SOLUTION: Find the sum of a, b and c if: a + 1/(b+1/c) = 37/16

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Question 1096548: Find the sum of a, b and c if: a + 1/(b+1/c) = 37/16
Answer by greenestamps(13203) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

There are an infinite number of solutions if there are no restrictions on the values of a, b, and c. So I will assume the problem requires the values to be positive integers. In that case....



Since a, b, and c have to be positive integers, there are only two possibilities:
(1) a+=+1 and c%2F%28bc%2B1%29+=+21%2F16; or
(2) a+=+2 and c%2F%28bc%2B1%29+=+5%2F16

Looking for a solution for case (1)...

c%2F%28bc%2B1%29+=+21%2F16
16c+=+21bc%2B21
16c-21bc+=+21
c%2816-21b%29+=+21
c+=+21%2F%2816-21b%29

Clearly there are no positive integer values for b that produce positive integer values for c. So there are no solutions for this case.

Looking for a solution for case (2)...

c%2F%28bc%2B1%29+=+5%2F16
16c+=+5bc%2B5
16c-5bc+=+5
c%2816-5b%29+=+5
c+=+5%2F%2816-5b%29

There is exactly one positive integer value for b that produces a positive integer value for c: b=3 gives c=5.

So there is a unique solution to the problem in positive integers:
a=2;
b=3;
c=5

CHECK:

2+%2B+1%2F%283%2B1%2F5%29+=+2+%2B+1%2F%2816%2F5%29+=+2+%2B+5%2F16+=+37%2F16

The answer to the problem is then a+b+c = 10.