Question

Find the number of triples of nonnegative integers $(a, b, c)$ satisfying $a + b + c = 300$ and $\begin{aligned} &a^2 b + a^2 c \\ &\quad {}+ b^2 a + b^2 c \\ &\quad {}+ c^2 a + c^2 b = 6{,}000{,}000. \end{aligned}$

Answer

Answer: 601

Concepts:Diophantine Equation factoring symmetry (algebra)

Difficulty rating: 3060

Solution:

The left side is the symmetric sum $(a + b + c)(ab + bc + ca)$ $- 3abc = 300q - 3p,$ where $q = ab + bc + ca$ and $p = abc.$ So the condition is $100q - p = 2{,}000{,}000.$ Now expand $\begin{gathered} (100 - a)(100 - b)(100 - c) \\ = 10^6 - 10^4 (a + b + c) \\ \quad {}+ 100q - p \\ = (100q - p) - 2 \cdot 10^6, \end{gathered}$ using $a + b + c = 300.$ The condition holds exactly when this product is $0,$ that is, when at least one of $a, b, c$ equals $100.$

If $a = 100,$ then $b + c = 200,$ giving $201$ triples, and likewise for $b$ and $c:$ $3 \cdot 201 = 603.$ A triple counted more than once has two variables equal to $100,$ which forces the third to be $100$ as well; the triple $(100, 100, 100)$ is counted three times, so the total is $603 - 2 = 601.$

2024 AIME II Problem 11

Answer: 601

Difficulty rating: 3060

Solution:

Problem 11 in Other Years