Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /224 of 348

Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME Find the answer

Let nn be a positive integer. Given that nnn^{n} has 861 positive divisors, find nn.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

If n=p1α1p2α2pkαkn=p_{1}^{\alpha_{1}} p_{2}^{\alpha_{2}} \ldots p_{k}^{\alpha_{k}}, we must have (nα1+1)(nα2+1)(nαk+1)=861=3741\left(n \alpha_{1}+1\right)\left(n \alpha_{2}+1\right) \ldots\left(n \alpha_{k}+1\right)=861=3 \cdot 7 \cdot 41. If k=1k=1, we have n860n \mid 860, and the only prime powers dividing 860 are 2,22,52,2^{2}, 5, and 43 , which are not solutions. Note that if nαi+1=3n \alpha_{i}+1=3 or nαi+1=7n \alpha_{i}+1=7 for some ii, then nn is either 1,2,31,2,3, or 6 , which are not solutions. Therefore, we must have nαi+1=37n \alpha_{i}+1=3 \cdot 7 for some ii. The only divisor of 20 that is divisible by pin/20p_{i}^{n / 20} for some prime pip_{i} is 20 , and it is indeed the solution.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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