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Number theory Difficulty 4.7 AIME Prove it South Africa

Prove that for all natural numbers nn, n3+n22+n36\frac{n}{3} + \frac{n^2}{2} + \frac{n^3}{6} is also a natural number.

Solution

n3+n22+n36=2n+3n2+n36=n(2+3n+n2)6=n(n+1)(n+2)6 \begin{aligned} \frac{n}{3} + \frac{n^2}{2} + \frac{n^3}{6} &= \frac{2n + 3n^2 + n^3}{6} \\ &= \frac{n(2 + 3n + n^2)}{6} \\ &= \frac{n(n + 1)(n + 2)}{6} \end{aligned}
Since nn, n+1n + 1, n+2n + 2 are three consecutive integers, at least one is divisible by 22 and one is divisible by 33. Hence n(n+1)(n+2)n(n + 1)(n + 2) is divisible by 66 and therefore n3+n22+n36\frac{n}{3} + \frac{n^2}{2} + \frac{n^3}{6} must be an integer.

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