Mathematics PRMO/RMO – Chinese Remainder Theorem

1 Find the smallest multiple of 10 which has remainder 2 when divided by 3, and remainder 3 when divided by 7.
Solution:
Form first condition; n = 10k
Form 2nd condition; n 2 mod (3)
10k 2 mod (3)
k 2 mod (3)
min. k = 2
⇒ n = 20 + 30 m
From 3rd condition n 3 mod (7)
20 + 30m 3 mod (7)
6 + 2m 3 mod (7)
2m 4 mod (7)
m 2 mod (7)
Min. m = 2
⇒ n = 20 + 30 x 2 + 210 r
n = 80 + 210r
min. n = 80

2 (CHINA/2002) When a positive integer n is divided by 5,7,9,11,the remainders are 1,2,3,4 respectively. Find
the minimum value of n.
Solution:
Let n be the solution n  1 (mod 5) implies n = 5k + 1 for some non-negative integer k ;
Then n  2 (mod7) implies 5k  1 (mod 7), so minimum k is 3, i.e. n = 16 is the minimum n satisfying the first
two equations.
Then n = 16 + 35m is the general form of n.
The requirement n  3 (mod 9)
⇒16 + 35m  3 (mod 9) and
Its minimum solution is m = 4, so n = 156 + 315p, for some p
Finally, from the fourth requirement n  4 (mood11), we obtain 2 + 315 p 4(mod 11), so 7p 2 (mod 11), i.e.
 p = 5 Thus,
N = 156 + 315 × 5 = 1731

3 (CHINA/2003)) Find the integer solutions of the equation 6xy + 4x – 9y – 7 = 0.

Solution:
By factorization, 6xy + 4x – 9y – 6 = (2x – 3)(3y + 2), so the given equation becomes
(2x – 3)(3y + 2) = 1.
If 2x – 3 = 1 & 3y + 2 = 1, then y has no integer solution.
If 2x – 3 = –1& 3y + 2 = –1, then x = 1, y = –1.
By checking, (1,–1)satisfies the original equation, so it is the unique solution for (x; y).

4 (CHNMOL/2005) p, q are two integers, and the two roots of the equation in
p 2 + 11 15
x2 − x + ( p + q ) + 16 = 0 are p and q also. Find the values of p and q.
9 4
Solution:
Viete Theorem yields
p2 + 11
p+q = ......(i)
9
15
pq = ( p + q ) + 16......(ii)
4
Then p + q > 0 and pq> 0 from given equations, so p, q are both positive integers.
From (ii)
16pq – 60(p + q) = 162
 (4p – 15)(4q – 15) = 256 + 225 = 481
Since 481 = 1 × 481 = 13 × 37 = (–1) × (–481) = (–13) × (–37), and 4p – 15 or 4q – 15
cannot be –37 or –481, so the pair (4p – 15; 4q – 15) has the following four possible cases:
(1; 481); (481; 1); (13; 37); (37; 37).
Corresponding to them, the pairs of (p; q) are(4; 124); (124; 4); (7; 13); (13; 7):
By checking, only the pair (13; 7) satisfies the original system: the equation becomes x − 20x + 91 = 0 and its
2

roots are (13; 7). Thus, the solution for (p; q) is (13; 7).

5 (KIEV/1962) Prove that the equation x2 + y2 = 3z2has no integer solution (x; y; z) ≠ (0; 0; 0).
Solution:
First of all it can be shown that, if an integer solution (x; y; z) is not (0; 0; 0), then there must be
such an integer solution with (x; y) = 1.
Suppose that (x; y; z) ≠ (0; 0; 0) is an integer solution with (x; y) = d > 1, letting
x = dx1 , y = dy1 , with (x1 , y1 ) = 1
.
 Then the original equation becomes d
2
(x 2
1 + y12 ) = 3z 2 ,so d 2 | 3z 2 . Since the indices of 3 in d 2 and z 2 are both

even so (d2,3) = 1 and d2 |z2, i.e.d| z. Let z = dz1, then x1 + y1 = 3z1 . Thus (x1, y1, z1) ≠ (0; 0; 0) is an integer
2 2 2

solution of the given equation also, and x; y; z are relatively prime pair wise. Hence, it suffices to show that the
given equation has no non-zero integersolutions (x; y; z) with (x; y) = 1.Suppose that (x; y; z) is such a solution,
then x; y cannot be divisible by 3 and x2 + y2 2 (mod 3), a contradiction. Thus, the conclusion is proven.

1260
6 (CHINA/2003) Given that is a positive integer, where a is a positive integer. Find the value of a
a +a −6
2

Solution:
a2 + a –6 = (a–2) (a+3) implies that (a-2) and (a+3) are both factors of 1260, and their difference
is 5. Since 1260 = 22 x 32 x 5 x 7, where the pairs of two factors with the difference 5 are (1,6),(2,7),(4,9),(7,12)
and (9,14). Thus
a –2 = 1,2,4,7,9 i.e. a = 3,4,6,9,11

7 (CHINA/2001) How many number of pairs (x; y) of two integers satisfy the equationx2 –y2 = 12?
Solution:
The original equation yields (x –y) (x+y) = 12. Since x – y andx + y have the same parity, and
12 = 2 × 6 = (–2) × (–6), so there are four systems of simultaneous equations :

x − y = 2, x − y = 6, x − y = 2, x − y = −6,
   
x + y = 6, x + y = 2, x + y = 6, x + y = −2,
From which four solutions are obtained i.e. (4, 2): (4,–2) ; (–4,–2) and (–4,2).

(SSSMO(J)/2004) Let x; y; z and w represent four distinct positive integers such that x − y = z − w = 81 .
2 2 2 2
8
Find the value of xz + yw + xw + yz.
Solution:
The given equations give (x–y) (x+y) = 34 and (z–w) (z+w) = 34 .
Since x –y < x + y and z –w < z + w
If two of the four numbers x –y, x + y, z –w, z + w have equal values, then the other two must be equal also,
and it must be the case that x –y = z –w and x + y = z + w, but then it implies that
y –w = x –z = w –y, i.e. y =w, a contradiction. Thus x –y, x + y, z –w, z + w must be four be four distinct values
and further they are the four distinct factors of 34 with x + y , z + w being the larger two factors and x – y, z –w
being the smaller two. Since 34 = 3 x 1 = 33 x 3, so
xz + yw + xw + yz = ( x+y) (z+w) = 34 .33 = 37 = 2187
 15 3 2
9 (CHINA/2003) Find the number of non-zero integer solutions (x; y) to the equation 2
+ − =2
x y xy x
Solution:
By eliminating the denominators, the given equation becomes

15 + 3x – 2xy = 2x2y

2x2 y– 3x + 2xy – 15 = 0,
(2xy –3) (x+1) = 12 = 1x12 = –1 × –12 = 3.4 = (–3) × (–4)
Since 2xy –3 is odd, hence there are four possible systems :

2xy − 3 = 1, 2xy − 3 = −1,

 
x + 1 = 12, x + 1 = −12,
2xy − 3 = 3, 2xy − 3 = −3,
 
x + 1 = 4, x + 1 = −4,
The first second and the fourth system have no integer solutions, the third system has the solution x = 3, y = 1.
Thus there is exactly one integer solution x = 3, y = 1
x 14
10 (CHINA/2001) Find the number of positive integer solutions to the equation + =3
3 y
Solution:
Simplify the equation to the form xy + 42 = 9y, then
42
y=
9−x
y is a positive integer implies that 9 –x is a positive divisor of 42, so
9–x = 1,2,3,6,7, i.e. = 8,7,6,3,2
Correspondingly, y = 42,21, 14, 7, 6.
By checking the give solutions satisfy the original equation, so the answer is 5.

2 3 1
11 (CHINA/2001) Find the number of positive integer solutions of the equation − =
x y 4
Solution:
The given yields 8y –12x = xy, so xy + 12x –8y –96 = –96, i.e.
(x –8) (y + 12) = –96
Since y + 12 ≥13 and ––7 ≤ x – 8 < 0, there are give possible cases to be considered:
 x − 8 = −1, x − 8 = −2,
 
 y + 12 = 96,  y + 12 = 48, x − 8 = −3

 x − 8 = −4  x − 8 = −6 y + 12 = 32
 
 y + 12 = 24,  y + 12 = 16,
From them five positive integer solutions are obtained easily:
(7,84), (6,36), (5,20), (4, 12), (2,4)
Thus the answer is 5

(SSSMO/2005) How many ordered pairs of integers (x; y) satisfy the equation x + y = 2 ( x + y ) + xy?
2 2
12
Solution:
By rewriting the equation in the form x2 – (2+y) x +y2 – 2y = 0, and considering it as a quadratic equation in x (y
is considered as a constant in its range), then the equation has integer solutions in x , so its Discriminant is a
perfect square.

 = (2 + y ) − 4 ( y 2 − 2y ) = 4 + 12y − 3y2 = 16 − 3( y − 2 ) = n2
2 2

16
For some integer n, it follows that ( y − 2 ) 
2
,so
3
4 4
−3  − 3  y −2  3 3
3 3
Thus, y maybe 0,1,2,3,4
When y = 0, then x2 – 2x = 0 so x = 0 or 2
When y = 1 or 3, then  = 13 which is not a perfect square
When y = 2, then x2 – 4x = 0, so x = 0 or 4
When y = 4, then x2 – 6x + 8 = 0, so x = 2 or 4
Thus, there are a total of 6 desired pairs

(SSSMO/2003) Let p be a positive prime number such that the equation x − px − 580p = 0 has two integer
2
13
solutions. Find the value of p.
Solution:
Suppose that the two integral roots of the given equation are m and n. Then by Viete Theorem,
m + n = p, (i)
mn =–580 p (ii)
Therefore one of m and n is divisible by p. Without loss of generality, we assume that p |m.
Then m = kp for some integer k.
 (i) Yields n = (1–k)p. then
(ii) Yields (k –1) kp2 = 580 p, i.e. (k–1) kp = 580 = 4 × 5 × 29.
Thus p = 29

(USSR/1962) Prove that the only solution in integers of the equation x + y + z = 2xyz is x = y = z = 0.
2 2 2
14
Solution:
Since the sum of the squares is to be an even number, it may be reasoned that either all three of the numbers
x2,y2, z2 (hence also x,y,z) are even, or one of them is even and two are odd. But in the last event, the sum
would be divisible only by 2 and product 2xyz would be divisible by 4. Hence we must conclude that x,y and z
,must all be even : x = 2x1, y = 2y1, z = 2z1. If we substitute these into the given equation and divisible through
by 4, we obtain

x12 + y12 + z12 = 4x1 y1z1

As above, this equation implies that x1, y1 and z1 are all even numbers, and so can write
x1 = 2x2, y1= 2y2, z1 = 2z2, which yields the equation

x 22 + y22 + z22 = 23 x 2 y 2z2

Which in turn implies that x2,y2 and z2 are all even numbers, also continuation of this process leads to the
conclusion that the following set of numbers is all even:
x,y,z
x y z
x1 = ,y1 = ,z1 = ;
2 2 2
x y z
x 2 = ,y 3 = ,z2 = ;
4 4 2
x y z
x 3 = ,y 3 = ,z3 = ;
8 8 8
x y z
xk = k
,yk = k ,zk = k ;
2 2 2
(The numbers xk, yk, zk satisfy the equation xk2 + yk2 + zk2 = 2k +1 xk ykzk ) .

But this possible only if x = y = z = 0.

15 (CHINA/1993)The number of positive integer solutions (x, y, z) for the system of simultaneous
 xy + xz = 255
equations  is:
 xy + yz = 31
Option:
(a) 3 (b) 2 (c) 1 (d) 0
Answer: (b)
Solution:
The second equation leads to y = 1,x + z = 31 at once.
By substituting them into the first equation it follows that
x(1+31 - x) = 225
x2 – 32x + 255 = 0,
(x–15) (x –17) = 0
 x1 = 15, x2 = 17
Thus the solutions are x = 15, y = 1, z = 16 and x = 17, y = 1, z = 14.The answer is (B)