Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /5 of 23

Combinatorics Difficulty 4.7 AIME Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Is there a set A⊃{1,2,…,2004}A \supset \{1,2, \ldots, 2004\} of positive integers such that the product of its elements is equal to the sum of their squares?

Solution

Solution:
There exists. Let us take a0=1a_{0}=1, ai=2004!a0a1…ai−1−1a_{i}=2004!a_{0} a_{1} \ldots a_{i-1}-1, i≥1i \geq 1 and Ai={2,3,…,2004,a0,a1,…,ai}A_{i}=\{2,3, \ldots, 2004, a_{0}, a_{1}, \ldots, a_{i}\}, i≥0i \geq 0. Then
(∏a∈Ai−1a−∑a∈Ai−1a2)−(∏a∈Aia−∑a∈Aia2)−1=ai2−1−(ai−1)∏a∈Ai−1a=(ai−1)(ai+1−2004!a0a1…ai−1)=0 \begin{gathered} \left(\prod_{a \in A_{i-1}} a-\sum_{a \in A_{i-1}} a^{2}\right)-\left(\prod_{a \in A_{i}} a-\sum_{a \in A_{i}} a^{2}\right)-1 \\ \quad=a_{i}^{2}-1-\left(a_{i}-1\right) \prod_{a \in A_{i-1}} a \\ \quad=\left(a_{i}-1\right)\left(a_{i}+1-2004!a_{0} a_{1} \ldots a_{i-1}\right)=0 \end{gathered}
Hence
∏a∈Ana=∑a∈Ana2 for n=∏a∈A0a−∑a∈A0a2 \prod_{a \in A_{n}} a=\sum_{a \in A_{n}} a^{2} \text{ for } n=\prod_{a \in A_{0}} a-\sum_{a \in A_{0}} a^{2}

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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