2011 AIME II Problem 14

Attempt Problem 14 of the 2011 AIME II below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 2011 AIME II solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

14.

There are NN permutations (a1,a2,,a30)(a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_{30}) of 1,2,,301, 2, \ldots, 30 such that for m{2,3,5},m \in \{2, 3, 5\}, mm divides an+mana_{n+m} - a_n for all integers nn with 1n<n+m30.1 \le n \lt n + m \le 30. Find the remainder when NN is divided by 1000.1000.

Answer: 440
Concepts:Chinese Remainder Theoremmodular arithmeticpermutations
Difficulty rating: 3270
Solution:

For each m{2,3,5},m \in \{2, 3, 5\}, the condition an+man(modm)a_{n+m} \equiv a_n \pmod{m} means the residue of ana_n modulo mm depends only on nmodm,n \bmod m, defining a map σm\sigma_m from residues to residues. Each residue class of positions has 30m\frac{30}{m} members, and so does each residue class of values; if σm\sigma_m sent two position classes to the same value class, that class's 30m\frac{30}{m} values would have to fill 60m\frac{60}{m} positions, which is impossible. So each σm\sigma_m is a permutation of the residues modulo m.m.

Conversely, by the Chinese remainder theorem each position n{1,,30}n \in \{1, \ldots, 30\} corresponds to a unique triple (nmod2,nmod3,nmod5),(n \bmod 2,\, n \bmod 3,\, n \bmod 5), and likewise for values. Any choice of permutations (σ2,σ3,σ5)(\sigma_2, \sigma_3, \sigma_5) therefore determines a unique valid permutation of 1,,30,1, \ldots, 30, sending the position triple to the prescribed value triple.

Hence N=2!3!5!=1440,N = 2! \cdot 3! \cdot 5! = 1440, and the remainder upon division by 10001000 is 440.440.

← Problem 13#13
Full Exam

Problem 14 in Other Years