Number theoryDifficulty 5.2AIME, harderFind the answer
Suppose that m and n are positive integers with m<n such that the interval [m,n) contains more multiples of 2021 than multiples of 2000. Compute the maximum possible value of n−m.
A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.
Solution
Let a=2021 and b=2000. It is clear that we may increase y−x unless both x−1 and y+1 are multiples of b, so we may assume that our interval is of length b(k+1)−1, where there are k multiples of b in our interval. There are at least k+1 multiples of a, and so it is of length at least ak+1. We thus have that ak+1≤b(k+1)−1⟹(a−b)k≤b−2⟹k≤⌊a−bb−2⌋ So, the highest possible value of k is 95, and this is achievable by the Chinese remainder theorem, giving us an answer of 191999.
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