quad (\text{prime})

4. **Pair (2,3) (2, 3) :**

23+15=6+5=11(prime) 2 \cdot 3 + 1 \cdot 5 = 6 + 5 = 11 \quad (\text{prime})

5. **Pair (2,5) (2, 5) :**

25+13=10+3=13(prime) 2 \cdot 5 + 1 \cdot 3 = 10 + 3 = 13 \quad (\text{prime})

6. **Pair (3,5) (3, 5) :**

35+12=15+2=17(prime) 3 \cdot 5 + 1 \cdot 2 = 15 + 2 = 17 \quad (\text{prime})

Each expression results in a prime number, thus validating our solution. Therefore, a set of four different natural numbers satisfying the given condition is:

1,2,3,5 \boxed{1, 2, 3, 5}

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