Problem of the Week 903

A Base Two-Three Representation

Call an integer a two-three integer if it is greater than 1 and has the form 2^a 3^b, where a >= 0 and b >= 0. Express 19992000 as a sum of two-three integers so that none of the summands divides another.

Source: Eighth Korean Mathematical Olympiad (Crux Math. Dec 1999)
© Copyright 2000 Stan Wagon. Reproduced with permission.


9 February 2000