Question

Suppose that $a,$ $b,$ $c,$ and $d$ are positive integers satisfying all of the following relations.

$\begin{aligned} abcd &= 2^6\cdot 3^9\cdot 5^7\\ \operatorname{lcm}(a,b) &= 2^3\cdot 3^2\cdot 5^3\\ \operatorname{lcm}(a,c) &= 2^3\cdot 3^3\cdot 5^3\\ \operatorname{lcm}(a,d) &= 2^3\cdot 3^3\cdot 5^3\\ \operatorname{lcm}(b,c) &= 2^1\cdot 3^3\cdot 5^2\\ \operatorname{lcm}(b,d) &= 2^2\cdot 3^3\cdot 5^2\\ \operatorname{lcm}(c,d) &= 2^2\cdot 3^3\cdot 5^2 \end{aligned}$

What is $\gcd(a,b,c,d)?$

$30$

$45$

$3$

$15$

$6$

Solution:

Handle each prime separately using the exponents of $a,b,c,d.$

Prime $2$ (total $6$ ): $\max(b,c)=1$ forces $a=3;$ then $b+c+d=3$ with $\max(b,d)=\max(c,d)=2$ gives $d=2$ and $\{b,c\}=\{0,1\},$ so the minimum exponent is $0.$

Prime $3$ (total $9$ ): $\max(a,b)=2$ with the other lcms equal to $3$ forces $c=d=3;$ then $a+b=3$ with $\max(a,b)=2$ gives $\{a,b\}=\{1,2\},$ so the minimum is $1.$

Prime $5$ (total $7$ ): $\max(a,b)=3$ with $\max(b,c),\max(b,d),\max(c,d)=2$ forces $a=3;$ then $b+c+d=4$ with each $\le 2$ and pairwise maxima $2$ gives two of them equal to $2$ and one equal to $0,$ so the minimum is $0.$

Therefore $\gcd(a,b,c,d)=2^0\cdot 3^1\cdot 5^0=3.$

Thus, the correct answer is C.

2023 AMC 12B Problem 24

Solution:

Problem 24 in Other Years