Saturday, September 29, 2012


What is the coefficient of x33 in the expansion [(1+x)(1+3x3)(1+9x9)(1+27x27)]2?

 


Solution 1: Bringing the square in gives

(1+x+x+x2)(1+3x3+3x3+32x6)(1+9x9+9x9+92x18)(1+27x27+27x27+272x54)
Notice that in each factor, the power of x is 0, 1 or 2 times a power of 3. Since the base 3 representation of 33 is 10203, the only way to get x33 from this expansion is to use the term x27×x0×x6×x0. Hence, the coefficient of x33 is (2×27)×1×32×1=486.


Solution 2: Bring the square in as in Solution 1. Looking at the first three factors, the highest power we can achieve is 18+6+2=26<33, so we can't use the constant term in the fourth factor. We also can't use the x54 term in the fourth factor, thus the only possibility of achieving x33 is to use x27 in the fourth, and get x6 from the first three. Now consider the third factor, we can't use x9 or x18, so we have to use the constant term. From the first 2 factors, it is clear that we can only use 1from the first factor and x6 from the second factor. Hence, the coefficient of x33 is: 1×32×1×(2×27)=486.

algebra


How many ordered triples of pairwise distinct, positive integers (a,b,c) are there such that abc=106?
Clarification: Ordered triples - (1,10,105) and (105,10,1) count as different solutions.
Clarification: Pairwise distinct - a set of integers are pairwise distinct if no two of them are the same. For example, the set (1,1,106) is NOT pairwise distinct, hence does not count as a solution.

Set a=2a15a2,b=2b15b2,c=2c15c2. We first count the number of triples without restriction. We seek the number of non-negative integer solutions to a1+b1+c1=6,a2+b2+c2=6. This is equivalent to arranging 6 1's with 2 0's (dividing blocks), thus there are (6+22) ways to solve either of the two equations. By the rule of product, there are (82)(82)=784 solutions in total.
If a=b, we seek the number of non-negative integer solutions to 2a1+c1=6,2a2+c2=6. For each equation, there are 4 solutions, corresponding to ai=0,1,2,3. By the product rule, there are 44=16 solutions in all. The cases b=c and c=a are exactly the same. If a=b=c, there is exactly 1 solution.
Let A,B, and C be the set of triples where b=c,c=a, and a=b, respectively. By the Principle of Inclusion and Exclusion, |ABC|=|A|+|B|+|C|−|AB|−|BC|−|CA|+|ABC|=16+16+16111+1=46. Hence, the number of triples with pairwise distinct values is 78446=738.