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MCIII Number Theory 1.13
Hello,
Hello! I tried many methods for 1.13, but I can't figure out how to do it. I tried multiplying to get ab=b^2, bc=c^2, ac=a^2 and other similar manipulations with the equations. How do you solve this problem?
Thank you,
Tina Jin
This one is a little confusing because there is so much symmetry, so let's try to take advantage of that.
Note that the order of the solutions doesn't matter, so to start assume $a \leq b \leq c$. Then consider what the mod statements say:
- $a \equiv b \pmod{c}$ so $b-a$ is a multiple of $c$.
- $b\equiv c \pmod{a}$ so $c-b$ is a multiple of $a$.
- $c\equiv a \pmod{b}$ so $c-a$ is a multiple of $b$.
Note since we assumed $a \leq b \leq c$ we know all the differences ($b-a$, $c-b$, $c-a$) are non-negative. As a hint, think about 1. above. How can $b-a$ be a multiple of $c$ if both $b$ and $a$ are less than $c$? This should get you started.
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