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Algebra Difficulty 8.5 Shortlist Prove it Turkey

Let Sr(n)=1r+2r++nrS_r(n) = 1^r + 2^r + \dots + n^r where rr is a rational number and nn is a positive integer. Find all triples (a,b,c)(a, b, c) where aa and bb are positive rational numbers and cc is a positive integer for which there exist infinitely many positive integers nn satisfying Sa(n)=(Sb(n))cS_a(n) = (S_b(n))^c.

Solution

The answer is a=3,b=1,c=2a = 3, b = 1, c = 2 and a=bQ+,c=1a = b \in \mathbb{Q}^+, c = 1.
Applying induction on nn by using Bernoulli's inequality gives
nr+1r+1Sr(n)(n+1)r+1r+1 \frac{n^{r+1}}{r+1} \le S_r(n) \le \frac{(n+1)^{r+1}}{r+1}
for all positive integer nn and positive rational number rr.
As Sa(n)=(Sb(n))cS_a(n) = (S_b(n))^c letting r=ar = a and r=br = b gives that
na+1a+1((n+1)b+1b+1)c and (nb+1b+1)c(n+1)a+1a+1 \frac{n^{a+1}}{a+1} \le \left( \frac{(n+1)^{b+1}}{b+1} \right)^c \text{ and } \left( \frac{n^{b+1}}{b+1} \right)^c \le \frac{(n+1)^{a+1}}{a+1}
i.e.
n(b+1)c(n+1)a+1(b+1)ca+1(n+1)(b+1)cna+1 \frac{n^{(b+1)c}}{(n+1)^{a+1}} \le \frac{(b+1)^c}{a+1} \le \frac{(n+1)^{(b+1)c}}{n^{a+1}}
holds for infinitely many positive integers nn. By letting nn \to \infty in the last inequality, we obtain that (b+1)c=a+1(b+1)c = a+1 and (b+1)c=a+1(b+1)^c = a+1. If c=1c=1, then a=ba=b and we get the trivial solutions.
If c>1c > 1, then c=(b+1)c1c = (b+1)^{c-1} implies that bb is an integer since cc is an integer. As b1b \ge 1, we get that c2c1c \ge 2^{c-1} and hence c=2c = 2. This leads to b=1,a=3b = 1, a = 3 and this solution clearly satisfies the condition.

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