Prove that the product of six consecutive positive integers cannot be a perfect cube.
Solution
Because 6!=720 is not a perfect cube, we only need to consider products t=n(n+1)(n+2)(n+3)(n+4)(n+5) with n≥2. Let a=n(n+5), b=(n+1)(n+4)=a+4 and c=(n+2)(n+3)=a+6, then t=a(a+4)(a+6)=a3+10a2+24a. Because a≥14, we have (a+3)3=a3+9a2+27a+27=t−a2+3a+27=t−(a−9)(a+3)−3a<t<a3+12a2+48a+64=(a+4)3, hence t cannot be a perfect cube.
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Source: MathNet,
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