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IMO Team Selection Test 1

Number theory Difficulty 7.7 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Netherlands

Determine all positive integers n≥2n \ge 2 which have a positive divisor m∣nm \mid n satisfying
n=d3+m3,n = d^3 + m^3,
where dd is the smallest divisor of nn which is greater than 11.

Solution

The smallest divisor of nn greater than 11 is the smallest prime divisor of nn, hence dd is prime. Moreover, we have d∣nd \mid n, hence d∣d3+m3d \mid d^3 + m^3, and d∣m3d \mid m^3. This yields that m>1m > 1. On the other hand we have m∣nm \mid n, hence m∣d3+m3m \mid d^3 + m^3, and m∣d3m \mid d^3. Because dd is prime and m>1m > 1, we also see that mm equals dd, d2d^2, or d3d^3.

In all cases the parity of m3m^3 is equal to that of d3d^3, and n=d3+m3n = d^3 + m^3 is even. This means that the smallest divisor of nn greater than 11 equals 22, i.e. d=2d = 2. In case m=dm = d, we find n=23+23=16n = 2^3 + 2^3 = 16, in case m=d2m = d^2, we find n=23+26=72n = 2^3 + 2^6 = 72, and in case m=d3m = d^3, we find n=23+29=520n = 2^3 + 2^9 = 520. These are indeed solutions: they are even so that d=2d = 2, and 2∣162 \mid 16; 4∣724 \mid 72 and 8∣5208 \mid 520, which indeed gives m∣nm \mid n. □\square

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