Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 7 / 12 of 300 #1412 of 2000

Problem 1412

National olympiad second round; IMO P1/P4
Algebra Difficulty 7.0 Find the answer

Find all postitive integers n such that
n2n3n4=n2\left\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor=n^2
where x\lfloor x \rfloor represents the largest integer less than the real number xx.

Official solution

To find all positive integers n n such that
n2n3n4=n2, \left\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor = n^2,
we will proceed step-by-step.

1. Initial Observation:
We start by noting that for any integer n n , the floor functions n2 \left\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right\rfloor , n3 \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor , and n4 \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor are at most n2 \frac{n}{2} , n3 \frac{n}{3} , and n4 \frac{n}{4} respectively. Therefore,
n2n3n4n2n3n4=n324. \left\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor \leq \frac{n}{2} \cdot \frac{n}{3} \cdot \frac{n}{4} = \frac{n^3}{24}.
For the equality n2n3n4=n2 \left\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor \cdot \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor = n^2 to hold, we must have:
n324n2    n24. \frac{n^3}{24} \geq n^2 \implies n \leq 24.

2. **Checking n=24 n = 24 :**
242=12,243=8,244=6. \left\lfloor \frac{24}{2} \right\rfloor = 12, \quad \left\lfloor \frac{24}{3} \right\rfloor = 8, \quad \left\lfloor \frac{24}{4} \right\rfloor = 6.
1286=576=242. 12 \cdot 8 \cdot 6 = 576 = 24^2.
Thus, n=24 n = 24 works.

3. **Checking n<24 n < 24 :**
For n<24 n < 24 , we need to check if the product of the floor functions can equal n2 n^2 . We will check a few values manually:
- For n=23 n = 23 :
232=11,233=7,234=5. \left\lfloor \frac{23}{2} \right\rfloor = 11, \quad \left\lfloor \frac{23}{3} \right\rfloor = 7, \quad \left\lfloor \frac{23}{4} \right\rfloor = 5.
1175=385232=529. 11 \cdot 7 \cdot 5 = 385 \neq 23^2 = 529.
- For n=22 n = 22 :
222=11,223=7,224=5. \left\lfloor \frac{22}{2} \right\rfloor = 11, \quad \left\lfloor \frac{22}{3} \right\rfloor = 7, \quad \left\lfloor \frac{22}{4} \right\rfloor = 5.
1175=385222=484. 11 \cdot 7 \cdot 5 = 385 \neq 22^2 = 484.
- Continue this process for n=21,20,,1 n = 21, 20, \ldots, 1 , and none of these values will satisfy the equation.

4. Conclusion:
Since n=24 n = 24 is the only value that satisfies the equation, we conclude that n=24 n = 24 is the only solution.

The final answer is 24 \boxed{24} .

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