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jlacosta   0
May 1, 2025
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0 replies
jlacosta
May 1, 2025
0 replies
2-var inequality
sqing   14
N 31 minutes ago by ytChen
Source: Own
Let $ a,b> 0 ,a^3+ab+b^3=3.$ Prove that
$$ (a+b)(a+1)(b+1) \leq 8$$$$ (a^2+b^2)(a+1)(b+1) \leq 8$$Let $ a,b> 0 ,a^3+ab(a+b)+b^3=3.$ Prove that
$$ (a+b)(a+1)(b+1) \leq \frac{3}{2}+\sqrt[3]{6}+\sqrt[3]{36}$$
14 replies
sqing
Saturday at 1:35 PM
ytChen
31 minutes ago
Projective geo
drmzjoseph   1
N 38 minutes ago by Luis González
Any pure projective solution? I mean no metrics, Menelaus, Ceva, bary, etc
Only pappus, desargues, dit, etc
Btw prove that $X',P,K$ are collinear, and $P,Q$ are arbitrary points
1 reply
drmzjoseph
Mar 6, 2025
Luis González
38 minutes ago
interesting geo config (2/3)
Royal_mhyasd   6
N an hour ago by Diamond-jumper76
Source: own
Let $\triangle ABC$ be an acute triangle and $H$ its orthocenter. Let $P$ be a point on the parallel through $A$ to $BC$ such that $\angle APH = |\angle ABC-\angle ACB|$. Define $Q$ and $R$ as points on the parallels through $B$ to $AC$ and through $C$ to $AB$ similarly. If $P,Q,R$ are positioned around the sides of $\triangle ABC$ as in the given configuration, prove that $P,Q,R$ are collinear.
6 replies
Royal_mhyasd
Saturday at 11:36 PM
Diamond-jumper76
an hour ago
equal segments on radiuses
danepale   9
N an hour ago by mshtand1
Source: Croatia TST 2016
Let $ABC$ be an acute triangle with circumcenter $O$. Points $E$ and $F$ are chosen on segments $OB$ and $OC$ such that $BE = OF$. If $M$ is the midpoint of the arc $EOA$ and $N$ is the midpoint of the arc $AOF$, prove that $\sphericalangle ENO + \sphericalangle OMF = 2 \sphericalangle BAC$.
9 replies
danepale
Apr 25, 2016
mshtand1
an hour ago
No more topics!
Power Of Factorials
Kassuno   181
N May 19, 2025 by SomeonecoolLovesMaths
Source: IMO 2019 Problem 4
Find all pairs $(k,n)$ of positive integers such that \[ k!=(2^n-1)(2^n-2)(2^n-4)\cdots(2^n-2^{n-1}). \]Proposed by Gabriel Chicas Reyes, El Salvador
181 replies
Kassuno
Jul 17, 2019
SomeonecoolLovesMaths
May 19, 2025
Power Of Factorials
G H J
G H BBookmark kLocked kLocked NReply
Source: IMO 2019 Problem 4
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SenorSloth
37 posts
#191 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
We claim that the only answers are $(k,n)=(1,1)$ and $(3,2)$, which clearly work. We can test $n=3$ and $n=4$ to see they do not have an integer solution for $k$.

Now note that the right side rewrites as $2^{\frac{n(n-1)}{2}}\cdot\prod_{i=1}^{n}(2^i-1)$. Since $2^5-1=31$, every $i$ divisible by $5$ contributes at least one factor of $31$. Thus, $\nu_{31}\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1} (2^n-2^i)\right)\geq \left\lfloor \frac n5 \right \rfloor$. Since the order of $2\pmod{11}$ is $10$ and $\nu_{11}(1023)=1$, using LTE we have that $\nu_{11} \left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1} (2^n-2^i)\right) = \left\lfloor \frac {n}{10} \right \rfloor+\left\lfloor \frac {n}{110} \right \rfloor+\left\lfloor \frac {n}{1210} \right \rfloor+\dots$, which is always less than $\left\lfloor \frac {n}{5} \right \rfloor$.

However, $\nu_{11}(k!)\geq \nu_{31}(k!)$ for all $k$, thus the two sides cannot be equal for $n>4$, and there are no more solutions.
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cursed_tangent1434
656 posts
#192 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
We claim that the only pairs of solutions are $(k,n)=(1,1)$ and $(3,2)$. It is not hard to see that these solutions work, now we shall show that they are the only ones.

First note that comparing $\nu_2$ of both sides we have,
\begin{align*}
\frac{n(n-1)}{2} & = \nu_2(k!)\\
& = \sum _{i=1}^\infty \lfloor{\frac{k}{2^i}}\rfloor\\
& \le k
\end{align*}Thus, $k \ge \frac{n(n-1)}{2}$.

But then, note that $3\mid 2^i-1$ if and only if $2\mid i$. Further, by LTE we have for all even $i$, $\nu_3(2^i-1)= \nu_3(4-1) + \nu_3(\frac{i}{2}) = \nu_3(\frac{i}{2}) +1$. Thus,
\begin{align*}
\nu_3((2^n-1)(2^n-2)(2^n-4)\dots(2^n-2^{n-1})) & = \nu_3(\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor) + \nu_3(\lfloor \frac{n-2}{2}\rfloor) + \dots + \nu_3(1)\\
&= \nu_3((\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor)!) + \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor 
\end{align*}Thus, as a result of our previous bound we have,
\begin{align*}
\nu_3((\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor)!) + \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor  & = \nu_3(k!)\\
& \ge \nu_3((\lfloor \frac{n(n-1)}{2} \rfloor)!)\\
& \ge (n-1)\nu_3((\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor)!) 
\end{align*}which implies,
\[\frac{n}{6}-1<\lfloor \frac{n}{6} \rfloor\le \nu_3((\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor)!)  \le \frac{\lfloor \frac{n}{2} \rfloor}{n-2}\]from which it is not hard to see that we require $n<10$.
Checking the possibilities $n<5$ we see that $n=1$ and $n=2$ work yielding $k=1$ and $k=3$ respectively and others don't ($n=4$ almost works). When $n\ge 5$, we have $31 \mid k!$. Thus, we must have $29 \mid k!$ as well. So, 29 is a fraction of some expression of the form $2^i-1$ which is clearly impossible for any $i<10$ which completes the check.
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kotmhn
60 posts
#193 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
Let $s_{p}(n)$ be the sum of digits in the base $p$ expansion of $n$ , and the RHS be $Q$. Clearly
\[ \nu_2(Q) = \frac{n(n-1)}{2}\]That shows $k \in \{2^n,2^n + 1\}$. Then observe that
\[ \nu_p(k!) \leq \lfloor \frac{2^n}{p-1}\rfloor \leq \nu_p(Q)\]Clearly for all primes the $+1$ makes no diffrence. now the equality should hold for that $Q$ should only contain prime factors less than 7. as we want $\lfloor \frac{2^n}{p-1}\rfloor$
to be an integer. so 7 can't be in and hence no number above it.
Manually checking for $k \in \{1,2,3,4,5,6\}$ we see that only $(1,1),(2,3)$ work
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by kotmhn, Sep 13, 2024, 7:55 PM
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numbertheory97
43 posts
#194 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
The only solutions are $(n, k) = (1, 1)$ and $(2, 3)$. The main idea is that for large enough $n$ (which will actually be pretty small), the right side has too many factors of $2$ to balance out the other prime factors. Specifically, in addition to examining $\nu_2$ we'll also look at $\nu_3$.

Notice that \[\nu_2(k!) = \sum_{i = 0}^{n - 1} \nu_2(2^n - 2^i) = 1 + 2 + \dots + (n - 1) = \frac{n(n - 1)}{2}\]and \[\nu_3(k!) = \nu_3\left(\prod_{i = 0}^{n - 1} (2^n - 2^i)\right) = \sum_{i = 1}^n \nu_3(2^i - 1) = \sum_{i = 1}^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor} \nu_3(4^i - 1) = \left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor + \sum_{i = 1}^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor} \nu_3(i)\]\[ = \left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor + \nu_3\left(\left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor!\right)\]by LTE and the fact that $\nu_3(2^i - 1)$ is $0$ when $i$ is odd. This implies that $k > \lfloor n/2 \rfloor$, so \[\nu_3\left(\left(\left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor + 1\right) \cdot \left(\left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor + 2\right) \cdots k\right) = \left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor.\]At least $\left\lfloor \frac{k - \lfloor n/2 \rfloor}{3} \right\rfloor$ terms in the product on the left side are divisible by $3$, so we discover that \[\left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor \geq \left\lfloor \frac{k - \lfloor n/2 \rfloor}{3} \right\rfloor \geq \frac{k - \lfloor n/2 \rfloor}{3} - 1 \implies k \leq 4 \left\lfloor \frac n2 \right\rfloor + 3 \leq 2n + 3.\]But from before we have \[\frac{n(n - 1)}{2} = \nu_2(k!) = k - s_2(k) < k,\]so $\frac{n(n - 1)}{2} < 2n + 3$. Rearranging yields $(n - 6)(n + 1) < 0$, so $n < 6$. Checking these cases reveals that only $n = 1$ and $n = 2$ work as desired. $\square$
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pie854
246 posts
#195 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
We'll show that if $n\geq 8$ then no such $k$ exists. First we'll prove a lemma.

Lemma: If $n\geq 8$ then $\prod_{i=1}^n \left (2^n-2^{n-i}\right)>(2n)!$.
Proof. Notice that $2^i-1>2i(2i-1)$ if $i\geq 8$ and we can check that $2^{8-i} \left (2^i-1\right )>2i(2i-1)$ if $i<8$. So we have $$\prod_{i=1}^n \left (2^{n-i}(2^i-1)\right)>\prod_{i=1}^n(2i(2i-1)),$$which is equivalent to the lemma. ////

From the lemma, it follows that $k>2n$. So $$v_3(k!)\geq v_3((2n)!)=\sum_{i=1}^\infty \left\lfloor \frac{2n}{3^i} \right\rfloor \qquad (1)$$Now we state another lemma.

Lemma: $2$ is a primitive root mod $3^m$ for $m=1,2,\dots$.
Proof. Well known. Use LTE. ////

By the lemma we have $2^i-1\equiv 0\pmod{3^m}$ iff $2\cdot 3^{m-1}=\phi(3^m)\mid i$. So, $$v_3\left (\prod_{i=1}^n \left (2^n-2^{n-i}\right)\right)=\sum_{i=1}^n v_3\left (2^i-1\right)=\sum_{i=1}^\infty \left \lfloor \frac{n}{2\cdot 3^{i-1}}\right \rfloor \qquad (2)$$Since $\frac{2n}{3^i}>\frac{n}{2\cdot 3^{i-1}}$ it follows that $\left \lfloor \frac{2n}{3^i}\right \rfloor \geq \left \lfloor \frac{n}{2\cdot 3^{i-1}}\right \rfloor$. But for $n\geq 8$ we have $$\left \lfloor \frac{2n}{3}\right \rfloor >\frac 23 n-1>\frac n2\geq \left \lfloor \frac{n}{2}\right \rfloor.$$So from $(1)$ and $(2)$ it follows that $$v_3(k!)>v_3\left (\prod_{i=1}^n \left (2^n-2^{n-i}\right)\right) \implies k!\neq \prod_{i=1}^n \left (2^n-2^{n-i}\right),$$as claimed.

Now for $n<8$ we can manually check and find that only $n=1,2$ work.
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ezpotd
1314 posts
#196 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
I claim the answers are $(1,1), (2,3)$ only, it is trivial to verify that both of these work.

To eliminate $n = 3,4$, compute the right hand side as $7 \cdot 6 \cdot 4, 7 \cdot 6 \cdot 4 \cdot 8 \cdot 15$ which is just $168, 168 \cdot 120$, the latter of which is just $4 \cdot 7!$, so neither of these are factorials. We take $\nu_2$ of both sides. We get $k \ge \nu_2(k!) = \nu_2(\prod 2^n - 2^i) = \frac 12 (n^2 -n)$. Now we can bound $\prod 2^n - 2^i < 2^{n(n - 1)} = 4^(\frac 12 (n)(n - 1))$. We claim that for $n > 4$ we have $ (\frac 12 (n^2 - n))! > 4^{\frac 12 (n^2 - n)}$, resulting in no solutions. We can rewrite this as $\prod_{1 \le i \le \binom n2} \frac i4 > 1$, the inequality $\frac i4 > 1$ is true for most $i$, to deal with the ones where its not we can just combine them with the highest values of $i$, thus we show for $x \ge 10$ the inequality $x(x - 1)(x - 2)\cdot (3 \cdot 2 \cdot 1) > 4^6$ is true, which is just combining the three highest terms with the three lowest. This is just obviously true by computation and the fact that the function is increasing.
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smileapple
1010 posts
#198 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
Observe that \[\frac{n(n-1)}2=\nu_2\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}(2^n-2^i)\right)=\nu_2(k!)\le k\]where the last step follows from evaluating Legendre's formula as a geometric series.

Observe also that \[\frac{k}3-1<\nu_3(k!)=\nu_3\left(\prod_{i=0}^{n-1}(2^n-2^i)\right)=\nu_3\left(\prod_{i=1}^{n}(2^i-1)\right).\]Now $\nu_3(2^m-1)=0$ if $m$ is odd and $\nu_3(2^m-1)=\nu_3(4^{\frac{m}2}-1)=\nu_3(m)+1$ if $m$ by lifting exponents. Continuing from above, we find that \[\frac{k}3-1<\nu_3\left(\prod_{i=1}^{n}(2^i-1)\right)\le\frac{n}2+\sum_{i=1}^{\left\lfloor\frac{n}2\right\rfloor}\nu_3(2i)\le\frac{n}2+\nu_3(n!)<n\]where the last step again follows from evaluating Legendre's formula as a geometric series.

Combining the above results imply that $n^2-n\le 2k<6n+6$, so $n<7$. Manually checking yields that the only solutions are $(k,n)=(1,1)$ and $(k,n)=(2,3)$. $\blacksquare$
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mathwiz_1207
105 posts
#200 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
Kind of messy oops. Anyways, instead of examining $v_2$, we will consider $v_5$ and $v_7$. We claim that the only solutions are $(k, n) = \boxed{(1, 1)}$ and $\boxed{(3, 2)}$. It is easy to check that they both work. Now, note that for any $k \geq 0$,
\[v_5(k!) \geq v_7(k!)\]This is trivial by Legendre's. Now, let
\[P(n) = \prod_{i = 0}^{n - 1} (2^n- 2^i)\]Thus, if there were a solution pair $(k, n)$ we would need
\[v_5(P(n)) \geq v_7(P(n))\]Now, note that the order of $2$ modulo $5, 7$ is $4, 3$ respectively. So, by LTE
\[v_5(2^{4k} - 1) = v_5(k) + 1\]\[v_7(2^{3k} - 1) = v_7(k) + 1\]Thus, we in fact have
\[v_5(P(n)) = \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4 \cdot 5} \right \rfloor + \cdots\]\[v_7(P(n)) = \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{3 \cdot 7} \right \rfloor + \cdots\]Now, notice that
\[v_5(P(n)) = \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4} \right\rfloor + \left\lfloor \frac{n}{4 \cdot 5} \right\rfloor + \cdots < \frac{n}{4} + \frac{n}{4 \cdot 5} + \cdots = \frac{5n}{16}\]Furthermore, if $m = \log_7(n)$, then
\[v_7(P(n)) > \frac{n}{3} r + \cdots + \frac{n}{3 \cdot 7^m} - (m + 1) \geq \frac{n}{18}(\frac{7^{m + 1} - 1}{7^m}) - (m + 1)\]Assume $m > 1 \implies n \geq 8$, then we can in fact write
\[v_7(P(n)) > \frac{n}{3} r + \cdots + \frac{n}{3 \cdot 7^m} - (m + 1) \geq \frac{n}{18}(\frac{7^{m + 1} - 1}{7^m}) - (m + 1) > \frac{8n}{21} - m - 1\]Thus, we have
\[\frac{5n}{16} > v_5(P(n)) \geq v_7(P(n)) > \frac{8n}{21} - \log_7(n) - 1\]\[\log_7(n) + 1 > \frac{23n}{16 \cdot 21}\]\[7n > 7^{\frac{23n}{16 \cdot 21}}\]Since the RHS grows faster than the LHS, $n$ is clearly bounded. Furthermore, $n = 48$ doesn't satisfy the above, so we must have $n \leq 48$. Then, the values of $v_5(P(n))$ and $v_7(P(n))$ can be manually calculated, giving $n = 1, 2, 4, 5, 8$ as the possible candidates, of which only $n = 1, 2$ work, so we are done.
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Ihatecombin
69 posts
#201 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
The only pairs that exist are \((1,1)\), \((3,2)\). Notice that \(v_2(\text{R.H.S}) = \frac{n(n-1)}{2}\). Therefore we must have
\[k = \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{k}{2^i} \geq \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} \left\lfloor\frac{k}{2^i}\right\rfloor = v_2(k!) = \frac{n(n-1)}{2}\]Hence we obtain
\[k! \geq \frac{n(n-1)}{2}! \Longrightarrow (2^n-1)(2^n-2)(2^n-4)\cdots(2^n-2^{n-1}) \geq \frac{n(n-1)}{2}!\]However it is obvious that
\[2^{n^2-1} \geq (2^n-1)(2^n-2)(2^n-4) \cdots (2^n-2^{n-1})\]the \(-1\) appears since \(2^{n} - 2^{n-1} = 2^{n-1}\), this is just to help with the computation later on. So we must have
\[2^{n-1} \cdot 4^{\frac{n(n-1)}{2}} = 2^{n^2-1} \geq \frac{n(n-1)}{2}!\]Claim
Proof
That was a bit of a silly claim. We shall move on to a more impactful one
Claim
Proof
So we must have a contradiction for \(n \geq 6\). Now we shall just bash all \(n \leq 5\) to obtain the values above (note \(n=5\) is easy since \(2^5-1 = 31\) implying \(k \geq 31\) which is absurd).
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cubres
121 posts
#202
Y by
Storage - grinding IMO problems
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Warideeb
60 posts
#203 • 1 Y
Y by cubres
Bruh just $v_2$ bashing and bounding
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Maximilian113
576 posts
#204 • 1 Y
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By $v_2$ we have that $$\frac{(n-1)n}{2} = v_2(k!) \leq k-1 \implies k > \frac{(n-1)n}{2}.$$Meanwhile by LTE and Legendre's $$v_3(k!) = v_3\left( \left \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right \rfloor ! \right)+\left \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right \rfloor \implies \frac{k}{3}-1 \leq \frac{\left \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right \rfloor - 1}{2}+\left \lfloor \frac{n}{2} \right \rfloor \leq \frac34 n - \frac12.$$Thus, $$\frac{n(n-1)}{2} < \frac94 n + \frac32 \implies n \leq 5.$$Testing yields the only solutions $\boxed{(k, n) = (2, 2), (1, 1)}.$
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by Maximilian113, Apr 1, 2025, 5:36 PM
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Ilikeminecraft
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#205
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First, we have that $\nu_2(RHS) = 1 + 2 + \cdots + n - 1 = \frac{(n - 1)n}{2}.$ By induction, it can be shown that $\nu_2(k!) < k.$ Similarly, we have that $\frac k3 \leq \nu_3(k!).$ We also have that $3$ appears in every even $n,$ and hence $\nu_3(RHS) \leq \frac{n}{2}.$ Thus, we have the 2 equations
\begin{align*}
  \frac k3 & \leq \frac n2  \\
  \frac{(n - 1)n}{2} & < k \\
  \implies \frac{(n - 1)n}{2} & < \frac{3n}{2} \implies n < 4\\
\end{align*}We can trivially check that only $(n, k) = (2, 3), (1, 1)$ are the only solutions.
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maromex
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#206
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For $k \ge 8$, take $$2^{n^2-1} > k! \ge 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot 5 \cdot 6 \cdot 7 \cdot 8^{k-7}$$$$ > 2 \cdot 2 \cdot 4 \cdot 4 \cdot 4 \cdot 4 \cdot 8^{k-7} = 2^{1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 3(k-7)} = 2^{3k - 11}.$$(This inequality also loosely holds for $k < 8$.) Therefore, $n^2 - 1 > 3k - 11$. Also, $$0 + 1 + 2 + \ldots + n-1 = \frac{n^2 - n}{2} = \nu_2(k!) = \sum\limits_{i=1}^\infty \left\lfloor \frac{k}{2^i} \right\rfloor < \sum\limits_{i=1}^\infty \frac{k}{2^i} = k.$$Therefore, $n^2 - n < 2k$. Thus we have $$2k + n - 1 > n^2 - 1 > 3k - 11 \implies n > k - 10.$$Then we see that $$k^2 - 21k + 110 = (k - 10)(k - 11) < n^2 - n < 2k$$$$ \implies k^2 - 23k + 110 < 0 \implies (k - 11.5)^2 < 22.5 \implies k < 17.$$And now we have $$n^2 - n < 2k < 34 \implies n^2 - n - 34 < 0 \implies (n - 0.5)^2 < 34.25$$$$ \implies n < 7.$$Now we can check finitely many $n$. Factorial is strictly increasing over positive integers, so at most one $k$ works for each $n$. Notice that $(1, 1)$ and $(3, 2)$ work. If $n = 3$ then $k! = 7 \cdot 6 \cdot 4 = 196$ which is never true. If $n = 4$ then $k! = 15 \cdot 14 \cdot 12 \cdot 8 = 20160$ which is never true. If $n = 5$, then $k! = 31 \cdot 30 \cdot 28 \cdot 24 \cdot 16$. Because $31$ is prime, this implies $k \ge 31$, but $$31! > 10^{22} > 31 \cdot 30 \cdot 28 \cdot 24 \cdot 16.$$Finally, if $n = 6$, we get $k! = 63 \cdot (31 \cdot 2) \cdot 60 \cdot 56 \cdot 48 \cdot 32$, and also, $\nu_2(k!) = \frac{6^2 - 6}{2} = 15$. The only $k$ for which the latter is true are $k = 16$ and $k = 17$, but both of these do not meet the requirement that the prime $31$ divides $k!$.

Oh right my answer is $(1, 1)$ and $(3, 2)$.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by maromex, May 12, 2025, 5:43 PM
Reason: little fix
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SomeonecoolLovesMaths
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