2x + 3y + 12z = 180 2x = 180 - 3y - 12z 2x = 3(60 - y - 12z) Let positive integer 60-y-12z = A then So 2x = 3A 2x = 2A + A x = A + A/2 x - A = A/2 Since x - A is a positive integer, so is A/2, say B, and A = 2B x - A = A/2 x - 2B = 2B/2 x - 2B = B x = 3B --------------- 2x + 3y + 12z = 180 3y = 180 - 2x - 12z 3y = 2(90 - x - 6z) Let positive integer 90-x-6z = C then So 3y = 2C y = 2C/3 Since y is a positive integer C must be divisible by 3, so C = 3D, so y = 2(3D)/3 y = 2D -------------------------------- So we substitute x = 3B and y = 2D into the original eqution: 2x + 3y + 12z = 180 2(3B) + 3(2D) + 12z = 180 6B + 6D + 12z = 180 B + D + 2z = 30 2z = 30 - (B + D) The largest value 2z can take on is when B and D are both as small as can be, which is 1 each, so 2z <= 30 - (1 + 1) 2z <= 28 z <= 14 So we know that z can take on any integer value from 1 through 14 B + D = 30 - 2z B = 30 - 2z - D For any of those 14 values of z, B can be chosen anywhere from 1 through when D is the smallest value 1, or (30 - 2z - 1) or (29 - 2z) Therefore the number of solutions is, which equals , which equals The sum of the first n integers is so the sum of the first 14 integers is , so we can replace the summation by 105 So the number of positive integer solutions is 196. Edwin