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Croatian Mathematical Competitions

Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Determine all positive integers nn such that the product of all positive divisors of nn is equal to n3n^3. Represent these numbers as a product of prime powers.

Solution

Let 1=d1<d2<⋯<dk=n1 = d_1 < d_2 < \dots < d_k = n be all positive divisors of the number nn. We see that
d1⋅dk=d2⋅dk−1=d3⋅dk−2=n. d_1 \cdot d_k = d_2 \cdot d_{k-1} = d_3 \cdot d_{k-2} = n.
From this we conclude that the product of all positive divisors of nn is equal to n3n^3 if and only if nn has exactly six divisors.

Positive integer nn can be represented in the form n=p1α1p2α2…prαrn = p_1^{\alpha_1} p_2^{\alpha_2} \dots p_r^{\alpha_r}, where p1,p2,…,prp_1, p_2, \dots, p_r are distinct primes, and α1≥α2≥⋯≥αr\alpha_1 \ge \alpha_2 \ge \dots \ge \alpha_r are positive integers.

It is known that the number of the positive divisors of that number is (α1+1)(α2+1)…(αr+1)(\alpha_1 + 1)(\alpha_2 + 1)\dots(\alpha_r + 1). Hence, we get
(α1+1)(α2+1)…(αr+1)=6. (\alpha_1 + 1)(\alpha_2 + 1)\dots(\alpha_r + 1) = 6.
Since every factor on the left hand side is greater than 1, there are only two possibilities:
r=1,α1=5orr=2,α1=2,α2=1.r = 1, \alpha_1 = 5 \quad \text{or} \quad r = 2, \alpha_1 = 2, \alpha_2 = 1.

Condition that nn has exactly six divisors is satisfied if and only if n=p5n = p^5 for a prime pp or n=p2qn = p^2q for two distinct primes pp and qq.

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