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Number theory Difficulty 9.0 Shortlist Prove it South Africa

Find all positive integers nn for which there exist non-negative integers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n such that
12a1+12a2++12an=13a1+23a2++n3an=1. \frac{1}{2^{a_1}} + \frac{1}{2^{a_2}} + \dots + \frac{1}{2^{a_n}} = \frac{1}{3^{a_1}} + \frac{2}{3^{a_2}} + \dots + \frac{n}{3^{a_n}} = 1.

Solution

Let M=max{a1,,an}M = \max\{a_1, \dots, a_n\}. Then we have
3M=13Ma1+23Ma2++n3Man1+2++n=n(n+1)2(modn). 3^M = 1 \cdot 3^{M-a_1} + 2 \cdot 3^{M-a_2} + \dots + n \cdot 3^{M-a_n} \equiv 1 + 2 + \dots + n = \frac{n(n+1)}{2} \pmod n.
Therefore, the number n(n+1)2\frac{n(n+1)}{2} must be odd and hence n1(mod4)n \equiv 1 \pmod 4 or n2(mod4)n \equiv 2 \pmod 4.

We will now prove that each nNn \in \mathbb{N} of the form 4k+14k + 1 or 4k+24k + 2 (for some kNk \in \mathbb{N}) there exist integers a1,,ana_1, \dots, a_n with the described property.

For a sequence a=(a1,a2,,an)\mathbf{a} = (a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n) let us introduce the following notation:
L(a)=12a1+12a2++12anandR(a)=13a1+23a2++n3an. L(\mathbf{a}) = \frac{1}{2^{a_1}} + \frac{1}{2^{a_2}} + \dots + \frac{1}{2^{a_n}} \quad \text{and} \quad R(\mathbf{a}) = \frac{1}{3^{a_1}} + \frac{2}{3^{a_2}} + \dots + \frac{n}{3^{a_n}}.
Assume that for n=2m+1n = 2m + 1 there exists a sequence a=(a1,,an)\mathbf{a} = (a_1, \dots, a_n) of non-negative integers with L(a)=R(a)=1L(\mathbf{a}) = R(\mathbf{a}) = 1. Consider the sequence a=(a1,,an+1)\mathbf{a}' = (a'_1, \dots, a'_{n+1}) defined in the following way:
aj={aj,if j{m+1,2m+2}am+1+1,if j{m+1,2m+2}. a'_j = \begin{cases} a_j, & \text{if } j \notin \{m+1, 2m+2\} \\ a_{m+1} + 1, & \text{if } j \in \{m+1, 2m+2\}. \end{cases}
Then we have
L(a)=L(a)12am+1+212am+1+1=1 L(\mathbf{a}') = L(\mathbf{a}) - \frac{1}{2^{a_{m+1}}} + 2 \cdot \frac{1}{2^{a_{m+1}+1}} = 1
R(a)=R(a)m+13am+1+m+13am+1+1+2m+23am+1+1=1. R(\mathbf{a}') = R(\mathbf{a}) - \frac{m+1}{3^{a_{m+1}}} + \frac{m+1}{3^{a_{m+1}+1}} + \frac{2m+2}{3^{a_{m+1}+1}} = 1.
This implies that if the statement holds for 2m+12m + 1, then it holds for 2m+22m + 2.

Assume now that the statement holds for n=4m+2n = 4m + 2 for some m2m \ge 2, and assume that a=(a1,,a4m+2)\mathbf{a} = (a_1, \dots, a_{4m+2}) is the corresponding sequence of nn non-negative integers. We will construct a following sequence a=(a1,a2,,a4m+13)\mathbf{a}' = (a'_1, a'_2, \dots, a'_{4m+13}) that satisfies L(a)=R(a)=1L(\mathbf{a}') = R(\mathbf{a}') = 1 thus proving that the statement holds for 4m+134m + 13. Define:
aj={am+2+2if j=m+2aj+1if j{2m+2,2m+3,2m+4,2m+5,2m+6}aj/2+1if j{4m+4,4m+6,4m+8,4m+10,4m+12}am+2+3if j{4m+3,4m+5,4m+7,4m+9,4m+11,4m+13}ajotherwise. a'_j = \begin{cases} a_{m+2} + 2 & \text{if } j = m + 2 \\ a_j + 1 & \text{if } j \in \{2m + 2, 2m + 3, 2m + 4, 2m + 5, 2m + 6\} \\ a_{j/2} + 1 & \text{if } j \in \{4m + 4, 4m + 6, 4m + 8, 4m + 10, 4m + 12\} \\ a_{m+2} + 3 & \text{if } j \in \{4m + 3, 4m + 5, 4m + 7, 4m + 9, 4m + 11, 4m + 13\} \\ a_j & \text{otherwise.} \end{cases}
We now have
L(a)=L(a)12am+2j=2612a2m+j+12am+2+2+j=2612a2m+j+1+j=2612a2m+j+1+612am+2+3=1. L(\mathbf{a}') = L(\mathbf{a}) - \frac{1}{2^{a_{m+2}}} - \sum_{j=2}^{6} \frac{1}{2^{a_{2m+j}}} + \frac{1}{2^{a_{m+2}+2}} + \sum_{j=2}^{6} \frac{1}{2^{a_{2m+j}+1}} + \sum_{j=2}^{6} \frac{1}{2^{a_{2m+j}+1}} + 6 \cdot \frac{1}{2^{a_{m+2}+3}} = 1.
It remains to verify that R(a)=R(a)=1R(\mathbf{a}') = R(\mathbf{a}) = 1. We write
R(a)R(a)=R(am+2a4m+3a4m+5a4m+7a4m+9a4m+11a4m+13m+24m+34m+54m+74m+94m+114m+13)R(am+2m+2)+j=26(R(a2m+j2m+j,4m+j)R(a2m+j2m+j)), R(\mathbf{a}') - R(\mathbf{a}) = R\left(\begin{array}{ccccccc} a'_{m+2} & a'_{4m+3} & a'_{4m+5} & a'_{4m+7} & a'_{4m+9} & a'_{4m+11} & a'_{4m+13} \\ m+2 & 4m+3 & 4m+5 & 4m+7 & 4m+9 & 4m+11 & 4m+13 \end{array}\right) - R\left(\begin{array}{c} a_{m+2} \\ m+2 \end{array}\right) + \sum_{j=2}^{6} \left(R\left(\begin{array}{c} a'_{2m+j} \\ 2m+j, 4m+j \end{array}\right) - R\left(\begin{array}{c} a_{2m+j} \\ 2m+j \end{array}\right)\right),
where
R(c1ckd1dk)=d13c1++dk3ck. R\left(\begin{array}{ccc} c_1 & \dots & c_k \\ d_1 & \dots & d_k \end{array}\right)=\frac{d_1}{3^{c_1}}+\dots+\frac{d_k}{3^{c_k}}.
For each j{2,3,4,5,6}j \in \{2, 3, 4, 5, 6\} we have
R(a2m+ja4m+2j2m+j,4m+j)R(a2m+j2m+j)=2m+j3a2m+j+1+4m+2j3a2m+j+12m+j3a2m+j=0. R\left(\begin{array}{cc} a'_{2m+j} & a'_{4m+2j} \\ 2m+j, & 4m+j \end{array}\right)-R\left(\begin{array}{c} a_{2m+j} \\ 2m+j \end{array}\right)=\frac{2m+j}{3^{a_{2m+j}+1}}+\frac{4m+2j}{3^{a_{2m+j}+1}}-\frac{2m+j}{3^{a_{2m+j}}} = 0.
The first term in the expression for R(a)R(a)R(\mathbf{a}') - R(\mathbf{a}) is also equal to 0 because
R(am+2,a4m+3,a4m+5,a4m+7,a4m+9,a4m+11,a4m+13m+2,4m+3,4m+5,4m+7,4m+9,4m+11,4m+13) R(am+2m+2) =m+23am+2+2+j=164m+2j+13am+2+3m+23am+2 =0. \begin{aligned} & R \begin{pmatrix} a'_{m+2}, & a'_{4m+3}, & a'_{4m+5}, & a'_{4m+7}, & a'_{4m+9}, & a'_{4m+11}, & a'_{4m+13} \\ m+2, & 4m+3, & 4m+5, & 4m+7, & 4m+9, & 4m+11, & 4m+13 \end{pmatrix} \ & - R \begin{pmatrix} a_{m+2} \\ m+2 \end{pmatrix} \ &= \frac{m+2}{3^{a_{m+2}+2}} + \sum_{j=1}^{6} \frac{4m+2j+1}{3^{a_{m+2}+3}} - \frac{m+2}{3^{a_{m+2}}} \ &= 0. \end{aligned}
Thus R(a)=0R(\mathbf{a}') = 0 and the statement holds for 4m+134m + 13. It remains to verify that there are sequences of lengths 1, 5, 9, 13, and 17. One way to choose these sequences is:
(1),(2,1,3,4,4),(2,3,3,3,3,4,4,4,4),(2,3,3,4,4,4,5,4,4,5,4,5,5),(3,2,2,4,4,5,5,6,5,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,5). (1), \quad (2, 1, 3, 4, 4), \quad (2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4), \quad (2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 5, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5), \\ (3, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5).

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