Olympiad Maths Prep

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, 2010

Number theory Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Ukraine

Find the least possible value kk for which there exist 20102010 distinct natural numbers that satisfy the following condition: the product of any kk numbers from the chosen set is divisible by the product of the rest 2010k2010 - k numbers.

Solution

From one hand, kk cannot be less than 10061006 (otherwise, the product of the kk smallest numbers from our set is less than the product of the 2010k2010 - k numbers which are left). We construct an example for k=1006k = 1006 that will do.

Let p1,p2,,p2010p_1, p_2, \dots, p_{2010} be 20102010 distinct prime numbers and ai=p1p2pi1pi+1p2010=p1p2p2010pia_i = p_1 p_2 \dots p_{i-1} p_{i+1} \dots p_{2010} = \frac{p_1 p_2 \dots p_{2010}}{p_i}. Then, the product of 10061006 numbers an1,an2,,an1006a_{n_1}, a_{n_2}, \dots, a_{n_{1006}} equals
(p1p2p2010)1006pn1pn2pn1006=p1a1p2a2p2010a2010, \frac{(p_1 p_2 \dots p_{2010})^{1006}}{p_{n_1} p_{n_2} \dots p_{n_{1006}}} = p_1^{a_1} p_2^{a_2} \dots p_{2010}^{a_{2010}},
where the degree aia_i of each prime number pip_i, 1i20101 \le i \le 2010, equals 10051005 or 10061006, which is greater than 10051005.

By analogy, the product of the rest 10041004 numbers can be expressed as p1β1p2β2p2010β2010p_1^{\beta_1} p_2^{\beta_2} \dots p_{2010}^{\beta_{2010}}, where each degree βi\beta_i, 1i20101 \le i \le 2010, equals 10031003 or 10041004, which is less than 10041004.

To finish the proof, note that if iji \ne j, then ai=p1p2p2010pjp1β1p2β2p2010β2010=aja_i = \frac{p_1 p_2 \dots p_{2010}}{p_j} \ne p_1^{\beta_1} p_2^{\beta_2} \dots p_{2010}^{\beta_{2010}} = a_j, therefore, all {ai}\{a_i\} are distinct.

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