Problem:
Prove that for any integer there exist infinitely many squarefree positive integers that divide .
Solution
Solution:
First we shall prove the following:
LEMMA. Let be an odd divisor of . Then there exists an odd prime that divides but does not divide .
Proof of the lemma. If , then
and it remains to choose a prime divisor of . Note that is odd (if is even, then is odd; if is odd, then is odd, and hence is odd, too).
We shall prove now that if , then there exists a sequence of odd primes such that divides , and if (here ), then divides , but does not divide , .
Let be an odd prime divisor of and we have already chosen the primes . Applying the lemma for and , we find an odd prime that divides but does not divide .
Since is divisible by , we conclude that differs from them. Therefore the numbers have the required property.
If , then and it remains to multiply by 2 the numbers already found for .
Remark. It can be proved that if divides , then , and if divides then , or is divisible by 4. The above solution shows that for there exist infinitely many positive square-free odd integers such that divides .