Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /8 of 33

, 2011

Number theory Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Baltic Way

An integer n1n \ge 1 is called balanced if it has an even number of prime divisors. Prove that there exist infinitely many positive integers nn such that among the numbers nn, n+1n+1, n+2n+2 and n+3n+3 there are exactly two balanced ones.

Solution

We argue by contradiction. Choose NN so large that no nNn \ge N obeys this property. Now we partition all integers N\ge N into maximal blocks of consecutive numbers which are either all balanced or not. We delete the first block from the following considerations, now starting from N>NN' > N. Clearly, by assumption, there cannot meet two blocks with length 2\ge 2. It is also impossible that there meet two blocks of length 1 (remember that we deleted the first block). Thus all balanced or all unbalanced blocks have length 1. All other blocks have length 3, at least.

Case 1: All unbalanced blocks have length 1.
We take an unbalanced number u>2N+3u > 2N' + 3 with u1(mod4)u \equiv 1 \pmod 4 (for instance u=p2u = p^2 for an odd prime pp). Since all balanced blocks have length 3\ge 3, u3u-3, u1u-1, and u+1u+1 must be balanced. This implies that (u3)/2(u-3)/2 is unbalanced, (u1)/2(u-1)/2 is balanced, and (u+1)/2(u+1)/2 is again unbalanced. Thus {(u1)/2}\{(u-1)/2\} is an balanced block of length 1 — contradiction.

Case 2: All balanced blocks have length 1.
Now we take a balanced number b>2N+3b > 2N' + 3 with b1(mod4)b \equiv 1 \pmod 4 (for instance b=p2q2b = p^2q^2 for distinct odd primes p,qp, q). By similar arguments, (b3)/2(b-3)/2 is balanced, (b1)/2(b-1)/2 is unbalanced, and (b+1)/2(b+1)/2 is again balanced. Now the balanced block {(b1)/2}\{(b-1)/2\} gives the desired contradiction.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.