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Number theory Difficulty 8.1 Shortlist Prove it Baltic Way

Find all quadruples (x,y,z,t)(x, y, z, t) of positive integers that satisfy the system of equations
{xyz=t!(x+1)(y+1)(z+1)=(t+1)! \begin{cases} xyz = t! \\ (x+1)(y+1)(z+1) = (t+1)! \end{cases}

Solution

Answer: t=3t = 3 and (x,y,z)(x, y, z) is any permutation of (1,2,3)(1, 2, 3).
Since the equations are symmetrical with respect to variables xx, yy and zz, we can assume that xyzx \le y \le z. Dividing the second equation by the first one we obtain the equality
t+1=(t+1)!t!=(1+1x)(1+1y)(1+1z).(1) t + 1 = \frac{(t + 1)!}{t!} = \left(1 + \frac{1}{x}\right) \left(1 + \frac{1}{y}\right) \left(1 + \frac{1}{z}\right). \qquad (1)
Assume that y3y \ge 3, then also z3z \ge 3. Now from x1x \ge 1 and (1) we get that t+124343<4t+1 \le 2 \cdot \frac{4}{3} \cdot \frac{4}{3} < 4, therefore t2t \le 2, but that contradicts the inequality y3y \ge 3.
Thus y2y \le 2. It leaves us with three possibilities.
* x=y=1x = y = 1. Writing (1) in the form t+1=4+4zt + 1 = 4 + \frac{4}{z} we conclude that z{1,2,4}z \in \{1, 2, 4\}, but none of these values leads to a solution.
* x=1x = 1 and y=2y = 2. From (1) we get that
t+1=232(1+1z)=3+3z, t + 1 = 2 \cdot \frac{3}{2} \left(1 + \frac{1}{z}\right) = 3 + \frac{3}{z},
what means that z{1,3}z \in \{1, 3\} and as zy2z \ge y \ge 2 then z=3z = 3 and t=3t = 3. One can check, that this is a solution, therefore we get 6 solutions where t=3t = 3 and (x,y,z)(x, y, z) is any permutation of (1,2,3)(1, 2, 3).
* x=y=2x = y = 2. From (1) we get that t+1=94+94zt + 1 = \frac{9}{4} + \frac{9}{4z}. The expression of the right hand side is larger than 2 and less than 3 if z4z \ge 4, what is impossible. Therefore z3z \le 3 and it remains to check that (x,y,z)=(2,2,2)(x, y, z) = (2, 2, 2) and (x,y,z)=(2,2,3)(x, y, z) = (2, 2, 3) are not solutions.

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