Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /102 of 377

Number theory Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:
Let σ(n)\sigma(n) denote the sum of the (positive) divisors of nn, including 11 and nn itself.
Prove that
σ(1)+σ(2)+σ(3)++σ(n)n2 \sigma(1)+\sigma(2)+\sigma(3)+\cdots+\sigma(n) \leq n^{2}
for every positive integer nn.

Solution

Solution:
The iith term on the left is the sum of all dd dividing ii. If we write this sum out explicitly, then each term d=1,2,,nd=1,2,\ldots,n appears n/d\lfloor n/d \rfloor times—once for each multiple of dd that is n\leq n. Thus, the sum equals
n/1+2n/2+3n/3++nn/nn/1+2n/2+3n/3++n/n=n+n++n=n2. \begin{aligned} \lfloor n/1 \rfloor + 2\lfloor n/2 \rfloor + 3\lfloor n/3 \rfloor + \cdots + n\lfloor n/n \rfloor &\leq n/1 + 2n/2 + 3n/3 + \cdots + n/n \\ &= n + n + \cdots + n \\ &= n^{2}. \end{aligned}

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.