Find all sets of positive integers a, b, c satisfying the three congruences $a ≡ b (mod \text{ c})$ , $ b ≡ c (mod \text{ a})$ , $c ≡ a (mod \text{ b})$.
Well i can see that the tuple $(a,a,1)$ satisfies the system and also $a=b=c$. What i dont understand is how i can proceed using modular arithmetic to find the solutions since the modulos are different. Thanks
Your solution of $(a,a,1)$ doesn't work; $b \not \equiv c \pmod a$ if $b=a$, $c=1$.
Here's the correct way to go about it.
$a \equiv b \pmod c$ gives $a-b \equiv 0 \pmod c$, i.e. $c|a-b$. Similarly, $a|b-c$, $b|c-a$.
Without loss of generality, assume $c$ is the largest. Then $c|a-b$, so $a-b \geq c$, or $a-b = 0$. $a-b \geq c$ cannot happen as $a \leq c$, so $a=b$.
So we have $a=b$, and so we also have $a|a-c$, which gives $a|c$. So $(a,a,ka)$ and cyclic rotations of these are the only possible solutions, and it's easy to check they all work.