olymmath

APMO 2009 Problem 5

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Larry and Rob are two robots travelling in one car from Argovia to Zillis. Both robots have control over the steering and steer according to the following algorithm: Larry makes a 90∘90^{\circ} left turn after every ℓ\ell kilometer driving from start; Rob makes a 90∘90^{\circ} right turn after every rr kilometer driving from start, where ℓ\ell and rr are relatively prime positive integers. In the event of both turns occurring simultaneously, the car will keep going without changing direction. Assume that the ground is flat and the car can move in any direction.

Let the car start from Argovia facing towards Zillis. For which choices of the pair (ℓ,r)(\ell, r) is the car guaranteed to reach Zillis, regardless of how far it is from Argovia?

Dataset text NuminaMath olympiads. Quoted with source.

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\ell \equiv r \equiv 1 \quad \text { or } \quad \ell \equiv r \equiv 3 \quad(\bmod 4)

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