Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / IMO Shortlist /313 of 365

IMO Shortlist

Number theory Difficulty 9.0 Shortlist Prove it IMO

Determine all positive, composite integers nn that satisfy the following property: if the positive divisors of nn are 1=d1<d2<⋯<dk=n1=d_{1}<d_{2}<\cdots<d_{k}=n, then did_{i} divides di+1+di+2d_{i+1}+d_{i+2} for every 1⩽i⩽k−21 \leqslant i \leqslant k-2.

Solution

Answer: n=prn=p^{r} is a prime power for some r⩾2r \geqslant 2.

Solution 1. It is easy to see that such an n=prn=p^{r} with r⩾2r \geqslant 2 satisfies the condition as di=pi−1d_{i}=p^{i-1} with 1⩾i⩾k=r+11 \geqslant i \geqslant k=r+1 and clearly
pi−1∣pi+pi+1 p^{i-1} \mid p^{i}+p^{i+1}
Now, let us suppose that there is a positive integer nn that satisfies the divisibility condition of the problem and that has two different prime divisors pp and qq. Without loss of generality, we assume p<qp<q and that they are the two smallest prime divisors of nn. Then there is a positive integer jj such that
d1=1, d2=p, …, dj=pj−1, dj+1=pj, dj+2=q d_{1}=1,\ d_{2}=p,\ \ldots,\ d_{j}=p^{j-1},\ d_{j+1}=p^{j},\ d_{j+2}=q
and it follows that
dk−j−1=nq, dk−j=npj, dk−j+1=npj−1, …, dk−1=np, dk=n d_{k-j-1}=\frac{n}{q},\ d_{k-j}=\frac{n}{p^{j}},\ d_{k-j+1}=\frac{n}{p^{j-1}},\ \ldots,\ d_{k-1}=\frac{n}{p},\ d_{k}=n
Thus
dk−j−1=nq∣ dk−j+dk−j+1=npj+npj−1=npj(p+1) \begin{equation*} d_{k-j-1}=\frac{n}{q} \left\lvert\, d_{k-j}+d_{k-j+1}=\frac{n}{p^{j}}+\frac{n}{p^{j-1}}=\frac{n}{p^{j}}(p+1)\right. \tag{1} \end{equation*}
This gives pj∣q(p+1)p^{j} \mid q(p+1), which is a contradiction since gcd⁡(p,p+1)=1\operatorname{gcd}(p, p+1)=1 and p≠qp \neq q.

Solution 2. Since didk+1−i=nd_{i} d_{k+1-i}=n, we have the equivalence:
dk−i−1∣dk−i+dk−i+1⟺ndi+2∣ndi+1+ndi d_{k-i-1}\left|d_{k-i}+d_{k-i+1} \Longleftrightarrow \frac{n}{d_{i+2}}\right| \frac{n}{d_{i+1}}+\frac{n}{d_{i}}
We multiply both sides by didi+1di+2d_{i} d_{i+1} d_{i+2} and cancel the nn's to get
didi+1∣didi+2+di+1di+2 d_{i} d_{i+1} \mid d_{i} d_{i+2}+d_{i+1} d_{i+2}
Hence,
di∣di+1di+2 \begin{equation*} d_{i} \mid d_{i+1} d_{i+2} \tag{2} \end{equation*}
Moreover, by the condition of the problem,
di∣di+1(di+1+di+2)=di+12+di+1di+2 d_{i} \mid d_{i+1}\left(d_{i+1}+d_{i+2}\right)=d_{i+1}^{2}+d_{i+1} d_{i+2}
Combining this with (2) we get that di∣di+12d_{i} \mid d_{i+1}^{2} for all 1⩽i⩽k−21 \leqslant i \leqslant k-2.
Let d2=pd_{2}=p be the smallest prime divisor of nn. By induction on ii we prove that p∣dip \mid d_{i} for all 2⩽i⩽k−12 \leqslant i \leqslant k-1. The base case d2=pd_{2}=p is obvious. Let us suppose that p∣djp \mid d_{j} for some 2⩽j⩽k−22 \leqslant j \leqslant k-2. Then we have that
p∣dj∣dj+12⟹p∣dj+1 p\left|d_{j}\right| d_{j+1}^{2} \Longrightarrow p \mid d_{j+1}
as pp is prime, which completes the induction. This implies that nn has to be a prime power, as otherwise there would be another prime qq that divides nn and we would get that p∣qp \mid q which is obviously false.
We finally check that the powers of pp satisfy the condition in the statement of the problem as in Solution 1.

Solution 3. We start by proving the following claim:
Claim. di∣di+1d_{i} \mid d_{i+1} for every 1⩽i⩽k−11 \leqslant i \leqslant k-1.
Proof. We prove the Claim by induction on ii; it is trivial for i=1i=1 because d1=1d_{1}=1. Suppose that 2⩽i⩽k−12 \leqslant i \leqslant k-1 and the Claim is true for i−1i-1, i.e. di−1∣did_{i-1} \mid d_{i}. By the induction hypothesis and the problem condition, di−1∣did_{i-1} \mid d_{i} and di−1∣di+di+1d_{i-1} \mid d_{i}+d_{i+1}, so di−1∣di+1d_{i-1} \mid d_{i+1}.
Now consider the divisors dk−i=ndi+1,dk−i+1=ndi,dk−i+2=ndi−1d_{k-i}=\frac{n}{d_{i+1}}, d_{k-i+1}=\frac{n}{d_{i}}, d_{k-i+2}=\frac{n}{d_{i-1}}. By the problem condition,
dk−i+1+dk−i+2dk−i=ndi+ndi−1ndi+1=di+1di+di+1di−1 \frac{d_{k-i+1}+d_{k-i+2}}{d_{k-i}}=\frac{\frac{n}{d_{i}}+\frac{n}{d_{i-1}}}{\frac{n}{d_{i+1}}}=\frac{d_{i+1}}{d_{i}}+\frac{d_{i+1}}{d_{i-1}}
is an integer. We conclude that di+1di\frac{d_{i+1}}{d_{i}} is an integer, so di∣di+1d_{i} \mid d_{i+1}.
By the Claim, nn cannot have two different prime divisors because the smallest one would divide the other one. Hence, nn must be a power of a prime, and powers of primes satisfy the condition of the problem as we saw in Solution 1.

Solution 4. We present here a more technical way of finishing Solution 1 after obtaining (1). We let vp(m)v_{p}(m) denote the pp-adic valuation of mm. Notice that vp(n/q)=vp(n)v_{p}(n / q)=v_{p}(n) as gcd⁡(p,q)=1\operatorname{gcd}(p, q)=1 and that
vp(npj(p+1))=vp(n)−j v_{p}\left(\frac{n}{p^{j}}(p+1)\right)=v_{p}(n)-j
as gcd⁡(p,p+1)=1\operatorname{gcd}(p, p+1)=1. But (1) implies
vp(n)=vp(n/q)⩽vp(npj(p+1))=vp(n)−j v_{p}(n)=v_{p}(n / q) \leqslant v_{p}\left(\frac{n}{p^{j}}(p+1)\right)=v_{p}(n)-j
which is a contradiction. Thus nn has only one prime divisor as desired.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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