2004 AMC 12B Problems/Problem 22
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Problem
The square

is a multiplicative magic square. That is, the product of the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal is the same. If all the entries are positive integers, what is the sum of the possible values of
?
Solution
If the power of a prime
other than
divides
, then from
it follows that
, but then considering the product of the diagonals,
but
, contradiction. So the only prime factors of
are
and
.
It suffices now to consider the two magic squares comprised of the powers of
and
of the corresponding terms. These satisfy the normal requirement that the sums of rows, columns, and diagonals are the same, owing to our rules of exponents; additionally, all terms are non-negative.

So
, so
. Indeed, we have the magic squares


Again, we get
. However, if we let
, then
, which obviously gives us a contradiction, and similarly for
. For
, we get

In conclusion,
can be
, and their sum is
.
See also
| 2004 AMC 12B (Problems • Resources) | ||
| Preceded by Problem 21 | Followed by Problem 23 | |
| 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 | ||





