Solutions $a,b,c \mid 1+a+b+c $ over positive integers algebraically (avoiding brute force)

diophantine equationsdivisibilityelementary-number-theorymodular arithmeticnumber theory

I arrived at the diophantine problem for $3$ positive integers that should maintain all 3 divisibilities jointly:
$$ a | 1+a+b+c \\\
b | 1+a+b+c \\\
c | 1+a+b+c \tag 1 \\\
$$

I tried putting up a matrix expression introducing positive integer parameters $(i,j,k)$
$$\begin{array}{} & \\
\begin{bmatrix}
-i&1&1 \\
1&-j&1 \\
1&1&-k \\
\end{bmatrix} & \cdot \begin{bmatrix} a\\b\\c \end{bmatrix}
=\begin{bmatrix} -1\\-1\\-1 \end{bmatrix}
\end{array} \tag 2 $$

but the fiddling with the occuring formulae using $(i,j,k)$ now is again not yet conclusive.

I didn't find another convincing ansatz towards a formula.

By brute force ($2\le a \le b \le c \le 120$) I found the following solutions (avoiding symmetries) for $[1,a,b,c]$

[1, a, b, c]
--------------
[1, 2, 2, 5]
[1, 2, 3, 6]
[1, 2, 6, 9]
[1, 3, 4, 4]
[1, 3, 8, 12]
[1, 4, 5, 10]        
[1, 6, 14, 21]       

Searching using eq(2) with $1\le i \le j \le k \le 32$ I got

[i, j, k] ---> [1, a,   b, c]  rotated
-------------------------------
[1, 2, 6] ---> [1,21,14, 6]      R
[1, 2, 7] ---> [1,12, 8, 3]      R
[1, 2, 8] ---> [1, 9, 6, 2]      R
[1, 2,11] ---> [1, 6, 4, 1]
[1, 3, 4] ---> [1,10, 5, 4]      R
[1, 3, 5] ---> [1, 6, 3, 2]      R
[1, 3, 7] ---> [1, 4, 2, 1]
[1, 4, 4] ---> [1, 5, 2, 2]      R
[1, 5, 5] ---> [1, 3, 1, 1]
[2, 2, 3] ---> [1, 4, 4, 3]      R
[2, 2, 5] ---> [1, 2, 2, 1]
[3, 3, 3] ---> [1, 1, 1, 1]

which are simply rotated versions or trivials (having $a or b or c=1$) which are excluded in the above list.

I guess these are all possible solutions, but don't find the argument…

Q1: How can I approach that problem algebraically?
Q2: is the number of solutions finite or infinite?
Q3.1: if the set of solutions is infinite is there a parametrization?
Q3.2: if the set of solutions is finite, what is that set?


update
In generalizing the problem towards [h,a,b,c] with $h \in \mathbb N^+$ I seem to get the full list of $14$ solutions (avoiding solutions with $\gcd()>1$ and rotations) which are

[h, a, b, c]         some interpretations 
--------------------------------------------
[1, 1, 1, 1]
[1, 1, 1, 3]
[1, 1, 2, 2]
[1, 1, 2, 4]
[1, 1, 4, 6]
[1, 2, 2, 5]          1+2+2=5:   5=5/1
[1, 2, 3, 6]        1+2=3:  3=1*3  6=2*3
[1, 2, 6, 9]        1+2=3:  6=2*3  9=3*3
[1, 3, 4, 4]        1+3=4:  4=1*4  4=1*4
[1, 3, 8, 12]       1+3=4:  8=2*4 12=3*4
[1, 4, 5, 10]       1+4=5:  5=1*5 10=2*5
[1, 6, 14, 21]      1+6=7: 14=2*7 21=3*7
[2, 3, 3, 4]          2+3+3=8:  4=8/2
[2, 3, 10, 15]      2+3=5: 10=2*5 15=3*5

A bit context: this is a detail-problem in an earlier question where I explore the general conditions in the Lehmer's totient problem. In the earlier question I've considered a three-variable $(R,S,T)$ diophantine system, and looked at solutions of the form $(R,S,T)=(R^1,R^a,R^b)$ Here I generalize it to $4$ variables and solutions of $(Q,R,S,T)=(Q^1,Q^a,Q^b,Q^c)$ resp. $(Q,R,S,T)=(Q^h,Q^a,Q^b,Q^c)$ ($\gcd(h,a,b,c)=1$) and determine the solutions in terms of $(1,a,b,c)$ resp. $(h,a,b,c)$. I'll later generalize to more variables but first I want to get some grip about the general limitations and whereabouts – at best in a form which support later generalizations…

Best Answer

Because of symmetry, you can assume that $a\leq b\leq c$, then we have $$ck= 1+a+b+c \implies k\leq 4$$

  • If $\boxed{k=1}$ we have $c=1+a+b+c$ a contradiction

  • If $\boxed{k=2}$ we have $2c=1+a+b+c$ so $c= 1+a+b$. Then $b\mid 2+2a+2b$ so $b\mid 2+2a$ so $mb = 2a+2\leq 4b\implies m\leq 4$ and now is easy to check all 4 subscases...

    • If $m=1$ we get $b=2a+2\implies a\mid 2+2a+4a+4\implies a\mid 6$...
    • If $m=2$ we get $b=a+1\implies a\mid 2+2a+2a+2\implies a\mid 4$...
    • If $m=3$ we get $3b=2a+2\leq 2b+2\implies b\leq 2$ so $b=2$ and $a=2$.
    • If $m=4$ we get $4b=2a+2 \leq 2b+2\implies b=1$

  • If $\boxed{k=3}$ we have $3c=1+a+b+c$ so $2c=1+a+b$.

    • If $b\leq c-1$ then $2c\leq 1+2c-2 = 2c-1$ a contradiction.

    • If $b= c$ then $c=1+a$ and now we have $a\mid 3+3a \implies a\mid 3$ so $a=1$ and $b=c=2$ or $a=3$ and $b=c=4$.


  • If $\boxed{k=4}$ we have $4c = 1+a+b+c$ so $a=b=c=1$.