Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Turkish Mathematical Olympiad /2 of 47

Turkish Mathematical Olympiad

Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Turkey

Let k,nk, n be positive integers with k≥n!k \ge n! Prove that
ϕ(k)≥(n−1)! \phi(k) \ge (n-1)!

Solution

For the solution we will show that if
ϕ(k)<(n−1)! then k<n! \phi(k) < (n-1)! \text{ then } k < n!
Let k=q1α1…qsαsk = q_1^{\alpha_1} \dots q_s^{\alpha_s} with q1<q2<⋯<qsq_1 < q_2 < \dots < q_s. It suffices to show that
ϕ(k)k≥1n. \frac{\phi(k)}{k} \geq \frac{1}{n}.
Since
ϕ(k)k=(1−1q1)…(1−1qs), \frac{\phi(k)}{k} = (1 - \frac{1}{q_1}) \dots (1 - \frac{1}{q_s}),
the required inequality has the following form
(1−1q1)…(1−1qs)≥1n. (1 - \frac{1}{q_1}) \dots (1 - \frac{1}{q_s}) \geq \frac{1}{n}.
Since qt≥t+1q_t \geq t+1 for each t≥1t \geq 1 we get
(1−1q1)…(1−1qs)≥(1−12)…(1−1s+1)=1s+1 (1 - \frac{1}{q_1}) \dots (1 - \frac{1}{q_s}) \ge (1 - \frac{1}{2}) \dots (1 - \frac{1}{s+1}) = \frac{1}{s+1}
Thus, if
1s+1≥1n \frac{1}{s+1} \ge \frac{1}{n}
we are done. Otherwise, s>n−1s > n - 1. Then kk has at least nn distinct prime divisors and we get
ϕ(k)≥(q1−1)…(qn−1)≥1⋅2…(n−1)=(n−1)! \phi(k) \ge (q_1 - 1) \dots (q_n - 1) \ge 1 \cdot 2 \dots (n - 1) = (n - 1)!
which contradicts to the assumption at the beginning of the solution. We are done.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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