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Number theory Difficulty 6.0 National olympiad Prove it China

Let nn be a positive integer, and SnS_n be the set of all positive integer divisors of nn (including 11 and itself). Prove that at most half of the elements in SnS_n have their last digits equal to 33. (posed by Feng Zuming)

Solution

(1) If 5n5 \mid n, let d1,d2,,dmd_1, d_2, \dots, d_m be the elements in SnS_n with their last digits equal to 33, then 5d1,5d2,,5dm5d_1, 5d_2, \dots, 5d_m are elements in SnS_n with their last digits equal to 55. So m12Snm \le \frac{1}{2}|S_n|. The statement is true in this case.

(2) If 5n5 \nmid n and the last digit of every prime divisor of nn is either 11 or 99, the last digit of any element in SnS_n is either 11 or 99. The statement is also true in this case.

(3) If 5n5 \nmid n and there exists a prime divisor pp in SnS_n such that the last digit of pp is either 33 or 77. Let n=prqn = p^r q, where qq and rr are positive integers and pp is prime to qq, and let Sq={a1,a2,,ak}S_q = \{a_1, a_2, \dots, a_k\} be the set of all positive integer divisors of qq. Then the elements in SnS_n can be written in the following way:

For any di=asplSnd_i = a_s p^l \in S_n, we choose ei={aspl+1l<r,aspl1l=r,e_i = \begin{cases} a_s p^{l+1} & l < r, \\ a_s p^{l-1} & l = r, \end{cases} then eiSne_i \in S_n and we call eie_i the partner of did_i. If the last digit of did_i is 33, then that of its partner eie_i is not, since that of pp is either 33 or 77. If did_i and djd_j in SnS_n are different, and their last digits are both 33, then their partners eie_i and eje_j are also different. Otherwise, suppose ej=ei=asple_j = e_i = a_s p^l, we may assume that {di,dj}={aspl1,aspl+1}\{d_i, d_j\} = \{a_s p^{l-1}, a_s p^{l+1}\}, then di=djp2d_i = d_j p^2. As the last digit of pp is 33 or 77, then that of p2p^2 is always 99, and that means the last digits of did_i and djd_j cannot be the same. It leads to a contradiction.

We then see that every diSnd_i \in S_n with its last digit equal to 33 has a partner eiSne_i \in S_n with its last digit not equal to 33, and different did_i has different partner. That means that at most half of the elements in SnS_n have their last digits equal to 33. This completes the proof.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.