Let $a,b$ and $c$ be positive integers, no two of which have a common divisor greater than $1$. Show that $2abc-ab-bc-ca$ is the largest integer which cannot be expressed in the form $xbc+yca+zab$, where $x,y,z$ are non-negative integers.
Problem
Source: IMO 1983, Day 1, Problem 3
Tags: modular arithmetic, number theory, Frobenius, Additive Number Theory, Additive combinatorics, IMO, IMO 1983
02.04.2006 09:50
This is a three variable expansion of the chicken mcnugget theorem. we can show easily that given positive integral relatively prime $a,b$ the highest number which can't be constructed as $ma + nb$ is equal to: (hope I remember this correctly) $ab-a-b$. The proof is relatively simple (if you think about it long enough, the problem doesn't need a proof). To show something like this, just use similar reasoning (but since its an IMO problem I'm guessing there will be some tricks).
02.04.2006 15:54
See : http://www.kalva.demon.co.uk/imo/isoln/isoln833.html . If someone is interested in another solution, just ask. Also, one can try to generalize this problem with $n$ integers $a_1, a_2, \ldots, a_n$ pairwise relatively prime and show that : \[ a_1a_2 \ldots a_n \left(n-1-\sum_{k=1}^n \frac 1{a_k} \right) \] is the greatest integer that can't be written as $\sum_{k=1}^n x_k \prod_{l \ne k} a_l$.
11.02.2013 02:28
03.06.2019 04:50
10.06.2019 18:36