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Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions

Number theory Difficulty 5.9 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all positive integer nn such that there exists a permutation (a1,a2,…,an)\left(a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{n}\right) of (1,2,3,…,n)\left(1,2,3, \ldots, n\right) satisfying the condition:
a1+a2+⋯+ak is divisible by k for each k=1,2,3,…,n.  a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{k} \text{ is divisible by } k \text{ for each } k=1,2,3, \ldots, n \text{. }

Solution

It is easy to see that n=1n=1, n=3n=3 satisfy the given condition, while n=2n=2 does not. We will show that all numbers n>3n>3 do not satisfy the condition.

First, we can see that
a1+a2+⋯+an=1+2+⋯+n=n(n+1)2 a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{n}=1+2+\cdots+n=\frac{n(n+1)}{2}
then n(n+1)2\frac{n(n+1)}{2} is divisible by nn, which means n+12∈Z\frac{n+1}{2} \in \mathbb{Z} or nn is an odd number. We also have
n−1∣ a1+a2+⋯+an−1=n(n+1)2−an=(n+1)(n−1)2+n+12−an n-1 \left\lvert\, a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{n-1}=\frac{n(n+1)}{2}-a_{n}=\frac{(n+1)(n-1)}{2}+\frac{n+1}{2}-a_{n}\right.
Thus, n+12−an\frac{n+1}{2}-a_{n} is divisible by n−1n-1.

On the other hand,
−(n−1)<n+12−an<n−1 -(n-1)<\frac{n+1}{2}-a_{n}<n-1
then we must have
n+12−an=0⇔an=n+12 \frac{n+1}{2}-a_{n}=0 \Leftrightarrow a_{n}=\frac{n+1}{2}
It implies that
a1+a2+⋯+an−1=n2−12. a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{n-1}=\frac{n^{2}-1}{2} .
Continue, we have
n−2∣ a1+a2+⋯+an−2=n2−12−an−1=(n−2)(n+1)2+n+12−an−1 n-2 \left\lvert\, a_{1}+a_{2}+\cdots+a_{n-2}=\frac{n^{2}-1}{2}-a_{n-1}=\frac{(n-2)(n+1)}{2}+\frac{n+1}{2}-a_{n-1}\right.
Similarly, we get an−1=n+12a_{n-1}=\frac{n+1}{2}, then an−1=ana_{n-1}=a_{n}, which is a contradiction.

Hence, the only two satisfied values are n=1n=1 and n=3n=3. □\square

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