Number theoryDifficulty 6.5National OlympiadProve itTaiwan
Let S be a set of positive integers such that for every a,b∈S, there always exists c∈S such that c2 divides a(a+b). Show that there exists an a∈S such that a divides every element of S.
Let S be a nonempty subset of positive integers, such that for any a,b∈S, one can always find c∈S such that c2 divides a(a+b). Prove that there exists a∈S, such that a divides every element of S.
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Let a be the minimum element in S. We will show that this a satisfies the condition. Towards contradiction, suppose b∈S be the minimum element in S such that a∤b. Define b0=b and let bi+1 be an element in S so that bi+12∣a(a+bi) for i≥0. Note that if bi+1<b, then by the minimality of b we know that a∣bi+1 and hence a2∣bi+12∣a(a+bi) and so a∣bi and by induction we have a∣b0 contradict to the assumption. Therefore, bi≥b for all i. Moreover, we have the bi+1<b(b+bi). By induction we can see that bn<φb, where φ=(1+5)/2. As a consequence, we know that b2≤bi+12≤a(a+bi)<(1+φ)b<3b2, showing that bi+12=a(a+bi) or bi+12=a(a+bi)/2. Now let p be a prime so that vp(a)>vp(b). If p=2, then by induction we have that vp(bi)<vp(a) for all i and vp(bi+1)=(vp(a)+vp(a+bi))/2=(vp(a)+vp(bi))/2, therefore vp(a)−vp(bi) decreases strictly as i increases, which is absurd. Hence p=2. By the same argument, we know that v2(bi+1)=⌊(v2(a)+vp(bi))/2⌋. Then vp(a)−vp(bi) decreases strictly unless v2(bi)=v2(a)−1. Therefore, there must be an N∈N such that v2(bi)=v2(a)−1 for all i≥N. However, this shows that bi+12=a(a+bi)/2 for all i≥N, and so bi+1<bi for all i≥N. This is a contradiction.
Solution 2
Let a be the minimum element in S. We will show that a satisfies the condition. Towards contradiction, suppose b∈S is the minimum element in S such that a∤b. Let x∈S be an element such that x2∣a(a+b). If x2=a(a+b), then x2≤a(a+b)/2<b2, so x<b, meaning a∣x and we must have a∣b similar to the argument in Sol1. So a(a+b)=x2 for some x∈S. Similarly b(a+b)=y2 for some y∈S. If gcd(a,b)=d and a=dA,b=dB, then d2A(A+B)=x2, showing that A=s2 for some positive integer s, and similarly B=t2. We also have A+B=l2, showing that s2+t2=l2, and x=dsl,y=dtl. Now note that x,y<b2<2b. Therefore if p∈S satisfies that p2∣a(a+x), then either a(a+x)=p2,2p2 or p<b. The latter case leads to a∣p and so a∣b by the same argument above, which is a contradiction. Thus a(a+x)=p2,2p2. Now if q∈S satisfies that q2∣b(b+y), then again b(b+y)=q2,2q2 or q<b. The latter leads to a∣q, and so d2s4=a2∣b(b+y)=d2t3(t+l), and by gcd(s,t)=1, we have s4∣t+l. However we have (t+l)(l−t)=s2, showing that s=1, which is impossible. Hence b(b+y)=q2,2q2 Now we will show the following lemma that immediately leads to a contradiction. Lemma There do not exist positive integers a,b,x,y, such that a(a+b)=x2,b(a+b)=y2, and a(a+x),b(b+y) are perfect squares or the double of perfect squares. Proof. We have already showed that a=ds2,b=dt2,x=dsl,y=dtl, where gcd(s,t)=1 and s2+t2=l2. WLOG, assume s is odd and t is even, then there exist u,v coprime such that s=u2−v2,t=2uv and l=u2+v2. Now note that a(a+x)=d2s3(s+l)=2d2s2u2⋅s, and this shows that s must be a perfect square (because s is odd), say s=m2. Similarly we have b(b+y)=d2t3(t+l)=2d2t2(u+v)2 showing that t=n2 or 2n2 for some positive integer n. Hence by s2+t2=l2, we have m4+n4=l2 or m4+4n4=l2. It is well-known (can be proved by infinite descent) that those two Diophantine equations have no nontrivial solutions, which is a contradiction. □
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