[Math] three distinct positive integers $a, b, c$ such that the sum of any two is divisible by the third

elementary-number-theory

I need to determine three distinct positive integers $a, b, c$ such
that the sum of any two is divisible by the third.

I tried like with out loss of generality let $a<b<c$

As, $a\mid (b+c)$ so $b+c=ak_1$ for some $k_1\in\mathbb{N}$ similarly $$a+b=k_2 c$$ $$a+c=k_3b$$ so adding them I get $k_1+k_2+k_3=2$, could anyone help me to proceed?

Best Answer

Since $0+0 < a + b < c + c = 2c$ and $ c | a + b $, hence $ a + b = c$.

Since $ a < b$, hence $ 2a < a+b =c < 2 b $.

Since $0+ b < a + c < b + 2b $, and $b|a+c$ hence $ a+c = 2b$.

Solving the system of equations, we get that $b=2a, c=3a$. It's easy to check that $\{a, 2a, 3a\}$ satisfies the conditions.

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