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Number theory Difficulty 8.9 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Let a1<a2<<ana_{1} < a_{2} < \cdots < a_{n} be pairwise coprime positive integers with a1a_{1} being prime and a1n+2a_{1} \geqslant n+2. On the segment I=[0,a1a2an]I = [0, a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n}] of the real line, mark all integers that are divisible by at least one of the numbers a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n}. These points split II into a number of smaller segments. Prove that the sum of the squares of the lengths of these segments is divisible by a1a_{1}.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Let A=a1anA = a_{1} \cdots a_{n}. Throughout the solution, all intervals will be nonempty and have integer end-points. For any interval XX, the length of XX will be denoted by X|X|.

Define the following two families of intervals:
S={[x,y]:x<y are consecutive marked points}T={[x,y]:x<y are integers, 0xA1, and no point is marked in (x,y)} \begin{aligned} \mathcal{S} & = \{[x, y]: x < y \text{ are consecutive marked points}\} \\ \mathcal{T} & = \{[x, y]: x < y \text{ are integers, } 0 \leqslant x \leqslant A-1, \text{ and no point is marked in } (x, y)\} \end{aligned}
We are interested in computing XSX2\sum_{X \in \mathcal{S}} |X|^{2} modulo a1a_{1}.

Note that the number AA is marked, so in the definition of T\mathcal{T} the condition yAy \leqslant A is enforced without explicitly prescribing it.

Assign weights to the intervals in T\mathcal{T}, depending only on their lengths. The weight of an arbitrary interval YTY \in \mathcal{T} will be w(Y)w(|Y|), where
w(k)={1 if k=1,2 if k2. w(k) = \begin{cases} 1 & \text{ if } k = 1, \\ 2 & \text{ if } k \geqslant 2. \end{cases}

Consider an arbitrary interval XSX \in \mathcal{S} and its sub-intervals YTY \in \mathcal{T}. Clearly, XX has one sub-interval of length X|X|, two sub-intervals of length X1|X|-1 and so on; in general XX has Xd+1|X|-d+1 sub-intervals of length dd for every d=1,2,,Xd = 1, 2, \ldots, |X|. The sum of the weights of the sub-intervals of XX is
YT,YXw(Y)=d=1X(Xd+1)w(d)=X1+((X1)+(X2)++1)2=X2. \sum_{Y \in \mathcal{T}, Y \subseteq X} w(|Y|) = \sum_{d=1}^{|X|} (|X|-d+1) \cdot w(d) = |X| \cdot 1 + ((|X|-1)+(|X|-2)+\cdots+1) \cdot 2 = |X|^{2}.
Since the intervals in S\mathcal{S} are non-overlapping, every interval YTY \in \mathcal{T} is a sub-interval of a single interval XSX \in \mathcal{S}. Therefore,
XSX2=XS(YT,YXw(Y))=YTw(Y). \begin{equation*} \sum_{X \in \mathcal{S}} |X|^{2} = \sum_{X \in \mathcal{S}} \left( \sum_{Y \in \mathcal{T}, Y \subseteq X} w(|Y|) \right) = \sum_{Y \in \mathcal{T}} w(|Y|). \tag{1} \end{equation*}

For every d=1,2,,a1d = 1, 2, \ldots, a_{1}, we count how many intervals in T\mathcal{T} are of length dd. Notice that the multiples of a1a_{1} are all marked, so the lengths of the intervals in S\mathcal{S} and T\mathcal{T} cannot exceed a1a_{1}. Let xx be an arbitrary integer with 0xA10 \leqslant x \leqslant A-1 and consider the interval [x,x+d][x, x+d]. Let r1,,rnr_{1}, \ldots, r_{n} be the remainders of xx modulo a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n}, respectively. Since a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n} are pairwise coprime, the number xx is uniquely identified by the sequence (r1,,rn)(r_{1}, \ldots, r_{n}), due to the Chinese remainder theorem.

For every i=1,,ni = 1, \ldots, n, the property that the interval (x,x+d)(x, x+d) does not contain any multiple of aia_{i} is equivalent with ri+dair_{i} + d \leqslant a_{i}, i.e. ri{0,1,,aid}r_{i} \in \{0, 1, \ldots, a_{i} - d\}, so there are aid+1a_{i} - d + 1 choices for the number rir_{i} for each ii. Therefore, the number of the remainder sequences (r1,,rn)(r_{1}, \ldots, r_{n}) that satisfy [x,x+d]T[x, x+d] \in \mathcal{T} is precisely (a1+1d)(an+1d)(a_{1} + 1 - d) \cdots (a_{n} + 1 - d). Denote this product by f(d)f(d).

Now we can group the last sum in (1) by length of the intervals. As we have seen, for every d=1,,a1d = 1, \ldots, a_{1} there are f(d)f(d) intervals YTY \in \mathcal{T} with Y=d|Y| = d. Therefore, (1) can be continued as
XSX2=YTw(Y)=d=1a1f(d)w(d)=2d=1a1f(d)f(1). \begin{equation*} \sum_{X \in \mathcal{S}} |X|^{2} = \sum_{Y \in \mathcal{T}} w(|Y|) = \sum_{d=1}^{a_{1}} f(d) \cdot w(d) = 2 \sum_{d=1}^{a_{1}} f(d) - f(1). \tag{2} \end{equation*}

Having the formula (2), the solution can be finished using the following well-known fact:

Lemma. If pp is a prime, F(x)F(x) is a polynomial with integer coefficients, and degFp2\deg F \leqslant p-2, then x=1pF(x)\sum_{x=1}^{p} F(x) is divisible by pp.

Proof. Obviously, it is sufficient to prove the lemma for monomials of the form xkx^{k} with kp2k \leqslant p-2. Apply induction on kk. If k=0k=0 then F=1F=1, and the statement is trivial.

Let 1kp21 \leqslant k \leqslant p-2, and assume that the lemma is proved for all lower degrees. Then
0pk+1=x=1p(xk+1(x1)k+1)=x=1p(=0k(1)k(k+1)x)=(k+1)x=1pxk+=0k1(1)k(k+1)x=1px(k+1)x=1pxk(modp) \begin{aligned} 0 & \equiv p^{k+1} = \sum_{x=1}^{p} \left( x^{k+1} - (x-1)^{k+1} \right) = \sum_{x=1}^{p} \left( \sum_{\ell=0}^{k} (-1)^{k-\ell} \binom{k+1}{\ell} x^{\ell} \right) \\ & = (k+1) \sum_{x=1}^{p} x^{k} + \sum_{\ell=0}^{k-1} (-1)^{k-\ell} \binom{k+1}{\ell} \sum_{x=1}^{p} x^{\ell} \equiv (k+1) \sum_{x=1}^{p} x^{k} \pmod{p} \end{aligned}
Since 0<k+1<p0 < k+1 < p, this proves x=1pxk0(modp)\sum_{x=1}^{p} x^{k} \equiv 0 \pmod{p}.

In (2), by applying the lemma to the polynomial ff and the prime a1a_{1}, we obtain that d=1a1f(d)\sum_{d=1}^{a_{1}} f(d) is divisible by a1a_{1}. The term f(1)=a1anf(1) = a_{1} \cdots a_{n} is also divisible by a1a_{1}; these two facts together prove that XSX2\sum_{X \in \mathcal{S}} |X|^{2} is divisible by a1a_{1}.

Solution 2

The conventions from the first paragraph of the first solution are still in force. We shall prove the following more general statement:

(⊞) Let pp denote a prime number, let p=a1<a2<<anp = a_{1} < a_{2} < \cdots < a_{n} be nn pairwise coprime positive integers, and let dd be an integer with 1dpn1 \leqslant d \leqslant p-n. Mark all integers that are divisible by at least one of the numbers a1,,ana_{1}, \ldots, a_{n} on the interval I=[0,a1a2an]I = [0, a_{1} a_{2} \cdots a_{n}] of the real line. These points split II into a number of smaller segments, say of lengths b1,,bkb_{1}, \ldots, b_{k}. Then the sum i=1k(bid)\sum_{i=1}^{k} \binom{b_{i}}{d} is divisible by pp.

Applying ()(\boxplus) to d=1d=1 and d=2d=2 and using the equation x2=2(x2)+(x1)x^{2} = 2 \binom{x}{2} + \binom{x}{1}, one easily gets the statement of the problem.

To prove ()(\boxplus) itself, we argue by induction on nn. The base case n=1n=1 follows from the known fact that the binomial coefficient (pd)\binom{p}{d} is divisible by pp whenever 1dp11 \leqslant d \leqslant p-1.

Let us now assume that n2n \geqslant 2, and that the statement is known whenever n1n-1 rather than nn coprime integers are given together with some integer d[1,pn+1]d \in [1, p-n+1]. Suppose that the numbers p=a1<a2<<anp = a_{1} < a_{2} < \cdots < a_{n} and dd are as above. Write A=i=1n1aiA' = \prod_{i=1}^{n-1} a_{i} and A=AanA = A' a_{n}. Mark the points on the real axis divisible by one of the numbers a1,,an1a_{1}, \ldots, a_{n-1} green and those divisible by ana_{n} red. The green points divide [0,A][0, A'] into certain sub-intervals, say J1,J2,,JJ_{1}, J_{2}, \ldots, J_{\ell}.

To translate intervals we use the notation [a,b]+m=[a+m,b+m][a, b] + m = [a + m, b + m] whenever a,b,mZa, b, m \in \mathbb{Z}.

For each i{1,2,,}i \in \{1, 2, \ldots, \ell\} let Fi\mathcal{F}_{i} be the family of intervals into which the red points partition the intervals Ji,Ji+A,,Ji+(an1)AJ_{i}, J_{i} + A', \ldots, J_{i} + (a_{n} - 1) A'. We are to prove that
i=1XFi(Xd) \sum_{i=1}^{\ell} \sum_{X \in \mathcal{F}_{i}} \binom{|X|}{d}
is divisible by pp.

Let us fix any index ii with 1i1 \leqslant i \leqslant \ell for a while. Since the numbers AA' and ana_{n} are coprime by hypothesis, the numbers 0,A,,(an1)A0, A', \ldots, (a_{n} - 1) A' form a complete system of residues modulo ana_{n}. Moreover, we have Jip<an|J_{i}| \leqslant p < a_{n}, as in particular all multiples of pp are green. So each of the intervals Ji,Ji+A,,Ji+(an1)AJ_{i}, J_{i} + A', \ldots, J_{i} + (a_{n} - 1) A' contains at most one red point. More precisely, for each j{1,,Ji1}j \in \{1, \ldots, |J_{i}| - 1\} there is exactly one amongst those intervals containing a red point splitting it into an interval of length jj followed by an interval of length Jij|J_{i}| - j, while the remaining anJi+1a_{n} - |J_{i}| + 1 such intervals have no red points in their interiors. For these reasons
XFi(Xd)=2((1d)++(Ji1d))+(anJi+1)(Jid)=2(Jid+1)+(and+1)(Jid)(d+1)(Jid+1)=(1d)(Jid+1)+(and+1)(Jid) \begin{aligned} \sum_{X \in \mathcal{F}_{i}} \binom{|X|}{d} & = 2 \left( \binom{1}{d} + \cdots + \binom{|J_{i}| - 1}{d} \right) + (a_{n} - |J_{i}| + 1) \binom{|J_{i}|}{d} \\ & = 2 \binom{|J_{i}|}{d+1} + (a_{n} - d + 1) \binom{|J_{i}|}{d} - (d+1) \binom{|J_{i}|}{d+1} \\ & = (1 - d) \binom{|J_{i}|}{d+1} + (a_{n} - d + 1) \binom{|J_{i}|}{d} \end{aligned}
So it remains to prove that
(1d)i=1(Jid+1)+(and+1)i=1(Jid) (1 - d) \sum_{i=1}^{\ell} \binom{|J_{i}|}{d+1} + (a_{n} - d + 1) \sum_{i=1}^{\ell} \binom{|J_{i}|}{d}
is divisible by pp. By the induction hypothesis, however, it is even true that both summands are divisible by pp, for 1d<d+1p(n1)1 \leqslant d < d+1 \leqslant p - (n-1). This completes the proof of ()(\boxplus) and hence the solution of the problem.

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