Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

For integers n1n \geq 1, prove that the product
3122130(9n6) 3 \cdot 12 \cdot 21 \cdot 30 \cdots (9n-6)
is divisible by n!n!.

Solution

Solution:

Let pp be a prime number. We will prove that the number AA of factors of pp in 312(9n6)3 \cdot 12 \cdots (9n-6) is greater than or equal to the number BB of factors of pp in n!n!.

We first explain the widely known method for computing BB. Out of the numbers from 11 to nn, exactly n/p\lfloor n / p \rfloor of them are multiples of pp; they will contribute n/p\lfloor n / p \rfloor "first" factors of pp to the product n!n!. In addition, n/p2\left\lfloor n / p^{2} \right\rfloor of these numbers are also divisible by p2p^{2}, giving n/p2\left\lfloor n / p^{2} \right\rfloor "second" factors of pp. This continues, and we get
B=np+np2+np3+, B = \left\lfloor \frac{n}{p} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{p^{2}} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{p^{3}} \right\rfloor + \cdots,
where the sum continues until eventually all of its terms become 00 due to a lack of terms divisible by very high powers of pp.

Now we estimate AA. If p=3p = 3, then A=nA = n since every term of the arithmetic sequence 3,12,21,3, 12, 21, \ldots is divisible by 33 but not 99. In this case it is clear that
B=n3+n32+n33+n3+n32+n33+=n2<n. B = \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3^{2}} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3^{3}} \right\rfloor + \cdots \leq \frac{n}{3} + \frac{n}{3^{2}} + \frac{n}{3^{3}} + \cdots = \frac{n}{2} < n.

Now assume that p3p \neq 3. Divide the arithmetic progression 3,12,21,,(9n6)3, 12, 21, \ldots, (9n-6) into n/p\lfloor n / p \rfloor blocks of length pp, discarding any terms that remain; because the common difference 99 is relatively prime to pp, each block will have one representative of each congruence class mod p\bmod\ p, and in particular exactly one multiple of pp. Thus the product 3122130(9n6)3 \cdot 12 \cdot 21 \cdot 30 \cdots (9n-6) will have at least n/p\lfloor n / p \rfloor "first" factors of pp. By the same argument, using blocks of length p2p^{2}, there are at least n/p2\left\lfloor n / p^{2} \right\rfloor "second" factors of pp, and so on, so
Anp+np2+np3+=B A \geq \left\lfloor \frac{n}{p} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{p^{2}} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{p^{3}} \right\rfloor + \cdots = B
as desired.

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