P975
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A Winding Path

ℹ️Published on Saturday, 20th December 2025, 07:00 pm; Solved by 122;
Difficulty level: 26

Given a pair $(a,b)$ of coprime odd positive integers, define the function $$H_{a,b}(x)=\frac{1}{2}-\frac{1}{2(a+b)}\Bigl(b\cos(a\pi x)+a\cos(b\pi x)\Bigr) $$It can be seen that $H_{a,b}(0)=0$, $H_{a,b}(1)=1$, and $0 < H_{a,b}(x) < 1$ for all $x$ strictly between $0$ and $1$.

Given two such pairs $(a,b)$ and $(c,d)$, paths of infinitesimal width traverse the unit cube internally through every point $(x,y,z)\in [0,1]^3$ such that $z=H_{a,b}(x)=H_{c,d}(y)$. Remarkably, it can be shown that the point $(0,0,0)$ is always connected to the opposite corner $(1,1,1)$. Furthermore, with the additional condition $\gcd(a+b,c+d)\in\{2,4\}$, it can be shown that there is exactly one path connecting the two points.

0975_examples.png

Shown above are two examples, as viewed from above the cube. That is, we see the paths projected onto the $xy$-plane, with corresponding $z$ values indicated with varying colour. In the second example some paths are coloured grey to indicate that, while they exist, they do not form part of the path from $(0,0,0)$ to $(1,1,1)$.

Define $F(a, b, c, d)$ to be the sum of the absolute changes in height (or $z$-coordinate) over all uphill and downhill sections of the path from $(0,0,0)$ to $(1,1,1)$. In the first example above, the path climbs $\approx4.00886$ over eleven uphill sections, and descends $\approx3.00886$ over ten downhill sections, giving $F(3,5,3,7)\approx7.01772$. You are also given $F(7,17,9,19)\approx 26.79578$.

Let $G(m, n)$ be the sum of $F(p,q,p,2q-p)$ over all pairs $(p,q)$ of primes, $m\leq p < q\leq n$. You are given $G(3, 20)\approx463.80866$.

Find $G(500,1000)$ giving your answer rounded to five digits after the decimal point.



Soluzione

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