This and that

Let m m be the largest integer that equals the product of its units digit and the sum of its digits, and let n n be the largest integer that equals the product of its leading digit and the sum of its digits.

Find n m n - m .


The answer is 3.

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1 solution

A quick overview of a solution ....

Clearly m = 1 m=1 works, so now look at two-digit integers a b ab .

We require that b ( a + b ) = 10 a + b b ( a + b 1 ) = 10 a b∗(a+b)=10a+b⟹b∗(a+b-1)=10a . Testing out combinations of a , b a,b gives us 45 45 and 24 24 as the only possible numbers, and so 45 45 is the largest such two-digit number. With 3 3 -digit numbers a b c abc the largest possible product is 9 27 = 243 9∗27=243 , so we only need to look at the cases where a = 1 a=1 and a = 2 a=2 . Thus we need to look for any solutions to

c ( b + c ) = 10 ( b + 10 ) c∗(b+c)=10∗(b+10) and c ( b + c + 1 ) = 10 ( b + 20 ) c∗(b+c+1)=10∗(b+20) ,

where each of b b and c c are between 0 0 and 9 9 inclusive.

There are no such solutions to either equation.

Since 9 36 = 324 9∗36=324 there can be no such 4 4 -digit integers, and in fact there can be no k k -digit integers, k 4 k≥4 , that meet the requirements. Thus m = 45 m = 45 .

Looking now for n n , a similar approach reveals that 48 48 is the largest 2 2 -digit integer. Now again since 9 27 = 243 9*27 = 243 , the largest potential 3 3 -digit integer will have a leading digit of 2 2 , yielding a largest possible product of the leading digit and the sum of the digits of 2 ( 2 + 3 + 9 ) = 28 2*(2 + 3 + 9) = 28 , i.e., a two-digit number.

Thus n = 48 n = 48 , and so n m = 48 45 = 3 n - m = 48 - 45 = \boxed{3} .

I was surprised that they were so close together.

Calvin Lin Staff - 6 years, 9 months ago

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So was I. That revelation was what prompted me to post the question.

Brian Charlesworth - 6 years, 9 months ago

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