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Number theory Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Belarus

A positive integer is called nice if it is equal to the sum of the fourth powers of certain five distinct its divisors. (A divisor may be equal to 11 or to the number itself.)

a) Prove that any nice number is divisible by 55.

b) Are there infinitely many nice numbers?

Solution

Answer: b) there are an infinite number of nice numbers.

a) Let NN be a nice number, i.e. N=d14+d24+d34+d44+d54N = d_1^4 + d_2^4 + d_3^4 + d_4^4 + d_5^4, where did_i, i=1,2,3,4,5i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, are the distinct divisors of NN. If some divisor of NN is divisible by 55, then NN is divisible by 55.
So we suppose that d1,d2,d3,d4,d5d_1, d_2, d_3, d_4, d_5 are not divisible by 55. Then their fourth powers are congruent to 11 modulo 55. Indeed, if M=5k±1M = 5k \pm 1 (kNk \in \mathbb{N}), then M2=25k2±10k+1=5m+1M^2 = 25k^2 \pm 10k + 1 = 5m + 1 (mNm \in \mathbb{N}) and M4=(5m+1)2=25m2+10m+1M^4 = (5m+1)^2 = 25m^2 + 10m + 1, i.e. M4M^4 is congruent to 11 modulo 55; if M=5k±2M = 5k \pm 2 (kNk \in \mathbb{N}), then M2=25k2±20k+4=5m+4M^2 = 25k^2 \pm 20k + 4 = 5m + 4 (mNm \in \mathbb{N}) and M4=(5m+4)2=25m2+40m+16M^4 = (5m+4)^2 = 25m^2 + 40m + 16, i.e. M4M^4 is congruent to 11 modulo 55. Therefore, the fourth power of any divisor did_i is congruent to 11 modulo 55, i.e. di4=5ki+1d_i^4 = 5k_i + 1, and it follows that NN is divisible by 55.

b) Let there exist a nice number NN, i.e. N=d14+d24+d34+d44+d54N = d_1^4 + d_2^4 + d_3^4 + d_4^4 + d_5^4, where did_i are some positive integers and p>1p > 1. If d1,d2,d3,d4,d5d_1, d_2, d_3, d_4, d_5 are distinct divisors of NN, consider the number N(p)=Np4N(p) = Np^4, where pp is any positive integer greater than 11. It is obvious that d1p,d2p,d3p,d4p,d5pd_1p, d_2p, d_3p, d_4p, d_5p are distinct divisors of N(p)N(p), and
N(p)=Np4=[N=d14+d24+d34+d44+d54]=(d14+d24+d34+d44+d54)p4==(d1p)4+(d2p)4+(d3p)4+(d4p)4+(d5p)4. \begin{aligned} N(p) &= Np^4 = [N = d_1^4 + d_2^4 + d_3^4 + d_4^4 + d_5^4] = (d_1^4 + d_2^4 + d_3^4 + d_4^4 + d_5^4)p^4 = \\ &= (d_1p)^4 + (d_2p)^4 + (d_3p)^4 + (d_4p)^4 + (d_5p)^4. \end{aligned}
So there are infinitely many nice numbers N(p)N(p) if there exists at least one nice number. It remains to note that the number N=14+24+34+64+344N = 1^4 + 2^4 + 3^4 + 6^4 + 34^4 is nice. Indeed, it is evident that NN is divisible by 22. Since the numbers 14,241^4, 2^4, and 34434^4 are congruent 11 modulo 33, the number NN is divisible by 33. Since NN is even and divisible by 33, we see that NN is divisible by 66. Besides,
N=14+24+34(14+24)+344=(14+24)(14+34)+344=17(14+34)+344, N = 1^4 + 2^4 + 3^4(1^4 + 2^4) + 34^4 = (1^4 + 2^4)(1^4 + 3^4) + 34^4 = 17 \cdot (1^4 + 3^4) + 34^4,
whence we see that NN is divisible by 3434. Thus, NN is nice.

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