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66th Belarusian Mathematical Olympiad

Belarus number theory

Problem

Do there exist three two-digit prime numbers such that all six digits in their decimal representation are distinct and if one chooses any two of the numbers and swaps their unit digits, then two numbers obtained will be prime, too?
Solution
Answer: there are no such numbers. Suppose, contrary to our claim, that there are such numbers: , and . The problem condition is equivalent to the following statement: any two-digit number with tens digit , or , and with unit digit , or is a prime number. So , hence, at least one of the digits 3 and 9 belongs to . Therefore, none of the digits is divisible by 3, so . Thus, we can consider two-digit numbers with tens digits from the set only. Among numbers 11, 21, 41, 51, 71, 81 there are exactly two prime numbers with distinct tens and unit digits: 41 and 71. Therefore, none of the digits is equal to 1. It follows that , which is impossible. Indeed, exactly two numbers 17 and 47 are prime among two-digit numbers 17, 27, 47, 57, 77, 87, while there should be at least three prime numbers among these numbers.
Final answer
No, such numbers do not exist.

Techniques

Prime numbers