Distinct positive integers , , , satisfy
Also it is known that none of them is larger than the product of three others. What is the largest possible number of primes among them?
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Solution
At first we note that the given condition is equivalent to , , , dividing .
It is possible that three of the given numbers are primes, for example for , , and . In this case which is divisible by all four given numbers. Furthermore we will show that it is impossible that all four of them are primes.
Let us assume that , , and are primes. As the sum is divisible by each of them then it is divisible also by their product . If one of the primes is equal to , then we obtain a contradiction: the sum of four squares is odd, but its divisor is even. Therefore all four primes are odd, and . Hence is divisible by which leads to a contradiction as it is easy to see that . Indeed, this is equivalent to
which is true as none of the numbers exceed the product of three other and equality can hold only for the largest of the four.