Meaners gonna mean mean mean.

Let a a and b b be two distinct, natural numbers such that their harmonic mean, geometric mean and arithmetic mean are all natural numbers. Find the minimum value of the arithmetic mean.


The answer is 25.

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4 solutions

David Vaccaro
Jul 16, 2014

Setting m = a + b 2 m=\frac{a+b}{2} , d = a b 2 = m b d=\frac{a-b}{2}=m-b and g = a b g=\sqrt{ab} it is easy to show that m 2 = g 2 + d 2 m^{2}=g^{2}+d^{2} , since the arithmetic mean, m m and geometric mean, g g are whole numbers ( d , g , m ) (d,g,m) is a Pythagorean triple.

So we must have d = k x , g = k y , m = k z d=kx, g=ky,m=kz where k k is a whole-number and ( x , y , z ) (x,y,z) is a co-prime Pythagorean triple.

Since the harmonic mean h h satisfies h = g 2 m h=\frac{g^2}{m} we can see that h = k y 2 z h=\frac{ky^{2}}{z} , which is a whole number only if k k is a multiple of z z . This means that m = r z 2 m=r z^{2} where r r is a whole number ( we also get that ( g = r x z , h = r y 2 , a = r z ( z + x ) , b = r z ( z x ) g=r x z, h=r y^{2}, a=r z(z+x), b=r z (z-x) ). The smallest value of m m will be from the smallest Pythagorean triple (3,4,5) and setting r = 1 r=1 , giving the smallest arithmetic mean is 25.

In general all values of a a and b b can be obtained from Pythagorean Triples.

Nice solution! I just wanted to point out a little typo. I think you meant to write h = g 2 m h=\frac{g^2}{m} instead of h = g 2 a h=\frac{g^2}{a}

bob hemajabalobin - 6 years, 11 months ago

Let g c d ( a , b ) = m gcd(a, b)=m . Then, there exist distinct positive integers x , y x, y such that a = x m a=xm and b = y m b=ym with g c d ( x , y ) = 1 gcd(x, y)=1 .

Analyzing the harmonic mean, we notice that: 2 a b a + b = 2 m 2 x y m ( x + y ) = 2 m x y x + y \dfrac{2ab}{a+b}=\dfrac{2m^2xy}{m(x+y)}=\dfrac{2mxy}{x+y} . However, since g c d ( x + y , x ) = g c d ( x + y , y ) = 1 gcd(x+y, x)=gcd(x+y, y)=1 x + y 2 m 2 m = ( x + y ) g \Rightarrow{x+y|2m}\Rightarrow{2m=(x+y)g} , for some positive integer g g .

From the geometric mean, we can deduce: a b = m x y \sqrt{ab}=m\sqrt{xy} . But, x , y x, y are coprime, which implies both x x and y y are perfect squares.

Since we are looking for the minimum value, we will start checking individual, small cases for x x and y y , which will lead us to the minimum of a + b 2 \dfrac{a+b}{2} .

If x = 1 x=1 and y = 4 g = 2 y=4\Rightarrow{g=2} . Then, m = 5 a = 5 , b = 20 a + b 2 Z + m=5\wedge{a=5, b=20\Rightarrow{\dfrac{a+b}{2}\notin{\mathbb{Z}^+}}} .

g = 4 m = 10 a = 10 b = 40 g=4\Rightarrow{m=10\Rightarrow{a=10\wedge{b=40}}} a + b 2 = 25 \Rightarrow{\dfrac{a+b}{2}=25} .

If g = 1 x = 1 y = 9 m = 5 g=1\Rightarrow{x=1\wedge{y=9\Rightarrow{m=5}}} . This way, a = 5 b = 45 a + b 2 = 25 a=5\wedge{b=45\Rightarrow{\dfrac{a+b}{2}=25}} . We conclude then that the minimum value for a + b 2 \dfrac{a+b}{2} is 25 25 .

Checking all square numbers such that they can be factored into a distinct a a and b b and that a a and b b are either both even or both odd, otherwise it would not be even and the arithmetic mean would not be a natural number. Now the harmonic mean is 2 1 a + 1 b = 2 a + b a b = 2 a b a + b \frac2{\frac1a+\frac1b}=\frac2{\frac{a+b}{ab}}=\frac{2ab}{a+b} therefore a + b 2 a b a+b|2ab so we must check this condition. We can skip prime squares as they can only be written a single way. After a tedious search we arrive at 1 5 2 = 225 = 45 × 5 15^2=225=45\times5 . These two numbers satisfy our conditions and we simply compute the arithmetic mean which is 25 25 .

10 & 40 also satisfy the condition..

dhara jogi - 6 years, 11 months ago
Vinod Kumar
Aug 23, 2020

Use WolframAlpha Diophantine to find (40,10) and (45,5) as the pair with minimum mean of 25.

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