Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /2 of 30

Number theory Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it Ireland

Prove that the product of six consecutive positive integers cannot be a perfect cube.

Solution

Because 6!=7206! = 720 is not a perfect cube, we only need to consider products t=n(n+1)(n+2)(n+3)(n+4)(n+5)t = n(n+1)(n+2)(n+3)(n+4)(n+5) with n2n \ge 2. Let a=n(n+5)a = n(n+5), b=(n+1)(n+4)=a+4b = (n+1)(n+4) = a+4 and c=(n+2)(n+3)=a+6c = (n+2)(n+3) = a+6, then
t=a(a+4)(a+6)=a3+10a2+24a. t = a(a + 4)(a + 6) = a^3 + 10a^2 + 24a.
Because a14a \ge 14, we have (a+3)3=a3+9a2+27a+27=ta2+3a+27=t(a9)(a+3)3a<t<a3+12a2+48a+64=(a+4)3(a+3)^3 = a^3 + 9a^2 + 27a + 27 = t - a^2 + 3a + 27 = t - (a-9)(a+3) - 3a < t < a^3 + 12a^2 + 48a + 64 = (a+4)^3, hence tt cannot be a perfect cube.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.