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Number theory Difficulty 6.9 National olympiad Prove it

Lemma 7 Let pp be a prime, mm be a positive integer and m=nα+m=n \alpha+ β\beta, where α\boldsymbol{\alpha} is a non-negative integer and β\boldsymbol{\beta} is a non-negative integer no greater than n1n-1. Let a=pma=p^{m}, when β=0\beta=0, an\sqrt[n]{a} is an integer. When 1β1 \leqslant \beta \leqslant n1n-1, an\sqrt[n]{a} cannot be expressed as a fraction.

Solution

Proof (i) When β=0\beta=0. In this case, we have m=nαm=n \alpha and a=pnαa=p^{n \alpha}, hence we get an=pα\sqrt[n]{a}=p^{\alpha} is an integer.
(ii) When α=0\alpha=0 and 1βn11 \leqslant \beta \leqslant n-1. In this case, we have m=βm=\beta and a=pβa=p^{\beta}. If there exist two positive integers b,cb, c such that anbc\sqrt[n]{a} \Rightarrow \frac{b}{c} holds, let (b,c)=d(b, c)=d, then we have b=b1d,c=c˙1db=b_{1} d, c=\dot{c}_{1} d and (b1,c1)=1\left(b_{1}, c_{1}\right)=1. From an=bc\sqrt[n]{a}=\frac{b}{c} we have pβn=an=bc=b1c1,pβ=(b1c1)n\sqrt[n]{p^{\beta}}=\sqrt[n]{a}=\frac{b}{c}=\frac{b_{1}}{c_{1}}, p^{\beta}=\left(\frac{b_{1}}{c_{1}}\right)^{n}, thus we have
b1npβc1nb_{1}^{n} \doteq p^{\beta} c_{1}^{n}

By (b1,c1)=1\left(b_{1}, c_{1}\right)=1 and (29), we have pb1p \mid b_{1}. Let b1=plb2b_{1}=p^{l} b_{2}, where ll is a positive integer, (b2,p)=1\left(b_{2}, p\right)=1. From (29) we have
c1n=pnlβb2nc_{1}^{n}=p^{n l-\beta} b_{2}^{n}

Since 1βn1,l11 \leqslant \beta \leqslant n-1, l \geqslant 1 and (30), we have pc1p \mid c_{1}. Since pb1,pc1p\left|b_{1}, p\right| c_{1}, this contradicts (b1,c1)=1\left(b_{1}, c_{1}\right)=1, hence there do not exist two positive integers b,cb, c such that an=bc\sqrt[n]{a}=\frac{b}{c}.
(iii) When α\alpha is a positive integer and 1βn11 \leqslant \beta \leqslant n-1. In this case, if there exist two positive integers b,cb, c such that an=bc\sqrt[n]{a}=\frac{b}{c}, then from bc=an=\frac{b}{c}=\sqrt[n]{a}= pnα+βn=pαpβn\sqrt[n]{p^{n \alpha+\beta}}=p^{\alpha} \sqrt[n]{p^{\beta}} we get, pβn=bcpα\sqrt[n]{p^{\beta}}=\frac{b}{c p^{\alpha}} can be expressed as a fraction, which contradicts the proof in (ii) that pβn\sqrt[n]{p^{\beta}} cannot be expressed as a fraction. Hence the lemma is proved.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.