Maths Olympiad Prep

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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
d1dk=d2dk1=d3dk2=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=p1α1p2α2prαrn = 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 α1α2αr\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.