Number theoryDifficulty 5.1AIME, harderProve itUnited States
Problem: Prove that 1σ(1)+2σ(2)+3σ(3)+⋯+nσ(n)≤2n for every positive integer n.
Solution
Solution: This is similar to the previous solution. If d is a divisor of i, then so is i/d, and (i/d)/i=1/d. Summing over all d, we see that σ(i)/i is the sum of the reciprocals of the divisors of i, for each positive integer i. So, summing over all i from 1 to n, we get the value 1/d appearing ⌊n/d⌋ times, once for each multiple of d that is at most n. In particular, the sum is 11⌊1n⌋+21⌊2n⌋+31⌊3n⌋+⋯+n1⌊nn⌋<12n+22n+⋯+n2n. So now all we need is 1/12+1/22+⋯+1/n2<2. This can be obtained from the classic formula 1/12+1/22+⋯=π2/6, or from the more elementary estimate 1/22+1/32+⋯+1/n2<1/(1⋅2)+1/(2⋅3)+⋯+1/((n−1)⋅n)=(1/1−1/2)+(1/2−1/3)+⋯+(1/(n−1)−1/n)=1−1/n<1.
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