Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 4 / 39 of 340 #299 of 1964

Problem 299

AMC 12 late, AIME early
Number theory Difficulty 4.6 Find the answer

8. Find all integers m,n,k m, n, k greater than 1 such that
1!+2!++m!=nk. 1! + 2! + \cdots + m! = n^k.

A number or a short expression. Spacing, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official solution

8. Solution: First, we prove that when m8 m \geqslant 8 , it must be that k=2 k=2 . It is known that 1!+2!++8! 1!+2!+\cdots+8! has a factor of 32 3^{2} , but not a factor of 33 3^{3} . Since 9! 9! , 10! 10! , etc., all contain powers of 3 greater than 3, when m8 m \geqslant 8 , 1!+2!++m! 1!+2!+\cdots+m! has a factor of 32 3^{2} , but not a factor of 33 3^{3} . Therefore, k=2 k=2 . Thus, the problem is reduced to Example 7 (the difference being that in this problem, the letters take values greater than 1), from which we can deduce that m=n=3 m=n=3 .

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