Sets of Glory

Find all sets of positive integers a , b , c a, b, c which satisfies the equation. Then, find the sum of the each set, and find the largest one and write it as answer.

1 a + 1 b + 1 c = 1 \dfrac{1}{a} + \dfrac{1}{b} + \dfrac{1}{c} = 1


The answer is 11.

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1 solution

Anish Harsha
Aug 25, 2015

First we can find all the sets.( Assuming a b c a \le b \le c )
We can consider how small could a a be ?
First, set a = 1 a = 1 . This will not work because it nothing for 1 b a n d 1 c \dfrac{1}{b} and \dfrac{1}{c} .
Set a = 2 a = 2 and try values for b b ( with b b is greater than 2) :
If b = 2 b = 2 , then 1 c = 0 \dfrac{1}{c} = 0 , which isn't good.
If b = 3 b = 3 , then c = 6 c = 6 , which works.
If b = 4 b = 4 , then c = 4 c = 4 , which works.
Then, set a = 3 a = 3 and try the values for b b :
If b = 3 b = 3 , then c = 3 c = 3 , which works.
Finally, If a = 4 a = 4 , then b b and c c should be a \le a , so we no need to look further.
So, we found that the sets are ( 2 , 3 , 6 ) (2, 3, 6) , ( 2 , 4 , 4 ) ( 2, 4, 4) and ( 3 , 3 , 3 ) (3, 3, 3) .
So, the sum of a, b and c of the sets are :
2 + 3 + 6 = 11
2 + 4 + 4 = 10
3 + 3 + 3 = 9


Then, the largest is 11.

The assumption should be a b c a \le b \le c .

Janardhanan Sivaramakrishnan - 5 years, 9 months ago

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Yes, I know, but i don't know how to put it .

Anish Harsha - 5 years, 9 months ago

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The LaTeX code to get \le is \ l e \backslash le

Janardhanan Sivaramakrishnan - 5 years, 9 months ago

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@Janardhanan Sivaramakrishnan Thanks, I've edited it .

Anish Harsha - 5 years, 9 months ago

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