Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 5 / 214 of 400 #814 of 1964

Problem 814

AIME late
Number theory Difficulty 5.4 Find the answer

(2003 British Mathematical Olympiad) Find all positive integers a,b,ca, b, c satisfying (a!)⋅(b!)=a!+b!+c!(a!) \cdot(b!)=a! + b! + c!.

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

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Official solution

Without loss of generality, assume a⩾ba \geqslant b, then the original equation becomes a!=a!b!+1+c!b!a!=\frac{a!}{b!}+1+\frac{c!}{b!}.
Since the three terms a!,a!b!,1a!, \frac{a!}{b!}, 1 in the above equation are integers, it follows that c⩾bc \geqslant b.
Since each term on the right side is a positive integer, their sum is at least 3. Therefore, a⩾3a \geqslant 3, and a!a! is even. Thus, a!b!\frac{a!}{b!} and c!b!\frac{c!}{b!} have exactly one term that is odd.
(1) Assume a!b!\frac{a!}{b!} is odd, then either a=ba=b, or a!b!=b+1\frac{a!}{b!}=b+1 and b+1b+1 is odd, a=b+1a=b+1.
(i) If a=ba=b, then a!=2+c!a!a!=2+\frac{c!}{a!},
When a=3a=3, we have b=3,c=4b=3, c=4,
When a>3a>3, since a!−2≡−2( mod 3)a!-2 \equiv-2(\bmod 3), so
c=a+1c=a+1 or a+2a+2 (otherwise c!a!=0( mod 3)\frac{c!}{a!}=0(\bmod 3)).
c!a!=a+1\frac{c!}{a!}=a+1 or (a+1)(a+2)(a+1)(a+2),
a!=(a+3)a!=(a+3) or (a+1)(a+2)+2(a+1)(a+2)+2,
When a=4a=4 or 5, it does not satisfy (1).
When a⩾6a \geqslant 6, it is clear that the left side of (1) is greater than the right side, so the original equation has no solution.
(ii) If a=b+1a=b+1, where bb is even,
then the original equation becomes (b+1)!=b+2+c!b!(b+1)!=b+2+\frac{c!}{b!},
Taking both sides modulo b+1b+1 gives c!b!≡−1( mod (b+1))\frac{c!}{b!} \equiv-1(\bmod (b+1)).
Since a!b!\frac{a!}{b!} is odd, c!b!\frac{c!}{b!} is even, hence c>bc>b.
Thus, c!b!≡0( mod (b+1))\frac{c!}{b!} \equiv 0(\bmod (b+1)), which is a contradiction.
(2) Assume a!b!\frac{a!}{b!} is even, c!b!\frac{c!}{b!} is odd, then c=bc=b or c=b+1c=b+1 (bb is even).
(i) If c=bc=b, then the equation becomes (a!)⋅(b!)=(a!)+2×(b!)(a!) \cdot(b!)=(a!)+2 \times(b!),
So a!b!(b!−1)=2\frac{a!}{b!}(b!-1)=2. Hence a!b!=2,b!−1=1\frac{a!}{b!}=2, b!-1=1.
Thus b=2,a!=4b=2, a!=4, which is a contradiction.
(ii) If c=b+1c=b+1, then the equation becomes (a!)(b!)=(a!)+(b+2)(b!)(a!)(b!)=(a!)+(b+2)(b!).
So (a!)(b!−1)=(b+2)(b!)(a!)(b!-1)=(b+2)(b!).
Since (b!,b!−1)=1(b!, b!-1)=1, it follows that (b!−1)∣b+2(b!-1) \mid b+2.
Since bb is even, so b=2,a!=8b=2, a!=8, which is impossible.
In conclusion, the original equation has a unique solution a=3,b=3,c=4a=3, b=3, c=4.

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