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Algebra Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Austria

Determine all integers xx such that
x2x3x4=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 x20x^2 \ge 0 certainly holds, we must have x0x \ge 0. x=0x = 0 is obviously a solution. We now assume x>0x > 0. Since yy\lfloor y \rfloor \le y, we certainly have
x2x2x3x4=x32424x. x^2 \le \frac{x}{2} \cdot \frac{x}{3} \cdot \frac{x}{4} = \frac{x^3}{24} \Rightarrow 24 \le x.
Furthermore, since x2x212\left\lfloor \frac{x}{2} \right\rfloor \ge \frac{x}{2} - \frac{1}{2}, x3x323\left\lfloor \frac{x}{3} \right\rfloor \ge \frac{x}{3} - \frac{2}{3} and x4x434\left\lfloor \frac{x}{4} \right\rfloor \ge \frac{x}{4} - \frac{3}{4}, hold, we also have
(x212)(x323)(x434)=124(x1)(x2)(x3)x2x3x4=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 x36x2+11x624x2x^3 - 6x^2 + 11x - 6 \le 24x^2 or x330x2+11x60x^3 - 30x^2 + 11x - 6 \le 0. This can only hold for x<30x < 30, since both x330x2x^3 \ge 30x^2 and 11x>611x > 6 hold for x30x \ge 30. We see that further solutions xx can only exist for 24x2924 \le x \le 29.

For x=24x = 24, we have
[242][243][244]=1286=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 138613 \cdot 8 \cdot 6, 139613 \cdot 9 \cdot 6 and 149714 \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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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.