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Number theory Difficulty 8.8 Shortlist Prove it United States

Suppose a1,,ana_1, \dots, a_n are integers whose greatest common divisor is 11. Let SS be a set of integers with the following properties.

a. For i=1,,ni = 1, \dots, n, aiSa_i \in S.

b. For i,j=1,,ni, j = 1, \dots, n (not necessarily distinct), aiajSa_i - a_j \in S.

c. For any integers x,ySx, y \in S, if x+ySx + y \in S, then xySx - y \in S.

Prove that SS must be equal to the set of all integers.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

We may as well assume that none of the aia_i is equal to 00. We start with the following observations.

d. 0=a1a1S0 = a_1 - a_1 \in S by (b).

e. s=0sS-s = 0 - s \in S whenever sSs \in S, by (a) and (d).

f. If x,ySx, y \in S and xySx - y \in S, then x+ySx + y \in S by (c) and (e).

By (f) plus strong induction on mm, we have that msSms \in S for any m0m \ge 0 whenever sSs \in S. By (d) and (e), the same holds even if m0m \le 0, and so we have the following.

g. For i=1,,ni = 1, \dots, n, SS contains all multiples of aia_i.

We next verify that

h. For i,j{1,,n}i, j \in \{1, \dots, n\} and any integers ci,cjc_i, c_j, ciai+cjajSc_i a_i + c_j a_j \in S.

We do this by induction on ci+cj|c_i| + |c_j|. If ci1|c_i| \le 1 and cj1|c_j| \le 1, this follows from (b), (d), (f), so we may assume that max{ci,cj}2\max\{|c_i|, |c_j|\} \ge 2. Suppose without loss of generality (by switching ii with jj and/or negating both cic_i and cjc_j) that ci2c_i \ge 2; then
ciai+cjaj=ai+((ci1)ai+cjaj) c_i a_i + c_j a_j = a_i + ((c_i - 1)a_i + c_j a_j)
and we have aiSa_i \in S, (ci1)ai+cjajS(c_i - 1)a_i + c_j a_j \in S by the induction hypothesis, and (ci2)ai+cjajS(c_i - 2)a_i + c_j a_j \in S again by the induction hypothesis. So ciai+cjajSc_i a_i + c_j a_j \in S by (f), and (h) is verified.

Let eie_i be the largest integer such that 2ei2^{e_i} divides aia_i; without loss of generality we may assume that e1e2ene_1 \ge e_2 \ge \dots \ge e_n. Let did_i be the greatest common divisor of a1,,aia_1, \dots, a_i. We prove by induction on ii that SS contains all multiples of did_i for i=1,,ni = 1, \dots, n; the case i=ni = n is the desired result. Our base cases are i=1i = 1 and i=2i = 2, which follow from (g) and (h), respectively.

Assume that SS contains all multiples of did_i, for some 2i<n2 \le i < n. Let TT be the set of integers mm such that mm is divisible by did_i and m+rai+1Sm + r a_{i+1} \in S for all integers rr. Then TT contains nonzero positive and negative numbers, namely any multiple of aia_i by (h). By (c), if tTt \in T and ss divisible by did_i (so in SS) satisfy tsTt - s \in T, then t+sTt + s \in T. By taking t=s=dit = s = d_i, we deduce that 2diT2d_i \in T; by induction (as in the proof of (g)), we have 2mdiT2md_i \in T for any integer mm (positive, negative or zero).

From the way we ordered the aia_i, we see that the highest power of 22 dividing did_i is greater than or equal to the highest power of 22 dividing ai+1a_{i+1}. In other words, ai+1/di+1a_{i+1}/d_{i+1} is odd. We can thus find integers f,gf, g with ff even such that fdi+gai+1=di+1f d_i + g a_{i+1} = d_{i+1}. (Choose such a pair without any restriction on ff, and replace (f,g)(f, g) with (fai+1/di+1,g+di/di+1)(f - a_{i+1}/d_{i+1}, g + d_i/d_{i+1}) if needed to get an even ff.) Then for any integer rr, we have rfdiTr f d_i \in T and so rdi+1Sr d_{i+1} \in S. This completes the induction and the proof of the desired result.

Solution 2

(By Tony Zhang) We present a different way of completing the proof after the observing (d) through (h) of the preceding solution. We proceed to prove the following lemma by induction:

Lemma Let m2m \ge 2. For i1,i2,,im{1,,n}i_1, i_2, \dots, i_m \in \{1, \dots, n\} and ki1,,kimZk_{i_1}, \dots, k_{i_m} \in \mathbb{Z}:
(ki1ai1+ki2ai2)+2(ki3ai3++kimaim)S. (k_{i_1} a_{i_1} + k_{i_2} a_{i_2}) + 2(k_{i_3} a_{i_3} + \dots + k_{i_m} a_{i_m}) \in S.
Proof: Observation (h) proves the m=2m=2 case, so now assume that the Lemma is true for all mm less than or equal to some rr. Now by induction hypothesis, the following terms are in SS:
(ki1ai1+kir+1air+1)+2(ki3ai3++kirair)S (k_{i_1} a_{i_1} + k_{i_{r+1}} a_{i_{r+1}}) + 2(k_{i_3} a_{i_3} + \dots + k_{i_r} a_{i_r}) \in S
(ki2ai2+kir+1air+1)S. (k_{i_2} a_{i_2} + k_{i_{r+1}} a_{i_{r+1}}) \in S.
Yet their difference is
(ki1ai1ki2ai2)+2(ki3ai3++kirair), (k_{i_1} a_{i_1} - k_{i_2} a_{i_2}) + 2(k_{i_3} a_{i_3} + \dots + k_{i_r} a_{i_r}),
which is in SS by induction hypothesis, so by observation (f), their sum is in SS:
(ki1ai1+ki2ai2)+2(ki3ai3++kirair+kir+1air+1), (k_{i_1} a_{i_1} + k_{i_2} a_{i_2}) + 2(k_{i_3} a_{i_3} + \dots + k_{i_r} a_{i_r} + k_{i_{r+1}} a_{i_{r+1}}),
which completes the induction, and the proof of the Lemma.

We apply the Lemma to prove that 1S1 \in S; by the comment following observation (f) in the previous solution, this will prove that S=ZS = \mathbb{Z}. Apply the lemma with m=nm = n, i1=1i_1 = 1, i2=2i_2 = 2, ..., in=ni_n = n. Since we are given that the greatest common divisor of the aia_i is 11, there exist integers k1,,knk_1, \dots, k_n such that k1a1++knan=1k_1 a_1 + \dots + k_n a_n = 1. Since we can't have all aia_i even, without loss of generality, assume that a1a_1 is odd. Now let ii iterate from 22 to nn, and at each stage perform the following operations if kik_i is odd:

a. replace kik_i with ki+a1k_i + a_1,

b. replace k1k_1 with k1aik_1 - a_i.

Note that this preserves the sum k1a1++knan=1k_1 a_1 + \dots + k_n a_n = 1, but it makes all the kik_i between 22 and nn even; therefore, the lemma applies, and we find that 1S1 \in S, as desired.

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