Anna's number is obtained by writing down $20$ consecutive positive integers, one after another in arbitrary order. Bob's number is obtained in the same way, but with $21$ consecutive positive integers. Can they obtain the same number?
Problem
Source:
Tags: modular arithmetic
05.09.2011 18:03
take the first number from the first set and analyze what can happen with the digits of the next one.
05.09.2011 21:44
07.09.2011 03:19
I don't quite understand, so, suppose anna writes 3 numbers (1,2,3), so, is here number 123 (as in, one hundred and twenty three)? If so, isn't the problem trivial? (my hundredth post, yay!)
07.09.2011 05:29
I'm not sure how that trivializes the problem, and in any case, the problem clearly says that Anna's number is formed by writing $20$, not $3$, positive consecutive integers one after another in some order.
09.09.2011 03:01
That was a very stupid bit of phrasing on my part. Let us replace the numbers with Anna writing only $3$ consecutive integers one after another, and Bob writes down $4$ such numbers. So, lets say Anna writes down $123$ and Bob writes down $1230$, won't Bob's number always be larger no matter what you do? ($1230 > 123$)
09.09.2011 03:58
But what if the integers are $8,9,10$? Then the number in question is $8910$, a $4$-digit number.
11.09.2011 04:59
djmathman wrote: But what if the integers are $8,9,10$? Then the number in question is $8910$, a $4$-digit number. Ah, thank you very much. I was confusing digits and integers for some reason. And, whoever is rating the posts in this thread, I'm pretty sure my second question was legitimate, why was it marked as Poor(Spam)?
11.09.2011 05:22
Don't worry about post rating. It's abused way too often. EDIT: As in the case of this post and the last one.