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Number theory Difficulty 7.8 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Turkey

Find the largest positive integer nn which is divisible by all positive integers whose cube is not greater than nn.

Solution

The answer is 420420.

Let us consider the positive integer mm so that m3n<(m+1)3m^3 \leq n < (m+1)^3. As n=420n = 420 satisfies the conditions, we will consider the case when m7m \geq 7. Note that each of mm, m1m-1, m2m-2 and m3m-3 divides nn and hence lcm(m,m1,m2,m3)\operatorname{lcm}(m, m-1, m-2, m-3) divides nn. Since gcd(n1,n2)=1\gcd(n-1, n-2) = 1, gcd(n,n3)\gcd(n, n-3) divides 33 and gcd(n(n3),(n1)(n2))\gcd(n(n-3), (n-1)(n-2)) divides 22, we have that

m(m1)(m2)(m3)6 \frac{m(m-1)(m-2)(m-3)}{6}
divides nn. Therefore,
m(m1)(m2)(m3)6<(m+1)3 \frac{m(m-1)(m-2)(m-3)}{6} < (m+1)^3
and hence m12m \leq 12.

If m=11m = 11 or 1212, then 117598=27720n11 \cdot 7 \cdot 5 \cdot 9 \cdot 8 = 27720 \mid n, but 133=2197<2772013^3 = 2197 < 27720.

If m=9m = 9 or 1010, then 7598=2520n7 \cdot 5 \cdot 9 \cdot 8 = 2520 \mid n, but 113=1331<252011^3 = 1331 < 2520.

If m=8m = 8, then 7538=840n7 \cdot 5 \cdot 3 \cdot 8 = 840 \mid n, but 93=729<8409^3 = 729 < 840.

If m=7m = 7, then 7534=420n7 \cdot 5 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 = 420 \mid n and n<83=512n < 8^3 = 512. Therefore n=420n = 420.

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