Solution 1
Notice repeating decimals can be written as the following:
0.ab=9910a+b
0.abc=999100a+10b+c
where a,b,c are the digits. Now we plug this back into the original fraction:
9910a+b+999100a+10b+c=3733
Multiply both sides by 999∗99. This helps simplify the right side as well because 999=111∗9=37∗3∗9:
9990a+999b+9900a+990b+99c=33/37∗37∗3∗9∗99=33∗3∗9∗99
Dividing both sides by 9 and simplifying gives:
2210a+221b+11c=992=9801
At this point, seeing the 221 factor common to both a and b is crucial to simplify. This is because taking mod221 to both sides results in:
2210a+221b+11c≡9801mod221⟺11c≡77mod221
Notice that we arrived to the result 9801≡77mod221 by simply dividing 9801 by 221 and seeing 9801=44∗221+77. Okay, now it's pretty clear to divide both sides by 11 in the modular equation but we have to worry about 221 being multiple of 11. Well, 220 is a multiple of 11 so clearly, 221 couldn't be. Also, 221=13∗17. Now finally we simplify and get:
c≡7mod221
But we know c is between 0 and 9 because it is a digit, so c must be 7. Now it is straightforward from here to find a and b:
2210a+221b+11(7)=9801⟺221(10a+b)=9724⟺10a+b=44
and since a and b are both between 0 and 9, we have a=b=4. Finally we have the 3 digit integer 447
Solution 2
Note that 3733=999891=0.891. Also note that the period of 0.ababab+0.abcabcabc is at most 6. Therefore, we only need to worry about the sum 0.ababab+0.abcabc. Adding the two, we get
+aa8bb9ac1ba8ab9bc1
From this, we can see that a=4, b=4, and c=7, so our desired answer is 447
Solution 3
Noting as above that 0.ab=9910a+b and 0.abc=999100a+10b+c, let u=10a+b. Then
99u+99910u+c=3733
11u+11110u+c=379⋅33
11⋅111221u+11c=379⋅33
221u+11c=379⋅33⋅11⋅111
221u+11c=9⋅332.
Solving for c gives
c=3⋅9⋅33−11221u
c=891−11221u
Because c must be integer, it follows that u must be a multiple of 11 (because 221 clearly is not). Inspecting the equation, one finds that only u=44 yields a digit c,7. Thus abc=10u+c=447.
Solution 4
We note as above that 0.ab=9910a+b and 0.abc=999100a+10b+c, so
9910a+b+999100a+10b+c=3733=999891.
As 9910a+b has a factor of 11 in the denominator while the other two fractions don't, we need that 11 to cancel, so 11 divides 10a+b. It follows that a=b, so 9910a+b=9911a=999111a, so
999111a+999110a+c=999891.
Then 111a+110a+c=891, or 221a+c=891. Thus a=b=4 and c=7, so the three-digit integer abc is 447.
Video Solution
https://youtu.be/7g5dztxGUrk
~savannahsolver