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2003 AMC 12B Problem 18

Problem 18 of 25IntermediateNumber Theory

Let xx and yy be positive integers such that 7x5=11y13.7x^5 = 11y^{13}. The minimum possible value of xx has a prime factorization acbd.a^c b^d. What is a+b+c+d?a + b + c + d?

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Solution

For the minimum x,x, neither xx nor yy has prime factors other than 77 and 11.11. Write x=7c11d,x = 7^c 11^d, so 7x5=75c+1115d.7x^5 = 7^{5c+1} 11^{5d}. Writing y=7m11n,y = 7^m 11^n, we need 75c+1115d=713m1113n+1.7^{5c+1}11^{5d} = 7^{13m}11^{13n+1}. Matching exponents: 5c+10(mod13)5c + 1 \equiv 0 \pmod{13} gives the least c=5,c = 5, and 5d1(mod13)5d \equiv 1 \pmod{13} gives the least d=8.d = 8. So a=7,a = 7, b=11,b = 11, and a+b+c+d=7+11+5+8=31. \begin{aligned} &a + b + c + d \\ &= 7 + 11 + 5 + 8 = 31. \end{aligned} Thus, the correct answer is B.

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Concepts: prime factorization · modular arithmetic

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