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AustriaMO

Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Austria

Determine all integers xx such that
⌊x2⌋⋅⌊x3⌋⋅⌊x4⌋=x2 \left\lfloor \frac{x}{2} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{x}{3} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{x}{4} \right\rfloor = x^2
holds. (Note that ⌊y⌋\lfloor y \rfloor is the largest integer not greater than yy.)

Solution

Since x2≥0x^2 \ge 0 certainly holds, we must have x≥0x \ge 0. x=0x = 0 is obviously a solution. We now assume x>0x > 0. Since ⌊y⌋≤y\lfloor y \rfloor \le y, we certainly have
x2≤x2⋅x3⋅x4=x324⇒24≤x. x^2 \le \frac{x}{2} \cdot \frac{x}{3} \cdot \frac{x}{4} = \frac{x^3}{24} \Rightarrow 24 \le x.
Furthermore, since ⌊x2⌋≥x2−12\left\lfloor \frac{x}{2} \right\rfloor \ge \frac{x}{2} - \frac{1}{2}, ⌊x3⌋≥x3−23\left\lfloor \frac{x}{3} \right\rfloor \ge \frac{x}{3} - \frac{2}{3} and ⌊x4⌋≥x4−34\left\lfloor \frac{x}{4} \right\rfloor \ge \frac{x}{4} - \frac{3}{4}, hold, we also have
(x2−12)(x3−23)(x4−34)=124(x−1)(x−2)(x−3)≤⌊x2⌋⋅⌊x3⌋⋅⌊x4⌋=x2, \left(\frac{x}{2} - \frac{1}{2}\right) \left(\frac{x}{3} - \frac{2}{3}\right) \left(\frac{x}{4} - \frac{3}{4}\right) = \frac{1}{24}(x-1)(x-2)(x-3) \le \left\lfloor \frac{x}{2} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{x}{3} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{x}{4} \right\rfloor = x^2,
which is equivalent to x3−6x2+11x−6≤24x2x^3 - 6x^2 + 11x - 6 \le 24x^2 or x3−30x2+11x−6≤0x^3 - 30x^2 + 11x - 6 \le 0. This can only hold for x<30x < 30, since both x3≥30x2x^3 \ge 30x^2 and 11x>611x > 6 hold for x≥30x \ge 30. We see that further solutions xx can only exist for 24≤x≤2924 \le x \le 29.

For x=24x = 24, we have
[242]⋅[243]⋅[244]=12⋅8⋅6=242, \left[ \frac{24}{2} \right] \cdot \left[ \frac{24}{3} \right] \cdot \left[ \frac{24}{4} \right] = 12 \cdot 8 \cdot 6 = 24^2,
and this is a solution. For x=25/26x = 25/26, x=27x = 27 and x=28x = 28, the expression [x2]⋅[x3]⋅[x4]\left[\frac{x}{2}\right] \cdot \left[\frac{x}{3}\right] \cdot \left[\frac{x}{4}\right] yields 13⋅8⋅613 \cdot 8 \cdot 6, 13⋅9⋅613 \cdot 9 \cdot 6 and 14⋅9⋅714 \cdot 9 \cdot 7 respectively, none of which is a perfect square.
We see that the integer solutions of the equation are exactly the numbers 0 and 24. □\square

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