Find the smallest positive integer such that the divisors of can be partitioned into three sets with equal sums.
Solution
I claim the answer is 120. First, note that , so the sum of divisors is . Thus, we need to split the divisors into groups summing to 120 . But then we can just take . Thus, 120 works. Now we need to show 120 is the lowest. Let be the sum of divisors. Since will be in one of the piles, we need . First, we claim that must have at least 3 distinct prime divisors. Surely, if it had 2 distinct prime divisors, say and , so that , then the sum of divisors is However, the expression is maximized when is minimized, and further, as is finite must be at most . Thus, the sum of divisors is less than Thus, can't have 2 distinct prime divisors and must have at least 3 distinct prime divisors. As we already discovered 120 works, we need not worry about 4 distinct prime divisors, as the value of would be at least . We now work through the numbers with 3 distinct divisors. If 2 is not one of them, then the only number that works is , which has a sum of divisors that is not large enough. Therefore, 2 must be a prime divisor of . Additionally, if 3 is not a divisor, then our options are and , which also do not work. Therefore, 3 must also be a prime divisor. Then, if 5 is not a prime divisor, then if is , it has a sum of divisors of , which is only at least if is exactly 2 , which is not feasible. Additionally, if we use , then the sum of divisors is , so , which also can't happen. Further, we can't have be a divisor of as is the only value less than 120 with this, and that also does not work. Lastly, we just need to check , which has a sum of divisors of , so and that works. This means that is the smallest value for which , and thus is our answer.