Skip to main content

2023 AMC 12B Problem 24

Problem 24 of 25HarderNumber Theory

Suppose that a,a, b,b, c,c, and dd are positive integers satisfying all of the following relations. abcd=263957lcm(a,b)=233253lcm(a,c)=233353lcm(a,d)=233353lcm(b,c)=213352lcm(b,d)=223352lcm(c,d)=223352 \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)?\gcd(a,b,c,d)?

Answer choices

Show solution

Solution

Handle each prime separately using the exponents of a,b,c,d.a,b,c,d. Prime 22 (total 66): max(b,c)=1\max(b,c)=1 forces a=3;a=3; then b+c+d=3b+c+d=3 with max(b,d)=max(c,d)=2\max(b,d)=\max(c,d)=2 gives d=2d=2 and {b,c}={0,1},\{b,c\}=\{0,1\}, so the minimum exponent is 0.0. Prime 33 (total 99): max(a,b)=2\max(a,b)=2 with the other lcms equal to 33 forces c=d=3;c=d=3; then a+b=3a+b=3 with max(a,b)=2\max(a,b)=2 gives {a,b}={1,2},\{a,b\}=\{1,2\}, so the minimum is 1.1. Prime 55 (total 77): max(a,b)=3\max(a,b)=3 with max(b,c),\max(b,c), max(b,d),max(c,d)=2\max(b,d),\max(c,d)=2 forces a=3;a=3; then b+c+d=4b+c+d=4 with each 2\le 2 and pairwise maxima 22 gives two of them equal to 22 and one equal to 0,0, so the minimum is 0.0. Therefore gcd(a,b,c,d)=203150=3.\gcd(a,b,c,d)=2^0\cdot 3^1\cdot 5^0=3. Thus, the correct answer is C.

More practice

Concepts: least common multiple · greatest common divisor · prime factorization

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.