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k a April Highlights and 2025 AoPS Online Class Information
jlacosta   0
Apr 2, 2025
Spring is in full swing and summer is right around the corner, what are your plans? At AoPS Online our schedule has new classes starting now through July, so be sure to keep your skills sharp and be prepared for the Fall school year! Check out the schedule of upcoming classes below.

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0 replies
jlacosta
Apr 2, 2025
0 replies
k i Adding contests to the Contest Collections
dcouchman   1
N Apr 5, 2023 by v_Enhance
Want to help AoPS remain a valuable Olympiad resource? Help us add contests to AoPS's Contest Collections.

Find instructions and a list of contests to add here: https://artofproblemsolving.com/community/c40244h1064480_contests_to_add
1 reply
dcouchman
Sep 9, 2019
v_Enhance
Apr 5, 2023
k i Zero tolerance
ZetaX   49
N May 4, 2019 by NoDealsHere
Source: Use your common sense! (enough is enough)
Some users don't want to learn, some other simply ignore advises.
But please follow the following guideline:


To make it short: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!
If you don't have common sense, don't post.


More specifically:

For new threads:


a) Good, meaningful title:
The title has to say what the problem is about in best way possible.
If that title occured already, it's definitely bad. And contest names aren't good either.
That's in fact a requirement for being able to search old problems.

Examples:
Bad titles:
- "Hard"/"Medium"/"Easy" (if you find it so cool how hard/easy it is, tell it in the post and use a title that tells us the problem)
- "Number Theory" (hey guy, guess why this forum's named that way¿ and is it the only such problem on earth¿)
- "Fibonacci" (there are millions of Fibonacci problems out there, all posted and named the same...)
- "Chinese TST 2003" (does this say anything about the problem¿)
Good titles:
- "On divisors of a³+2b³+4c³-6abc"
- "Number of solutions to x²+y²=6z²"
- "Fibonacci numbers are never squares"


b) Use search function:
Before posting a "new" problem spend at least two, better five, minutes to look if this problem was posted before. If it was, don't repost it. If you have anything important to say on topic, post it in one of the older threads.
If the thread is locked cause of this, use search function.

Update (by Amir Hossein). The best way to search for two keywords in AoPS is to input
[code]+"first keyword" +"second keyword"[/code]
so that any post containing both strings "first word" and "second form".


c) Good problem statement:
Some recent really bad post was:
[quote]$lim_{n\to 1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{n}-lnn$[/quote]
It contains no question and no answer.
If you do this, too, you are on the best way to get your thread deleted. Write everything clearly, define where your variables come from (and define the "natural" numbers if used). Additionally read your post at least twice before submitting. After you sent it, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.


For answers to already existing threads:


d) Of any interest and with content:
Don't post things that are more trivial than completely obvious. For example, if the question is to solve $x^{3}+y^{3}=z^{3}$, do not answer with "$x=y=z=0$ is a solution" only. Either you post any kind of proof or at least something unexpected (like "$x=1337, y=481, z=42$ is the smallest solution). Someone that does not see that $x=y=z=0$ is a solution of the above without your post is completely wrong here, this is an IMO-level forum.
Similar, posting "I have solved this problem" but not posting anything else is not welcome; it even looks that you just want to show off what a genius you are.

e) Well written and checked answers:
Like c) for new threads, check your solutions at least twice for mistakes. And after sending, read it again and use the Edit-Button if necessary to correct errors.



To repeat it: ALWAYS USE YOUR COMMON SENSE IF POSTING!


Everything definitely out of range of common sense will be locked or deleted (exept for new users having less than about 42 posts, they are newbies and need/get some time to learn).

The above rules will be applied from next monday (5. march of 2007).
Feel free to discuss on this here.
49 replies
ZetaX
Feb 27, 2007
NoDealsHere
May 4, 2019
Nice inequality
sqing   2
N a minute ago by Seungjun_Lee
Source: WYX
Let $a_1,a_2,\cdots,a_n  (n\ge 2)$ be real numbers . Prove that : There exist positive integer $k\in \{1,2,\cdots,n\}$ such that $$\sum_{i=1}^{n}\{kx_i\}(1-\{kx_i\})<\frac{n-1}{6}.$$Where $\{x\}=x-\left \lfloor x \right \rfloor.$
2 replies
1 viewing
sqing
Apr 24, 2019
Seungjun_Lee
a minute ago
Concurrency
Dadgarnia   27
N 2 minutes ago by zuat.e
Source: Iranian TST 2020, second exam day 2, problem 4
Let $ABC$ be an isosceles triangle ($AB=AC$) with incenter $I$. Circle $\omega$ passes through $C$ and $I$ and is tangent to $AI$. $\omega$ intersects $AC$ and circumcircle of $ABC$ at $Q$ and $D$, respectively. Let $M$ be the midpoint of $AB$ and $N$ be the midpoint of $CQ$. Prove that $AD$, $MN$ and $BC$ are concurrent.

Proposed by Alireza Dadgarnia
27 replies
+1 w
Dadgarnia
Mar 12, 2020
zuat.e
2 minutes ago
nice geo
Melid   1
N 18 minutes ago by Melid
Source: 2025 Japan Junior MO preliminary P9
Let ABCD be a cyclic quadrilateral, which is AB=7 and BC=6. Let E be a point on segment CD so that BE=9. Line BE and AD intersect at F. Suppose that A, D, and F lie in order. If AF=11 and DF:DE=7:6, find the length of segment CD.
1 reply
1 viewing
Melid
22 minutes ago
Melid
18 minutes ago
product of all integers of form i^3+1 is a perfect square
AlastorMoody   3
N 23 minutes ago by Assassino9931
Source: Balkan MO ShortList 2009 N3
Determine all integers $1 \le m, 1 \le n \le 2009$, for which
\begin{align*} \prod_{i=1}^n \left( i^3 +1 \right) = m^2 \end{align*}
3 replies
AlastorMoody
Apr 6, 2020
Assassino9931
23 minutes ago
IMO ShortList 1998, combinatorics theory problem 1
orl   44
N 31 minutes ago by YaoAOPS
Source: IMO ShortList 1998, combinatorics theory problem 1
A rectangular array of numbers is given. In each row and each column, the sum of all numbers is an integer. Prove that each nonintegral number $x$ in the array can be changed into either $\lceil x\rceil $ or $\lfloor x\rfloor $ so that the row-sums and column-sums remain unchanged. (Note that $\lceil x\rceil $ is the least integer greater than or equal to $x$, while $\lfloor x\rfloor $ is the greatest integer less than or equal to $x$.)
44 replies
orl
Oct 22, 2004
YaoAOPS
31 minutes ago
A game optimization on a graph
Assassino9931   2
N 32 minutes ago by dgrozev
Source: Bulgaria National Olympiad 2025, Day 2, Problem 6
Let \( X_0, X_1, \dots, X_{n-1} \) be \( n \geq 2 \) given points in the plane, and let \( r > 0 \) be a real number. Alice and Bob play the following game. Firstly, Alice constructs a connected graph with vertices at the points \( X_0, X_1, \dots, X_{n-1} \), i.e., she connects some of the points with edges so that from any point you can reach any other point by moving along the edges.Then, Alice assigns to each vertex \( X_i \) a non-negative real number \( r_i \), for \( i = 0, 1, \dots, n-1 \), such that $\sum_{i=0}^{n-1} r_i = 1$. Bob then selects a sequence of distinct vertices \( X_{i_0} = X_0, X_{i_1}, \dots, X_{i_k} \) such that \( X_{i_j} \) and \( X_{i_{j+1}} \) are connected by an edge for every \( j = 0, 1, \dots, k-1 \). (Note that the length $k \geq 0$ is not fixed and the first selected vertex always has to be $X_0$.) Bob wins if
\[
  \frac{1}{k+1} \sum_{j=0}^{k} r_{i_j} \geq r;
  \]otherwise, Alice wins. Depending on \( n \), determine the largest possible value of \( r \) for which Bobby has a winning strategy.
2 replies
Assassino9931
Apr 8, 2025
dgrozev
32 minutes ago
Composite sum
rohitsingh0812   39
N 40 minutes ago by YaoAOPS
Source: INDIA IMOTC-2006 TST1 PROBLEM-2; IMO Shortlist 2005 problem N3
Let $ a$, $ b$, $ c$, $ d$, $ e$, $ f$ be positive integers and let $ S = a+b+c+d+e+f$.
Suppose that the number $ S$ divides $ abc+def$ and $ ab+bc+ca-de-ef-df$. Prove that $ S$ is composite.
39 replies
rohitsingh0812
Jun 3, 2006
YaoAOPS
40 minutes ago
Problem 1
SpectralS   145
N 42 minutes ago by IndexLibrorumProhibitorum
Given triangle $ABC$ the point $J$ is the centre of the excircle opposite the vertex $A.$ This excircle is tangent to the side $BC$ at $M$, and to the lines $AB$ and $AC$ at $K$ and $L$, respectively. The lines $LM$ and $BJ$ meet at $F$, and the lines $KM$ and $CJ$ meet at $G.$ Let $S$ be the point of intersection of the lines $AF$ and $BC$, and let $T$ be the point of intersection of the lines $AG$ and $BC.$ Prove that $M$ is the midpoint of $ST.$

(The excircle of $ABC$ opposite the vertex $A$ is the circle that is tangent to the line segment $BC$, to the ray $AB$ beyond $B$, and to the ray $AC$ beyond $C$.)

Proposed by Evangelos Psychas, Greece
145 replies
SpectralS
Jul 10, 2012
IndexLibrorumProhibitorum
42 minutes ago
Help me please
sealight2107   0
44 minutes ago
Let $m,n,p,q$ be positive reals such that $m+n+p+q+\frac{1}{mnpq} = 18$. Find the minimum and maximum value of $m,n,p,q$
0 replies
sealight2107
44 minutes ago
0 replies
Rectangular line segments in russia
egxa   2
N an hour ago by mohsen
Source: All Russian 2025 9.1
Several line segments parallel to the sides of a rectangular sheet of paper were drawn on it. These segments divided the sheet into several rectangles, inside of which there are no drawn lines. Petya wants to draw one diagonal in each of the rectangles, dividing it into two triangles, and color each triangle either black or white. Is it always possible to do this in such a way that no two triangles of the same color share a segment of their boundary?
2 replies
egxa
Apr 18, 2025
mohsen
an hour ago
(help urgent) Classic Geo Problem / Angle Chasing?
orangesyrup   4
N an hour ago by Royal_mhyasd
Source: own
In the given figure, ABC is an isosceles triangle with AB = AC and ∠BAC = 78°. Point D is chosen inside the triangle such that AD=DC. Find the measure of angle X (∠BDC).

ps: see the attachment for figure
4 replies
orangesyrup
2 hours ago
Royal_mhyasd
an hour ago
Interesting combinatoric problem on rectangles
jaydenkaka   0
an hour ago
Source: Own
Define act <Castle> as following:
For rectangle with dimensions i * j, doing <Castle> means to change its dimensions to (i+p) * (j+q) where p,q is a natural number smaller than 3.

Define 1*1 rectangle as "C0" rectangle, and define "Cn" ("n" is a natural number) as a rectangle that can be created with "n" <Castle>s.
Plus, there is a constraint for "Cn" rectangle. The constraint is that "Cn" rectangle's area must be bigger than n^2 and be same or smaller than (n+1)^2. (n^2 < Area =< (n+1)^2)

Let all "C20" rectangle's area's sum be A, and let all "C20" rectangles perimeter's sum be B.
What is A-B?
0 replies
jaydenkaka
an hour ago
0 replies
Collect ...
luutrongphuc   2
N an hour ago by megarnie
Find all functions $f: \mathbb{R^+} \rightarrow \mathbb{R^+}$ such that:
$$f\left(f(xy)+1\right)=xf\left(x+f(y)\right)$$
2 replies
luutrongphuc
Apr 21, 2025
megarnie
an hour ago
hard problem
Cobedangiu   8
N 2 hours ago by IceyCold
Let $x,y,z>0$ and $xy+yz+zx=3$ : Prove that :
$\sum  \ \frac{x}{y+z}\ge\sum  \frac{1}{\sqrt{x+3}}$
8 replies
Cobedangiu
Apr 2, 2025
IceyCold
2 hours ago
Ez Number Theory
IndoMathXdZ   40
N Apr 1, 2025 by akliu
Source: IMO SL 2018 N1
Determine all pairs $(n, k)$ of distinct positive integers such that there exists a positive integer $s$ for which the number of divisors of $sn$ and of $sk$ are equal.
40 replies
IndoMathXdZ
Jul 17, 2019
akliu
Apr 1, 2025
Ez Number Theory
G H J
Source: IMO SL 2018 N1
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IndoMathXdZ
691 posts
#1 • 6 Y
Y by megarnie, TFIRSTMGMEDALIST, Stuart111, Adventure10, deplasmanyollari, Batzorig
Determine all pairs $(n, k)$ of distinct positive integers such that there exists a positive integer $s$ for which the number of divisors of $sn$ and of $sk$ are equal.
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by djmathman, Dec 29, 2019, 1:43 AM
Reason: edited to reflect actual wording in the shortlist re post #7
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v_Enhance
6874 posts
#2 • 16 Y
Y by rkm0959, rashah76, v4913, HamstPan38825, utlight, Mathematicsislovely, Helixglich, little-fermat, Adventure10, Mango247, two_steps, Stuffybear, Funcshun840, NicoN9, NonoPL, Yiyj1
Quote:
Determine all pairs $(m, n)$ of positive integers for which there exists a positive integer $s$ such that $sm$ and $sn$ have an equal number of divisors.

Assume henceforth that $m \ne n$ or it's immediate (take any $s$). Obviously if $m \mid n$ or $n \mid m$ then no such $s$ exists. We will prove that conversely that for all other $(m,n)$ such $s$ exists.
There are many constructions. It seems cleanest to start by saying:
Claim: If $\alpha > \beta \ge 0$ are integers then for any $M \ge \beta+1$ there exists $\gamma \in {\mathbb Z}_{\ge 0}$ such that \[ \frac{\alpha+\gamma+1}{\beta+\gamma+1} = \frac{M+1}{M}. \]The claim is checked by setting $\gamma = M(\alpha-\beta) - \beta+1$.

Now, suppose for primes we write \begin{align*} 	m &= p_1^{\alpha_1} p_2^{\alpha_2} \dots p_k^{\alpha_k} 		q_1^{\alpha'_1} \dots q_\ell^{\alpha'_\ell} \\ 	n &= p_1^{\beta_1} p_2^{\beta_2} \dots p_k^{\beta_k} 		q_1^{\beta'_1} \dots q_\ell^{\beta'_\ell} \end{align*}where $\alpha_i > \beta_i$ and $\alpha_j' < \beta_j'$; by hypothesis $\min(k,\ell) \ge 1$. We have here omitted any primes $p$ for which $\nu_p(m) = \nu_p(n)$, since these do not affect the proof in any way.

Let $T$ be a large integer exceeding $\max(\alpha_i, \beta_j)$. We can pick $\gamma_i$ for $i=1,\dots,k$ such that \[ 	\prod_i \frac{\gamma_i + \alpha_i + 1}{\gamma_i + \beta_i + 1} 	= \frac{kT+1}{kT} \cdot \frac{kT+2}{kT+1} \cdot \dots 	\cdot \frac{kT+k}{kT+(k-1)} 	= \frac{kT+k}{kT} = \frac{T+1}{T}. \]Similarly we can pick $\gamma_i'$ for $i=1,\dots,\ell$ such that \[ 	\prod_j \frac{\gamma'_j + \beta'_j + 1}{\gamma'_j + \alpha'_j + 1} 	= \frac{\ell T+1}{\ell T} \cdot \frac{\ell T+2}{\ell T+1} \cdot \dots 	\cdot \frac{\ell T+\ell }{\ell T+(\ell -1)} 	= \frac{\ell T+\ell }{\ell T} = \frac{T+1}{T}. \]Then if we let $s = \prod_i p_i^{\gamma_i} \prod_i q_i^{\gamma'_i}$, we have \[ 	\frac{d(sm)}{d(sn)} 	= \prod_i \frac{\gamma_i + \alpha_i + 1}{\gamma_i + \beta_i + 12} 	\prod_j \frac{\gamma'_j + \alpha'_j + 1}{\gamma'_j + \beta'_j + 1} 	= \frac{T+1}{T} \cdot \frac{T}{T+1} = 1 \]as desired.
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by v_Enhance, May 2, 2021, 6:52 PM
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MarkBcc168
1595 posts
#3 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
Use $ka$ and $kb$ instead of $sn$ and $sk$.

The answer is all pairs of integers such that $a\nmid b$ and $b\nmid a$.

First, if $a\mid b$, then any divisor of $ka$ is also divisor of $kb$ but since $a\neq b$, we easily obtain that $\tau(ka) <\tau(kb)$ for any $k$ so this pair does not work.

It remains to give construction to any other pair. Since it's clear that we can cancel any prime factor which have the same exponents on $a,b$, we can write $$
a = \prod_{i=1}^m p_i^{a_i-1} \prod_{j=1}^n q_j^{c_j-1}, \qquad
b = \prod_{i=1}^m p_i^{b_i-1} \prod_{j=1}^n q_j^{d_j-1}
$$where $a_1,...,a_m, b_1,...,b_m,c_1,...,c_n,d_1,...,d_n$ are integers greater than one such that $a_i > b_i$ and $c_i > d_i$, and $p_1,...,p_m,q_1,...,q_m$ are primes. Take a large enough integer $T$ and define
\begin{align*}
x_i &= (mT+i)(a_i-b_i)-a_i\\\
y_j &= (nT+j)(d_j-c_j)-d_j.
\end{align*}Choose $n=\prod\limits_{i=1}^m p_i^{x_i-1} \prod\limits_{j=1}^m q_j^{y_j-1}$. We see that $$\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i}=\frac{mT+i}{mT+i-1},\qquad \frac{y_j+c_j}{y_j+d_j}=\frac{nT+j-1}{nT+j}$$Hence
$$\frac{\tau(na)}{\tau(nb)} = \prod_{i=1}^m\frac{mT+i}{mT+i-1}\prod_{j=1}^n\frac{nT+j-1}{nT+j} = \frac{m(T+1)}{mT}\cdot\frac{nT}{n(T+1)}=1$$as desired.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by MarkBcc168, Jul 17, 2019, 2:00 PM
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william122
1576 posts
#4 • 2 Y
Y by Adventure10, Mango247
I claim that all $(m,n)$ such that $m\!\!\not\arrowvert n$, $n\!\!\not\arrowvert m$ work. Suppose that $(p_1,p_2,\ldots,p_k)$ are the set of primes such that $p|\text{lcm}(m,n)$, and define $v_{p_i}(m)=\alpha_i$, $v_{p_i}(n)=\beta_i$. Finally, order the $p_i$ such that for all $i< N$, $\alpha_i<\beta_i$, and $\alpha_i> \beta_i$* for $i\ge N$. $2\le N\le k$ by our assumption that neither number divides the other.

Now, if we denote $v_{p_i}(s)=s_i$, we want to find a suitable choice of $(s_1,\ldots,s_k)$ such that $$\prod_{i=1}^k\frac{\alpha_i+s_i}{\beta_i+s_i}=1$$Call the factor inside the product $F_i$. Note that for all $i\ge N$, we can choose $s_i=T\alpha_i-(T+1)\beta_i$, for all sufficiently large $T$, such that $F_i=\frac{T+1}{T}$. Similarly, for all $i<N$, we can choose $s_i$ such that $F_i=\frac{T}{T+1}$, for all sufficiently large $T$. So, we can set $F_1=\frac{T_1}{T_1+1}$, $F_2=\frac{T_1+1}{T_1+2}\ldots F_{N-1}=\frac{T_1+N-2}{T_1+N-1}$ for some very large $T_1$, and $F_N=\frac{T_2+1}{T_2},\ldots F_k=\frac{T_2+k-N+1}{T_2+k-N}$ for some very large $T_2$. Now, the desired product telescopes and becomes $\frac{T_1}{T_1+N-1}\cdot\frac{T_2+(k-N+1)}{T_2}$. Now, just let $T_1= M(N-1)$, $T_2=M(k-N+1)$ for some very large value of $M$ to get this equal to 1, as desired.

*If there are any $p$ such that $v_p(m)=v_p(n)$, we can divide them out since they don't matter.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by william122, Aug 9, 2019, 12:25 AM
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pad
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#5 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
This solution might be a bit new.

We claim the only condition is $m\nmid n$ and $n\nmid m$.

Clearly $m=n$ works, so assume $m\not =n$ in what follows. Suppose $m = \prod_{i=1}^k p_i^{a_i}, n = \prod_{i=1}^k p_i^{b_i}, s = \prod_{i=1}^k p_i^{x_i}$. (We ignore the primes that divide equally in $m,n$.) Then
\[ (x_1+(a_1+1))\cdots (x_k + (a_k+1)) = (x_1+(b_1+1))\cdots (x_k + (b_k+1)). \]If $a_1\le b_i \forall 1\le i \le k$ or $a_1\ge b_i \forall 1\le i \le k$, then clearly one side is larger than the other, so we have no solutions. This corresponds to $m\mid n$ or $n\mid m$. So assume this is not the case.

WLOG assume $a_i\le b_i$ for $i=1,\ldots,\ell$ and $a_i \ge b_i$ for $i=\ell+1,\ldots, k$. We can do this since the value of the primes is irrelevant, only their exponents, so we can order the indices $i$ with $a_i\le b_i$ first. Then
\[ \frac{x_1+b_1+1}{x_1+a_1+1} \cdot \frac{x_2+b_2+1}{x_2+a_2+1} \cdots \frac{x_\ell+b_\ell+1}{x_\ell+a_\ell+1} = \frac{x_{\ell+1}+b_{\ell+1}+1}{x_{\ell+1}+a_{\ell+1}+1} \cdots \frac{x_k+b_k+1}{x_k+a_k+1}. \]We want to find a solution for the $x_i$'s. Let
\begin{align*}
    x_1+a_1+1 &= x_2+b_2+1 \implies x_2 = x_1+(a_1-b_2) \\
    x_2+a_2+1 &= x_3+b_3+1 \implies x_3 = x_2+(a_2-b_3) \\
    &\vdots \\
    x_{\ell-1}+a_{\ell-1} + 1 &= x_\ell + b_\ell + 1\implies x_\ell = x_{\ell-1} + (a_{\ell-1} - b_\ell),
\end{align*}and similarly,
\begin{align*}
    x_{\ell+1} + b_{\ell+1} + 1 &= x_{\ell+2} + a_{\ell+2} + 1 \\
    &\vdots \\
    x_{k-1} + b_{k-1} + 1&= x_k+a_k+1. 
\end{align*}Now most of the fractions cancel, and we are left with
\[ \frac{x_1+b_1+1}{x_\ell+a_\ell+1} = \frac{x_{\ell+1} + a_{\ell+1} + 1}{x_k+b_k+1}. \]This clearly has a solution for $x_1, x_\ell, x_{\ell+1}, x_k$; just take $x_1 = A-(b_1+1), x_{\ell+1} = A-(a_{\ell+1}+1), x_{\ell} = B-(a_{\ell}+1), x_k = B-(b_k+1)$, for some very large $A,B$. Now we just substitute into the above equations to find all $x_i$'s. Note that if we make $A,B$ sufficiently large then we guarantee that all the $x_i$'s are positive.
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jj_ca888
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#6 • 1 Y
Y by Adventure10
darn just realized that this is basically the same (rather basically identical) as pad's solution but im posting it anyways for reference

sol
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62861
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#7 • 3 Y
Y by aopsuser305, Adventure10, Mango247
IndoMathXdZ wrote:
Determine all pairs $(m, n)$ of positive integers for which there exists a positive integer $s$ such that $sm$ and $sn$ have an equal number of divisors.
djmathman's edit reason wrote:
edited to reflect actual wording in the shortlist re post #2
It's quite ironic that the text in post 2 is not the actual shortlist wording.

Fixed, thanks. ~dj
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by djmathman, Dec 29, 2019, 1:43 AM
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VulcanForge
626 posts
#8 • 1 Y
Y by Mango247
I think this is slightly different?

The answer is all $(k,n)$ such that neither divides the other. It's easy to see that if $k|n$ or $n|k$, then it doesn't work. Now we show that all other $(k,n)$ work. Let
\begin{align*}
n &=p_1^{d_1}p_2^{d_2} \cdots p_t^{d_t} \\
k &=p_1^{e_1}p_2^{e_2} \cdots p_t^{e_t} \\
s &=p_1^{f_1-1}p_2^{f_2-1} \cdots p_t^{f_t-1} \\
\end{align*}for primes $p_i$, positive integers $f_i$ and nonnegative integers $d_i, e_i$. We can WLOG let $d_i \neq e_i$ for each $i$. We want to pick the $f_i$ such that $$(e_1+f_1)(e_2+f_2) \cdots (e_t+f_t) = (d_1+f_1)(d_t+f_t) \cdots (d_t+f_t)$$, or $$\prod_{d_t>e_t} \frac{f_t+d_t}{f_t+e_t} = \prod_{e_t>d_t} \frac{f_t+e_t}{f_t+d_t}$$. Now let us note the following:
  • For any nonnegative integers $(m,n,k)$ with $m>n$ and $k$ sufficiently large, we can find a positive integer $a$ such that $\frac{a+m}{a+n}=\frac{k+1}{k}$; just take $a=k(m-n)-n$ (which is positive because $k$ is large).
  • $\frac{2^{a+k}}{2^{a+k}-1} \prod_{i=a+1}^{a+k} \frac{2^i-1}{2^i-2} = \frac{2^a}{2^a-1}$ (for example, $\frac{256}{255} \cdot \frac{255}{254} \cdot \frac{127}{126} \cdot \frac{63}{62} = \frac{32}{31}$)
Combining these two observations implies that we can make both sides of the equation equal to $\frac{2^a}{2^a-1}$ for some large $a$, as desired.
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by VulcanForge, May 7, 2020, 7:39 PM
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EulersTurban
386 posts
#9
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It is obvious that if $k \mid n$ or $n \mid k$, that we don't have a solution.

Denote by $a=(\alpha_1,\alpha_2,\alpha_3,\dots)$ the canonical factorization of the number $a$, where $\alpha_1$ is the exponent of $p_1=2$, $\alpha_2$ is the exponent of $p_2=3$, etc. . . . (we can have $0$, in fact after a point we are going to have a lot of zeroes after that)

Let's denote by $n=(\alpha_1,\alpha_2,\alpha_3,\dots)$, $k=(\beta_1,\beta_2,\beta_3,\dots)$ and $k=(\gamma_1,\gamma_2,\gamma_3,\dots)$

From here we have that:
$$\tau(sk)=\prod_{t=1}^{\infty} \beta_t+\gamma_t$$$$\tau(sn)=\prod_{t=1}^{\infty} \alpha_t+\gamma_t$$
We want:
$$\frac{\tau(sn)}{\tau(sk)}=1$$$$\prod_{t=1}^{\infty}\frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t}=1$$
By simple algebra we easily show that we can set $\gamma_t$ to something to get that:
$$\frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t} = \frac{d+e}{d}$$But we must have $\alpha_t > \beta_t$.But if $\alpha_t < \beta_t$ we will have that:
$$\frac{\beta_t+\gamma_t}{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}=\frac{d}{d+e}$$
Let's divide the exponents into two sets $A,B$, where $A=\{t \mid \alpha_t > \beta_t\}$ and where $B=\{t\mid\alpha_t < \beta_t\}$.Since $d$ was undefined we can practically set $d$ for our own purposes, so now in the the realm of set $A$ we will set $d=card(A).p$, and in the realm of set $B$ we will set $d=card(B).p$, so by this we are going to have the following:
$$\prod_{t=1}^{\infty} \frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t} = \prod_{t\in A} \frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t} \prod_{t \in B} \frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t}$$Because of the the lemma we have that:
$$\prod_{t\in A} \frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t}=\frac{card(A)p+1}{card(A)p}\frac{card(A)p+2}{card(A)p+1}\dots \frac{card(A)p+card(A)}{card(A)p+card(A)-1}=\frac{p+1}{p}$$Similarily we have that:
$$\prod_{t \in B} \frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t} = \frac{card(B)p}{card(B)p+1}\frac{card(B)p+1}{card(B)p+2}\dots \frac{card(B)p+card(B)-1}{card(B)p+card(B)} = \frac{p}{p+1}$$
From here we see that:
$$\prod_{t=1}^{\infty} \frac{\alpha_t+\gamma_t}{\beta_t+\gamma_t} = \frac{p+1}{p}\frac{p}{p+1}=1$$
In the canonical factorisation we are going to have a lot of zeros after a while, just set $\gamma$ after that point all to be equal to $1$, just to escape the $0/0$ situation.

So we have found a construction for $s$ when $n \nmid k$ and $k \nmid n$.

So the answer is all pairs $(n,k)$ such that $n \nmid k$ and $k \nmid n$ . . . :D
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peatlo17
77 posts
#10 • 2 Y
Y by Mango247, Mango247
I claim that all distinct positive integers $(m, n)$ for which $m \nmid n$ and $n\nmid m$ satisfy the given property.

$\emph{\textbf{Proof:}}$
Let the prime factorizations of $m$ and $n$ be
$$m = p_1^{e_1}p_2^{e_2}\cdots p_k^{e_k}q_1^{f_1+y_1}q_2^{f_2+y_2}\cdots q_l^{f_l+y_l}$$$$n = p_1^{e_1+x_1}p_2^{e_2+x_2}\cdots p_k^{e_k+x_k}q_1^{f_1}q_2^{f_2}\cdots q_l^{f_l}$$For positive integers $x_i$ and $y_i$ where $k, l \ge 1$. Observe that any common prime factors of $m$ and $n$ with equal exponents can be left out as they do not affect the proof.

Thus we can write $sm$ and $sn$ as
$$sm = p_1^{g_1-1}p_2^{g_2-1}\cdots p_k^{g_k-1}q_1^{h_1-1+y_1}q_2^{h_2-1+y_2}\cdots q_l^{h_l-1+y_l}$$$$sn = p_1^{g_1-1+x_1}p_2^{g_2-1+x_2}\cdots p_k^{g_k-1+x_k}q_1^{h_1-1}q_2^{h_2-1}\cdots q_l^{h_l-1}$$where $g_i-1 \ge e_i$ and $h_i-1 \ge f_i$. By setting $\tau(sm) = \tau(sn)$ and dividing, we obtain:
\begin{align}
\frac{g_1}{g_1+x_1}\cdot\frac{g_2}{g_2+x_2}\cdots\frac{g_k}{g_k+x_k} = \frac{h_1}{h_1+y_1}\cdots\frac{h_k}{h_k+y_k}
\end{align}
$\textbf{Definition 1}$:
Define an $\emph{expand}$ as an operation in which a fraction $\frac{a}{a+1}$ is replaced by the product
\begin{align*}
\frac{a}{a+1} &= \frac{a+1}{a+2}\cdot \frac{a^2+2a}{a^2+2a+1}\\[2mm]
&= \frac{b}{b+1}\cdot \frac{c}{c+1}
\end{align*}for positive integers $a, b, c$ where $b = a+1$ and $c = a^2+2a$. Observe that $b, c > a$.

$\textbf{Definition 2}$:
Define an $\emph{increase}$ as an operation in which a fraction $\frac{a}{a+1}$ is replaced by the fraction
$$\frac{a}{a+1} = \frac{da}{da+d} = \frac{b}{b+d}$$for positive integers $a, b$ where $b=da$.

Thus if we begin with the equation
$$\frac{T}{T+1} = \frac{T}{T+1} \qquad \forall \ T > \textrm{max}(e_1,\cdots, e_k, f_1, \cdots , f_l)$$we can apply the $\emph{expand}$ and $\emph{increase}$ operations on either side of the equation to obtain (1), as desired.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by peatlo17, Jun 4, 2020, 8:58 PM
Reason: tau symbol
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Mathscienceclass
1241 posts
#11
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For OTIS!

The answer is all $(m, n)$ such that $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$.
Clearly $m \mid n$ or $n \mid m$ don't work since $sm \mid sn$ or $sn \mid sm$ respectively, so one will always have more divisors than the other for any $s$.
Now let $(e_1, e_2, \cdots)$ represent $p_1^{e_1}p_2^{e_2}\cdots$ where $p_1=2$, $p_2=3$, $\cdots$. Write $m = (m_1, m_2, \cdots)$ and $n = (n_1, n_2, \cdots)$ (all $m_i$ and $n_i$ are nonnegative integers). We wish to show that there exists nonnegative integers $s_1$, $s_2$, $\cdots$ such that $$\prod_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{m_i+s_i+1}{n_i+s_i+1} = 1$$so then we could let $s = (s_1, s_2, \cdots)$. Acknowledge the following:
Claim. For nonnegative integers $a$ and $b$ with $a>b$, it is possible to choose a nonnegative integer $t$ such that there exists a positive integer $k$ such that $\frac{k+1}{k}=\frac{a+t+1}{b+t+1}$.
Proof. This is just possible by taking $t=k(a-b)-b-1$. $\square$
Now let $G$ be the set of $i$ such that $m_i > n_i$, and define $L$ similarly for $m_i < n_i$. The $i$ for $m_i = n_i$ are irrelevant, so we need only consider the $i$ that are in $G$ and $L$. It is important that $G$ and $L$ are nonempty since $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$. Choose a positive integer $C$. By the claim, it is possible to create $$\prod_{i \in G} \frac{m_i+s_i+1}{n_i+s_i+1} = \frac{C|G|+1}{C|G|}\cdot\frac{C|G|+2}{C|G|+1}\cdot\cdots\cdot\frac{C|G|+|G|}{C|G|+|G|-1} = \frac{C+1}{C}$$This is only possible since $G$ is nonempty. Since $L$ is also nonempty, it is possible to make $$\prod_{i \in L} \frac{m_i+s_i+1}{n_i+s_i+1} = \frac{C}{C+1}$$by replacing every $|G|$ with $|L|$, and flipping each fraction since $m_i < n_i$. Now $\frac{C+1}{C} \cdot \frac{C}{C+1} = 1$, which finishes the problem. $\blacksquare$
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mathlogician
1051 posts
#12 • 1 Y
Y by Mango247
Suppose $m \neq n$. The answer is $\boxed{\text{all pairs } (m,n)\text{ such that } m \nmid n,n \nmid m.}$ Obviously if $m \mid n$ or $n \mid m$, there exists no such $s$, so it suffices to construct a $s$ for all other $(m,n)$.

\bigskip

Note that we can simply delete all the primes in $m$ and $n$ that have equal power, so assume that $m = a_1^{p_1}\cdots a_i^{p^i}b_1^{q_1}\cdots b_j^{q_j}$ and $n = a_1^{x_1}\cdots a_i^{x^i}b_1^{y_1}\cdots b_j^{y_j}$ where $a_i,b_j$ are primes and $p_i > x_i, q_1 > y_i$. Now let $S$ be a sufficiently large integer, and let $s_k$ for $1 \leq k \leq i$ be so that $s_k = (Si + k)(a_k - b_k) + (1 - b_k)$. Define $t_k$ for $1 \leq k \leq j$ similarly, and let $s = a_1^{s_1}\cdots a_i^{s^i}b_1^{t_1}\cdots b_j^{t_j}$. Now note that $$\frac{\tau(sm)}{\tau(sn)} = \prod_{k=1}^i \frac{p_k+s_k+1}{x_k+s_k+1} \prod_{l=1}^j \frac{q_l + t_l+1}{y_l+t_l+1} = \prod_{k=1}^i \frac{iS+k+1}{iS+k} \prod_{l=1}^j \frac{jS+l}{jS+l+1} = \frac{S+1}{S} \cdot \frac{S}{S+1} = 1.$$
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Pluto1708
1107 posts
#13
Y by
IndoMathXdZ wrote:
Determine all pairs $(n, k)$ of distinct positive integers such that there exists a positive integer $s$ for which the number of divisors of $sn$ and of $sk$ are equal.

Storage
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Vitriol
113 posts
#14
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The answer is all pairs $(n, k)$ such that $n \nmid k$ and $k \nmid n$. The others fail since if WLOG $n \mid k$, every divisor of $sn$ divides $sk$ and $sk$ divides $sk$ as well, so there are more divisors of $sk$ than $sn$.

To show that these $n, k$ work, we begin by claiming that for $N$ large enough, there exist an $a$ such that
\[ \frac{x+a}{y+a} = \frac{N}{N+1},\]for all integers $x,y$ with $x<y$. The proof is simple; we can just take $a=(y-x)N-x$.

Let $P$, $Q$, $R$ be sets such that for each prime $p$ dividing $n$ or $k$, it is in $P$ if $\nu_p(n) < \nu_p(k)$, in $Q$ if $\nu_p(n) = \nu_p(k)$, and in $R$ if $\nu_p(n) > \nu_p(k)$.

Note that none of the the primes in $Q$ matter. For any arbitrary prime $p \in P \cup R$, it contributes a factor of
\[ \frac{\nu_p (n) + \nu_p (s) + 1}{\nu_p (k) + \nu_p (s) + 1} \]to the ratio the number of divisors of $sn$ to $sk$. But by the claim, we can carefully choose $\nu_p(s)$ so that for each $p$ in $P$, this factor is equal to $\frac{N}{N+1}$ for some $N$ very large. For each $p$ in $R$, the reciprocal of the claim gives that the factor can become $\frac{N+1}{N}$ for some $N$ very large.

Now to finish, if we pick some $M \gg |P|+|R|$, we can pick the values of $\nu_p(s)$ such that the ratio the number of divisors of $sn$ to $sk$ is
\[ \left(\frac{M|P|-|P|}{M|P|-|P|+1} \cdot \frac{M|P|-|P|+1}{M|P|-|P|+2} \cdot \hdots \cdot \frac{M|P|-1}{M|P|} \right) \left(\frac{M|R|-|R|+1}{M|R|-|R|} \cdot \frac{M|R|-|R|+2}{M|R|-|R|+1} \cdot \hdots \cdot \frac{M|R|}{M|R|-1} \right).\]But the left product telescopes to $\frac{M-1}{M}$ and the right telescopes to $\frac{M}{M-1}$, so the product is $1$, as desired. $\blacksquare$
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lilavati_2005
357 posts
#15 • 1 Y
Y by green_leaf
Answer : The answer is all pairs such that $n \nmid k$ and $k\nmid n$.

Claim 1 : Given positive integers $a, b$ with $a<b$ and for any sufficiently large positive integer $A$ there exists $x$ such that $\frac{A+1}{A} = \frac{x+a}{x+b}$.
Proof : $\frac{A}{A+1} = \frac{x+a}{x+b} \iff x = Ab - (A+1)a$. Since $A$ is large, $Ab - (A+1)a$ is positive.

Claim 2 : Given two sequences of positive integers $\{a_i\}_{i=1}^{2^k}$ and $\{b_i\}_{i=1}^{2^k}$ such that $a_i < b_i$ and any sufficiently large $A$, there exists a sequence of positive integers $\{x_i\}_{i=1}^{2^k}$ such that for any positive integer $c$ :
(i) $\prod_{i=1}^{2^k}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^cA}{2^cA + 1}$.
(ii) $\prod_{i=1}^{2^k}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^cA+1}{2^cA + 2}$.

Proof (i): Take $\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^{kc}A+(i-1)}{2^{kc}A+i}$.
Then
\[\frac{x_1+a_1}{x_1+b_1}\cdots\frac{x_{2^k}+a_{2^k}}{x_{2^k}+b_{2^k}} = \frac{2^{kc}A}{2^{kc}A+1}\frac{2^{kc}A+1}{2^{kc}A+2}\cdots \frac{2^{kc}A+(2^k-1)}{2^{kc}A+2^k} = \frac{2^{kc}}{2^{kc}+2^k}=\frac{2^cA}{2^cA+1}.\]
Proof (ii): Take $\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^{kc}A+(2^k+i-1)}{2^{kc}A+2^k+i}$.
Then
\[\frac{x_1+a_1}{x_1+b_1}\cdots\frac{x_{2^k}+a_{2^k}}{x_{2^k}+b_{2^k}} = \frac{2^{kc}A+2^k}{2^{kc}A+2^k+1}\frac{2^{kc}A+2^k+1}{2^{kc}A+2^k+2}\cdots \frac{2^{kc}A+(2^{k+1}-1)}{2^{kc}A+2^{k+1}}=\frac{2^{kc}A+2^k}{2^{kc}A+2^{k+1}}=\frac{2^cA+1}{2^cA+2}.\]
Claim 3 : Given two sequences of positive integers $\{a_i\}_{i=1}^{k}$ and $\{b_i\}_{i=1}^{k}$ such that $a_i < b_i$ and any sufficiently large $A$, there exists a sequence of positive integers $\{x_i\}_{i=1}^{k}$ such that :
\[\prod_{i=1}^{k}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{A}{A+1}\].
Proof : Let $k = 2^{\alpha_1} + 2^{\alpha_2} + \cdots + 2^{\alpha_c}$ where $\alpha_i$ are distinct, nonnegative and $\alpha_1 < \alpha_2 < \cdots < \alpha_c$.
Let
$\prod_{i=1}^{2^{\alpha_1}}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^{c-1}A}{2^{c-1}A+1}$

$\prod_{i=\alpha_1+1}^{\alpha_2}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^{c-1}A+1}{2^{c-1}A+2}$

$\prod_{i=\alpha_2+1}^{\alpha_3}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^{c-2}A+1}{2^{c-2}A+2}$
$.$
$.$
$.$
$\prod_{i=\alpha_{k-1}+1}^{\alpha_k}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2A+1}{2A+2}$
Hence
\[\prod_{i=1}^{k}\frac{x_i+a_i}{x_i+b_i} = \frac{2^{c-1}A}{2^{c-1}A+1}\frac{2^{c-1}A+1}{2^{c-1}A+2}\frac{2^{c-2}A+1}{2^{c-2}A+2}\cdots\frac{2A+1}{2A+2} = \frac{A}{A+1}\].
The last equality can be proved easily by inducting on $c$.

Main Problem
Let
\[n = p_1^{a_1}p_2^{a_2}\cdots p_r^{a_r} p_{r+1}^{a_{r+1}}\cdots p_m^{a_m}\]\[k = p_1^{b_1}p_2^{b_2}\cdots p_r^{b_r} p_{r+1}^{b_{r+1}}\cdots p_m^{b_m}\]\[s = p_1^{x_1 - 1}p_2^{x_2 - 1} \cdots p_m^{x_m - 1}\]where $a_i  >b_i$ $\forall i$ $\in \{1,2, \cdots, r\}$ and $a_j<b_j$ $\forall j \in \{r+1, r+2, \cdots, m\}$.
$\tau(sm)=\tau(sn) \iff \frac{x_1+b_1}{x_1+a_1}\cdots\frac{x_r+b_r}{x_r+a_r} = \frac{x_{r+1}+a_{r+1}}{x_{r+1}+b_{r+1}}\cdots\frac{x_m+a_m}{x_m+b_m}$.
However by Claim $3$, for any sufficiently large positive integer $A$, we can make the LHS and RHS both equal to $\frac{A}{A+1}$.
This post has been edited 7 times. Last edited by lilavati_2005, Apr 8, 2021, 7:52 PM
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AwesomeYRY
579 posts
#17 • 1 Y
Y by Mango247
I claim that this is true of all $(n,k)$ such that neither $n$ nor $k$ are proper divisors of each other.

Firstly, if wlog $n$ is a proper divisor of $k$, then this means that $sn$ is a proper divisor of $sk$, so $sn$ will always have strictly less divisors than $sk$, a contradiction.

We now take all $n$ and $k$ such that neither are proper divisors of each other. Consider two sets, the set $A$ where $p\in A$ if $v_p(n)>v_p(k)$, and $B$ where $q \in A$ if $v_q(n)<v_q(k)$.

If $n=k$, then $sn=sk$ so they will clearly have the same number of divisors. Otherwise for $n\neq k$, we clearly must have that both $A,B$ are non-empty.

Next, we calculate two values,
\[X = \sum_{p\in A} v_p(n)-v_p(k) \]\[Y = \sum_{q\in B} v_q(k)-v_q(n) \]
We then take some arbitrarily large $M$. Additionally, we will order the primes $A$ and $B$ calling them $p_i$ with exponent differences $e_i$ for all $i\geq 1$.

We achieve equal number of divisors by selecting $s$ such that
\[\prod_{p\in A} \frac{v_p(ns)+1}{v_p(ks)+1} = \prod_{i=1}^{|A|} \frac{MX+\sum_{j=0}^{i} e_i}{MX+\sum_{j=0}^{i-1} e_i}= \frac{MX+X}{MX} = \frac{M+1}{M}\]
By a similar process, we can do the same to get
\[\prod_{q\in B} \frac{v_q(ks)+1}{v_q(ns)+1}=. \frac{MY+Y}{MY} = \frac{M+1}{M}\]
Thus, the ratio of divisors will be
\[\frac{d(ns)}{d(ks)} = \text{(ratio of A-primes)} \cdot \text{(ratio of B-primes)}\cdot \text{(ratio of other primes)} = \frac{M+1}{M}\cdot \frac{M}{M+1}\cdot 1 = 1\]and we are done $\blacksquare$.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by AwesomeYRY, Apr 28, 2021, 3:59 AM
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bluelinfish
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#18
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We claim that any distinct integers $n$ and $k$ such that neither one divides the other will work. It is clear that if $n|k$, for instance, $(sn)|(sk)$ for any positive integer $s$, and thus we cannot have the same number of divisors for both numbers. Therefore we restrict our attention to proving there exists $s$ for $n,k$ such that neither one divides the other.

Given $n$ and $k$, first omit any primes for which $n$ and $k$ have the same number of factors of that prime, as they do not affect the proof at all. Suppose that $$n=p_1^{e_1}p_2^{e_2}\ldots p_m^{e_m}q_1^{f_1}q_2^{f_2}\ldots q_n^{f_n}$$and $$k=p_1^{e_1'}p_2^{e_2'}\ldots p_m^{e_m'}q_1^{f_1'}q_2^{f_2'}\ldots q_n^{f_n'}$$where $e_i>e_i'$ for all $1\le i\le m$ and $f_i<f_i'$ for all $1\le i \le n$. Let $$s=p_1^{g_1}p_2^{g_2}\ldots p_m^{g_m}q_1^{h_1}q_2^{h_2}\ldots q_n^{h_n}.$$Our goal is to choose exponents so that the number of factors of $ks$ and $ns$ are the same; i.e. $$\prod_{i=1}^m (e_i+g_i+1) \prod_{i=1}^n (f_i+h_i+1)=\prod_{i=1}^m (e_i'+g_i+1) \prod_{i=1}^n (f_i'+h_i+1)$$Rearrange to get $$\prod_{i=1}^m \frac{e_i+g_i+1}{e_i'+g_i+1} = \prod_{i=1}^n \frac{f_i'+h_i+1}{f_i+h_i+1}.$$
Choose $g_i$ inductively for all $2\le i\le m$ so that $$e_{i-1}+g_{i-1}+1=e_i'+g_i+1\Rightarrow g_i=g_{i-1}+(e_{i-1}-e_i').$$(To prevent any of the $g_i$ from being negative, we can make $g_1$ arbitrarily large, and we will do that later.) These choices of $g_2$ through $g_m$ force the numerator of the $i-1$th term to cancel with the denominator of the $i$th term. After these cancellations are done, we are left on the left side with the numerator of the $m$th term and the denominator of the first term, or $$\frac{e_m+g_m+1}{e_1'+g_1+1}.$$Due to the inductive definition of $g_i$, $g_m=g_1+A$ for some fixed constant $A$. Let $e_m+C+1=A_1$ and $e_1'+1=A_2$, so that the left side reduces to $$\frac{g_1+A_1}{g_1+A_2}.$$Notice that $A_2$ is a positive integer. Because $\prod_{i=1}^m \frac{e_i+g_i+1}{e_i'+g_i+1}>1$, and this is a simplification of this product, $A_1>A_2$. Similarly, the right side can be expressed as $$\frac{h_1+B_1}{h_1+B_2}$$with appropriate substitutions for $h_i$ and fixed positive integer constants $B_1>B_2$.

It suffices to find arbitrarily large positive integers $g_1,h_1$ so that $$\frac{g_1+A_1}{g_1+A_2}=\frac{h_1+B_1}{h_1+B_2}\Rightarrow \frac{A_1-A_2}{g_1+A_2}=\frac{B_1-B_2}{h_1+B_2}.$$However, this can be easily done by letting $N$ be an arbitrarily large positive integer and letting $$g_1+A_2=N(A_1-A_2), h_1+B_2=N(B_1-B_2).$$Then we can make $g_1,h_1$ as large as needed to prevent any of the $g_i$ or $h_i$ from becoming negative. The proof is complete.

Remarks: All the proofs in this thread are long, but that is the result of writing up tons of details for a main idea that isn't difficult to spot. The choosing of $g_i,h_i$ is motivated by the "DURR WE WANT STUFF TO CANCEL" thing, if you don't know what this is then check out vEnhance's functional equation handout here and go to section 5.
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by bluelinfish, May 29, 2021, 3:45 PM
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asdf334
7585 posts
#19
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bad hard to understand proof incoming

The solution is all $(n, k)$ such that $n \nmid k$ and $k \nmid n$.
Let the exponent set of a natural number $n$ be $(e_1, e_2, e_3, \dots)$, where $e_i=v_{p_i}(n)+1$ and $p_i$ is the $i$-th prime. For example, the exponent set of $n=2^3\cdot 3^5\cdot 5=9720$ is $(4, 6, 2, 1, 1, \dots)$. Then we want $$\prod_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{e_i+d_i}{f_i+d_i}=1,$$where the exponent set of $n$ is $(e_1, e_2, \dots)$, the exponent set of $k$ is $(f_1, f_2, \dots)$, and the exponent set of $s$ is $(d_1+1, d_2+1, \dots)$. Note that $e_i>0$, $f_i>0$, $d_i \geq 0$ for all $i \geq 1$.

Note that if $e_i=f_i$ for some positive integer $i$ then $\frac{e_i+d_i}{f_i+d_i}=1$.

Claim: If $e_i > f_i$, then $\frac{e_i+d_i}{f_i+d_i}$ can take on any fraction of the form $\frac{a+1}{a}$ such that $\frac{a+1}{a}<\frac{e_i}{f_i}$. If $e_i < f_i$ then this becomes $\frac{a}{a+1}>\frac{e_i}{f_i}$.
Proof: Let $e_i,f_i \equiv r \mod e_i-f_i$ where $0 \leq r < e_i-f_i$. Then we can let $d_i=c(e_i-f_i)-r$ for some number $c \geq 1$.

Therefore, our product condition is now $$\prod_{i=1}^{\infty} \frac{e_i+d_i}{f_i+d_i}=1$$where $|e_i-f_i|=1$ for all $i \geq 1$.

Let a fraction $r_i=\frac{e_i}{f_i}$ be top-heavy if $e_i=f_i+1$, and bottom-heavy if $e_i=f_i-1$. It's easy to show that if all $r_i$ are top-heavy ($k \mid n$), or if all $r_i$ are bottom-heavy ($n \mid k$), then the product condition fails. From this point on, we will assume that there is at least one top-heavy fraction in the product and at least one bottom-heavy fraction. Additionally, if we have two fractions $r_i$ and $r_j$ such that $r_i$ is top-heavy and $r_j$ is bottom-heavy, then these two will cancel. So, it suffices to show that:

Claim: We can cancel any two top-heavy fractions $r_x$ and $r_y$ where $x,y \geq 1$ and $x\neq y$ into a single top-heavy fraction, and similarly for any two bottom-heavy fractions. The proof follows.
Proof: We want to show $$\frac{f_x+d_x+1}{f_x+d_x}\cdot \frac{f_y+d_y+1}{f_y+d_y}=\frac{a+1}{a}$$for some positive integer $a$. Choose $d_x, d_y$ such that $f_x+d_x=f_y+d_y+1=\text{some odd number}.$ Then $f_x+d_x+1=f_y+d_y+2=\text{some even number}$, so $\frac{f_x+d_x+1}{f_y+d_y}=\frac{a+1}{a}$ for some positive integer $a$. $\blacksquare$
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asdf334
7585 posts
#20 • 1 Y
Y by Mango247
as an example
for exponent sets $n=(4, 6, 2, 1, 1, \dots)$ and $k=(3, 7, 11, 1, 2, 1, 1, \dots)$

the fractions are $\frac{4+d_1}{3+d_1}$, $\frac{6+d_2}{7+d_2}$, $\frac{1+d_3}{2+d_3}$, $\frac{1+d_4}{2+d_4}$

then we have $d_1=0$, $d_2=0$, $d_3=13$, $d_4=14$

which corresponds to $0, 0, 124, 14$
so
$n=2^3\cdot 3^5\cdot 5^1\cdot 7^0\cdot 11^0$
$k=2^2\cdot 3^6\cdot 5^{10}\cdot 7^0\cdot 11^1$
$s=2^0\cdot 3^0\cdot 5^{124}\cdot 7^0\cdot 11^{14}$
This post has been edited 1 time. Last edited by asdf334, Aug 29, 2021, 4:07 PM
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lazizbek42
548 posts
#21 • 1 Y
Y by jrsbr
Hard problem for N1
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Fafnir
16 posts
#22 • 1 Y
Y by Sagnik123Biswas
Answer : All pairs of $(m,n)$ satisfies for $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$

It can be seen that for all the pairs in which $m | n $ or $n | m$ when any number is multiplied the greater of $m,n$ in the above case would have more divisors and the divisors of the smaller number would be a subset of the set of divisors of the larger one

Now take the pairs of $(m,n)$ for which $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$


Now if the pairs are coprime then any prime different from the prime divisors of both $m,n$ would work ( there are infinte primes) , In $m=n$ then any numbr would work

Now lets take \[m = p_1^{a_1}p_2^{a_2} \dots p_e^{a_e} \]\[n = p_1^{b_1}p_2^{b_2} \dots p_e^{b_e}\]\[s = p_1^{c_1}p_2^{c_2} \dots p_e^{c_e}\]From the number of divisors of $ms,ns$ we have \[ (a_1+c_1+1)(a_2+c_2+1) \dots (a_e+c_e+1) = (b_1+c_1+1)(b_2+c_2+1) \dots (b_e+c_e+1) \]\[ \frac{(b_1+c_1+1)(b_2+c_2+1) \dots (b_e+c_e+1)}{(a_1+c_1+1)(a_2+c_2+1) \dots (a_e+c_e+1)} = 1 \]
Claim : For some real $x \ge a+1$ there exist a $c$ such that \[ \frac{b+c+1}{a+c+1} = \frac{x+1}{x} \]
$Proof -$
\[ \frac{b+c+1}{a+c+1} = \frac{1+x}{x}\]
\[ bx+cx+1 = ax+cx+1+a+c+1 \]\[ c= x(b-a) -(a+1)\]
Let $Y$ be a large number greater than all $a_i,b_i$

WLOG lets say $i$ from $1$ to $f$ , $b_i>a_i$ and from $f+1$ to $e$ , $b_i<a_i$

Case 1 : $b_i>a_i$

From the above claim we can set $c_i$ in such a way such that \[ \frac{b_i+c_i+1}{a_i+c_i+1} = \frac{fY+i}{fY+i-1} \]
Case 2 : $b_i < a_i$

From the above claim we can set $c_{f+i}$ in such a way that \[ \frac{a_{f+i}+c_{f+i}+1}{b_{f+i}+c_{f+i}+1} = \frac{(e-f)Y+i}{(e-f)Y+i-1} \]
Now we can say

\[\prod_{i=1}^{e} \frac{b_i+c_i+1}{a_i+c_i+1} = \prod_{i=1}^{f}\frac{b_i+c_i+1}{a_i+c_i+1}  \enspace  \prod_{i=1}^{e-f} \frac{b_{f+i}+c_{f+i}+1}{a_{f+i}+c_{f+i}+1} \]\[ = \prod_{i=1}^{f} \frac{fY+i}{fY+i-1} \enspace \prod_{i=1}^{e-f} \frac{(e-f)Y+i-1}{(e-f)Y+i} \]\[=1\]
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blackbluecar
302 posts
#23
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We claim the answer is $n$ does not divide $k$ or vice versa. Clearly, if $n$ divides $k$ then $\tau(sn)>\tau(sk)$. So, assume that does not hold. Let us construct such an $s$. Let $n=p_1^{\alpha_1}p_2^{\alpha_2} \cdots p_m^{\alpha_m}$ and $k=p_1^{\beta_1}p_2^{\beta_2} \cdots p_m^{\beta_m}$ and $s=p_1^{\gamma_1}p_2^{\gamma_2} \cdots p_m^{\gamma_m}$. We want to show that there exists such a choice of $\gamma_i$ satisfying. \[ \frac{\alpha_1+\gamma_1+1}{\beta_1+\gamma_1+1} \cdot \frac{\alpha_2+\gamma_2+1}{\beta_2+\gamma_2+1} \cdots \frac{\alpha_m+\gamma_m+1}{\beta_m+\gamma_m+1}=1\]since $n$ and $k$ do not divide one another, then there exists $x$ and $y$ where $a_x>b_x$ and $a_y<b_y$. Thus, assume wlog that $a_i<b_i$ for $1 \leq i < \ell$ and $a_i>b_i$ for $\ell \leq i \leq m$ (if $a_i=b_i$ then it is irrelevant since it cancels in our fraction). By 2004 Putnam A1 we see that for every sufficiently large positive integer $N$, the equation \[ \frac{\alpha_i+\gamma_i+1}{\beta_i+\gamma_i+1} = \frac{N}{N+1}\]has a solution for $i < \ell$ and the other way around for $i \geq \ell$. Thus, we can get our massive product from before to be \[ \frac{M}{M+(m-\ell)} \cdot \frac{M+(m-\ell)}{M+2(m-\ell)} \cdots \frac{M+(\ell-1)(m-\ell)}{M+\ell(m-\ell)} \cdot \frac{M+\ell(m-\ell)}{M+\ell(m-\ell-1)} \cdots \frac{M+\ell}{M}  =1\]where $M$ is a sufficiently large positive integer divisible by both $\ell$ and $m-\ell$.

$\blacksquare$
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by blackbluecar, Dec 5, 2022, 6:33 AM
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awesomeming327.
1699 posts
#24
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:skull:

$(n,n)$ is a solution, so let $n=\neq k$. Obviously, there are no other solutions when $n\mid k$ or $k\mid n$ because then $sn \mid sk$ or $sk\mid sn.$

$~$
Let $(p_1,p_2,\dots,p_j)$ be the list of all primes, in order from smallest to largest, such that $\nu_{p_i}{n}\neq \nu_{p_i}{k}.$ Note that if $(n,k)$ then is a solution, we can multiply by any $m$ that is coprime to both $n,k$ and $\tau(smn)=\tau(smk)$ will still hold.
$~$
We just need to show that as long as there exists both $\nu_{p_i}{n}>\nu_{p_i}{k}$ and $\nu_{p_i}{n}<\nu_{p_i}{k}$ then there exists an $s.$

$~$
Let $n=\prod_{i=1}^{j}{p_1^{n_i}}$ and $k=\prod_{i=1}^{j}{p_1^{k_i}}$ then $\tau(n)=\prod_{i=1}^{j}{1+n_i}$ and $\tau(k)=\prod_{i=1}^{j}{1+k_i}.$ Now, we can add an integer $r_i$ to $(1+n_i)$ and $(1+k_i)$ so that the products of $(1+n_i+r_i)$ and $(1+k_i+r_i)$ are equal.

$~$
We already assumed $n_i\neq k_i$, so when $n_i>k_i$ (and analagously otherwise) solving the equation $\frac{1+n_i+r_i}{1+k_i+r_i}=\frac{M_i+1}{M_i}$ we see there is an integer $r_i$ that satisfies. Thus, let there be $a$ numbers $n_i>k_i$ and $b$ numbers $n_i<k_i$.

$~$
We choose the following $M_i$:
\[\prod_{i=1}^{j}\frac{1+n_i+r_i}{1+k_i+r_i}=\frac{aN+1}{aN}\cdot \frac{aN+2}{aN+1}\cdot \frac{aN+a}{aN+a-1}\cdot \frac{bN}{bN+1}\cdot \frac{bN+1}{bN+2}\cdot \frac{bN+b-1}{bN+b}\]and we win.
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Knty2006
50 posts
#25
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We claim that it holds for all $n$ and $k$ that do not divide each other

Let $n=p_1^{a_1}p_2^{a_2}....p_k^{a_k}$ $k=p_1^{b_1}p_2^{b_2}....p_k^{b_k}$ $S=p_1^{x_1}p_2^{x_2}....p_k^{x_k}$

Claim : If either $n|k$ or $k|n$ it fails

Proof: If $n|k$, then $a_k \leq b_k$ for all $k$

However, since $n,k$ are distinct, it implies that $ \prod (a_k +x_k+1) < \prod (b_k+x_k+1)$ for all $S$

Claim: If $n$ and $k$ do not divide each other, we win

Proof: Let $F_k$ denote $\frac{a_k+x_k+1}{b_k+x_k+1}$

For the sake of brevity, suppose $F_k>1$ for $i$ values of $k$, $F_k<1$ for $j$ values of $k$

Notice that $F_k=1$ is irrelevant as it doesn't affect the product of the number of divisors

Then, choose a very larger number $Y$ such that we can express $F_k$ as $\frac{Y}{Y+1}$ or $\frac{Y+1}{Y}$ for all $k$

For the $i$ values of $k$ where $F_k>1$, choose values of $x$ such that the $i$ values become

$$\frac{Yi+1}{Yi},\frac{Yi+2}{Yi+1},....\frac{Yi+i}{Yi+i-1}$$
Similarly, for the $j$ values of $k$ where $F_k<1$, choose values of $x$ such that the $j$ values become

$$\frac{Yj}{Yj+1},\frac{Yj+1}{Yj+2},....\frac{Yj+j-1}{Yj+j}$$
Note that the two products simply reduce to
$$(\frac{Y+1}{Y})(\frac{Y}{Y+1}) =1$$
Hence, we are done
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cj13609517288
1891 posts
#26
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For each $(n,k)$ we can remove all the primes in the prime factorization that have the same exponent in $n$ and $k$. This clearly does not affect anything(any modification by multiplying that prime is mirrored exactly in the other number). Call this new pair $(a,b)$. If $a=b=1$, this clearly works. If $a|b$ or $b|a$ but not $a=b=1$, this is clearly impossible. We claim that all other cases are possible.
First of all, we can see that there must be at least one $p$ such that $\nu_p(a)<\nu_p(b)$ and at least one $q$ such that $\nu_q(a)>\nu_q(b)$(this is implied by the previous assumptions that $a\nmid b$ and $b\nmid a$). For the cases where $\nu_p(a)<\nu_p(b)$, we can try to make the $p$ part in the ratio of the number of divisors formula between $a$ and $b$ equal something very close to but below $1$ by selecting a large $e$ and multiplying $p^e$ to both $a$ and $b$. Specifically, there exists a positive integer $x$ such that for all $y\ge x$, the ratio can be $\frac{y}{y+1}$. This is because if we have $$e=y(\nu_p(b)-\nu_p(a))-\nu_p(a)$$for a large enough $y$, this works. A similar argument can be applied to when $\nu_q(a)>\nu_q(b)$, and we can get ratios of the form $\frac{y+1}{y}$.
Finally, we can force the ratio to be $1$ by selecting appropriate $y$s such that the product of the $\frac{y}{y+1}$s cancel out with the product of the $\frac{y+1}{y}$s. If there are $s$ $p$s such that $\nu_p(a)<\nu_p(b)$ and $t$ $q$s such that $\nu_q(a)>\nu_q(b)$, there exists a large enough $z$ such that the fractions would become $$\left(\frac{sz}{sz+1}\cdot\frac{sz+1}{sz+2}\cdot\dotso\cdot\frac{sz+s-1}{sz+s}\right)\cdot\left(\frac{tz+t}{tz+t-1}\cdot\frac{tz+t-1}{tz+t-2}\cdot\dotso\cdot\frac{tz+1}{tz}\right)=1.$$Therefore, this works if and only if $a=b=1$ or ($a\nmid b$ and $b\nmid a$), I'm using parentheses because the logic expression order isn't very clear. This translates to $n=k$ or ($n\nmid k$ and $k\nmid n$). QED.
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Mogmog8
1080 posts
#27 • 1 Y
Y by centslordm
We claim all $(n,k)$ that satisfy none or both of $n\mid k$ and $k\mid n$ work. Clearly, if $n\mid k$ or $k\mid n$ but $n\neq k$ implies $\tau(sn)\neq\tau(sk),$ and if $n=k,$ then $sn=sk.$

Suppose we have the prime factorizations $n=\prod_{i=1}^{\infty}p_i^{\alpha_i},$ $m=\prod_{i=1}^{\infty}p_i^{\beta_i},$ and $s=\prod_{i=1}^{\infty}p_i^{\gamma_i-1},$ where for at least one $i$ we have $\alpha_i>\beta_i$ and for at least one $i$ we have $\alpha_i<\beta_i.$ Define $\delta_i$ as $\alpha_i-\beta_i$ and assume WLOG that for $1\le i\le k-1,$ we have $\delta_i>0,$ for $k\le i\le \ell-1$ we have $\delta_i<0,$ and for $i\ge\ell,$ we have $\delta_i=0.$ Finally, let $K_1=\delta_1+\dots+\delta_{k-1}$ and $K_2=|\delta_k|+\dots+|\delta_{\ell-1}|.$

Choose $\gamma_i=A-\beta_i+\delta_1+\dots+\delta_{i-1}$ for $1\le i\le k-1$ where $A$ is a sufficiently large multiple of $K_1.$ Then, $$\prod_{i=1}^{k-1}\frac{\alpha_i+\gamma_i}{\beta_i+\gamma_i}=\prod_{i=1}^{k-1}\frac{A+\delta_1+\dots+\delta_i}{A+\delta_1+\dots+\delta_{i-1}}=\frac{A+K_1}{A}.$$Choose $\gamma_i=AK_2/K_1-\alpha_i+|\delta_k|+\dots+|\delta_{i-1}|$ for $k\le i\le \ell-1$ for $$\prod_{i=k}^{\ell-1}\frac{\alpha_i+\gamma_i}{\beta_i+\gamma_i}=\prod_{i=k}^{\ell-1}\frac{AK_2/K_1+|\delta_k|+\dots+|\delta_{i-1}|}{AK_2/K_1+|\delta_k|+\dots+|\delta_i|}=\frac{AK_2/K_1}{AK_2/K_1+K_2}.$$Hence, $$\prod_{i=1}^{\infty}\frac{\alpha_i+\gamma_i}{\beta_i+\gamma_i}=\frac{A+K_1}{A}\cdot\frac{AK_2}{AK_2+K_1K_2}=1,$$as desired. $\square$
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bobthegod78
2982 posts
#28
Y by
We claim it is possible when either $m=n$ or $m\nmid n$ and $ n \nmid m.$ If $m\mid n$ or $n\mid m$ and $m\neq n$, it is obvious why it doesn't work. Let $m = \prod_{i=1}^k p_i^{a_i}, n = \prod_{i=1}^k p_i^{b_i}, s = \prod_{i=1}^k p_i^{c_i}.$ We want to show that it is possible to choose $c_i$ such that $$\prod_{i=1}^k \frac{a_i + c_i+1}{b_i + c_i + 1} = 1.$$Without loss of generality, say that $b_1> a_1, b_2>a_2, \cdots, b_j>a_j$ and $b_{j+1} < a_{j+1}, b_{j+2}<a_{j+2}, \cdots, b_k < a_k$ for some $j$. Then choose $c_i$ such that there exists some arbitrarily large $X$ such that for $1\leq i \leq j$, $\frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} = \frac{jX+i-1}{jX+i}$ and for $j+1 \leq i \leq k$, $\frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} = \frac{(k-j)X + i - j}{(k-j)X + i-j-1}.$ Then $$\prod_{i=1}^k \frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} = \prod_{i=1}^j \frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1}\prod_{i=j+1}^k \frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} = \frac{X}{X+1} \cdot \frac{X+1}{X} =1.$$
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HamstPan38825
8857 posts
#29
Y by
The answer is all $m, n$ such that $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$. Obviously, these cases fail. Now, it suffices to show that we can choose nonnegative integers $k_1, k_2, \dots, k_n$ such that $$\prod_{i=1}^n \frac{k_i}{k_i+e_i} = 1$$for any integers $e_1, e_2, \dots, e_n$ that are not all the same sign. This is achievable by choosing some constants $\alpha_1, \alpha_2, \dots, \alpha_n$ such that the equations $$\alpha_i(k_i+e_i) = \alpha_{i+1}k_{i+1}$$are true for all $1 \leq i \leq n$, where indices are cyclic. By summing all the equations, it is sufficient for these $\alpha_i$ to satisfy $$\sum_{i=1}^n \alpha_i e_i = 0.$$To construct this, without loss of generality let $\sum_{i=1}^n e_i$ be positive. (If it is zero, then take all the $\alpha_i$ to be equal), and furthermore suppose $e_n$ is negative. Then, set $\alpha_1 = \alpha_2 = \cdots = \alpha_{n-1} = \alpha$, such that $$\alpha_n = \frac{\alpha\sum_{i=1}^{n-1} e_i}{-e_n}.$$By choosing $e_n \mid \alpha$, we can guarantee that all the $\alpha_i$ are positive integers. Observe that this means that all the $k_i$ for $1 \leq i \leq n-1$ can be expressed in the form $k_1+c$ for some integer $c$, so by choosing $k_1$ sufficiently large, they can all be positive integers. Finally, the equation $$\alpha(k_{n-1} + e_{n-1}) = \alpha_n k_n$$will yield a positive integer solution for $k_n$ as long as $$\alpha_n \mid k_{n-1} + e_{n-1} = k_1+c+e_{n-1}.$$Thus, picking $k_1 \equiv -c \pmod {\alpha_n}$ suffices. As a result, such $k_i$ must exist, so we are done.
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cursed_tangent1434
597 posts
#31 • 1 Y
Y by Shreyasharma
Let
\begin{align*}
    m = p_1^{a_1}\dots p_k^{a_k}\\
    n = p_1^{b_1}\dots p_k^{b^k}\\
    s = p_1^{c_1}\dots p_k^{c^k}
\end{align*}If $sm$ and $sn$ have an equal number of divisors note that,
$$(a_1+c_1+1)\dots (a_k+c_k+1) = (b_1+c_1+1)\dots(b_k+c_k+1)$$which implies $$S=\frac{a_1+c_1+1}{b_1+c_1+1}\dots \frac{a_k+b_k+1}{a_k+c_k+1}=1$$Then, notice that $b_i+c_i+1 = a_i+c_i+1-(a_i-b_i)$. Then, letting $|a_i-b_i|=d_i$ and $a_i+c_i+1=e_id_i$. We have that
$$S = \prod_{i=1}^k \frac{d_ie_i}{d_ie_i \pm d_i}=\prod_{i=1}^k \frac{e_i}{e_i \pm 1}$$where the plus or minus is decided based on which of $a_i$ and $b_i$ is greater.
If all of these are pluses, then the product will be strictly less than 1. If all of them are minuses, then the product will be strictly greater than 1.
\begin{claim*}
If one of them is $+$ and the other is $-$, then a valid solution exists.
\end{claim*}
Notice that then, we have
$$S = \frac{e_1}{e_1+1}\frac{e_2}{e_2-1}\dots \frac{e_k}{e_k \pm 1}$$Now, we have two possible cases,
\textit{Case 1 :} $$\frac{e_1}{e_1+1}\frac{e_2}{e_2-1} = \frac{p}{q}>1$$Then, $\frac{q}{p}< 1$, then we take all $e_i \pm 1$ to have $+$. Next say that $\frac{q}{p}$ can be written as the product of some $k-2$ rational numbers taking the numerator and denominator as required.
The other case is similar.
Thus, if $v_p(m)>v_p(n)$ for some prime $p$ in $m,n$ and $v_q(m)<v_q(n)$ for another prime $q \neq p$, there exists some $s$ which satisfies the required conclusion.
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joshualiu315
2513 posts
#32
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Assume $m \neq n$ from now on because otherwise you can take any $s$. We claim that the answer is all pairs $(m,n)$ such that $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$. Clearly, if $m \mid n$ or $n \mid m$, there exist no value of $s$. We will prove that otherwise, there must exist a positive integer $s$.


Claim: If $\alpha > \beta \ge 0$ are integers then for any $M \ge \beta+1$ there exists a positive integer $x$ such that

\[ \frac{\alpha+x+1}{\beta+x+1} = \frac{M+1}{M}. \]
Proof: Setting $x = M\alpha-(M+1)\beta+1$ works. $\square$


Now, suppose for primes we write

\begin{align*} 	m &= p_1^{\alpha_1} p_2^{\alpha_2} \dots p_k^{\alpha_k} 		q_1^{\gamma_1} \dots q_\ell^{\gamma_\ell} \\ 	n &= p_1^{\beta_1} p_2^{\beta_2} \dots p_k^{\beta_k} 		q_1^{\delta_1} \dots q_\ell^{\delta_\ell} \end{align*}
where $\alpha_i > \beta_i$ and $\gamma_j < \delta_j$. We have disregarded any $p$ for which $\nu_p(m) = \nu_p(n)$, since these do not affect the proof in any way.

Let $T$ be a large integer exceeding $\max(\alpha_i, \beta_j)$. We can pick $x_i$ for $i=1,\dots,k$ such that

\[ 	\prod_i \frac{x_i + \alpha_i + 1}{x_i + \beta_i + 1} 	= \frac{kT+1}{kT} \cdot \frac{kT+2}{kT+1} \cdot \dots 	\cdot \frac{kT+k}{kT+(k-1)} 	= \frac{kT+k}{kT} = \frac{T+1}{T}. \]
Similarly we can pick $y_i$ for $i=1,\dots,\ell$ such that

\[ 	\prod_j \frac{y_j + \delta_j + 1}{y_j + \gamma_j + 1} 	= \frac{\ell T+1}{\ell T} \cdot \frac{\ell T+2}{\ell T+1} \cdot \dots 	\cdot \frac{\ell T+\ell }{\ell T+(\ell -1)} 	= \frac{\ell T+\ell }{\ell T} = \frac{T+1}{T}. \]
Then if we let $s = \prod_i p_i^{x_i} \prod_i q_i^{y_i}$, we have

\[ 	\frac{d(sm)}{d(sn)} 	= \prod_i \frac{x_i + \alpha_i + 1}{x_i + \beta_i + 1} 	\prod_j \frac{y_j + \gamma_j + 1}{y_j + \delta_j + 1} 	= \frac{T+1}{T} \cdot \frac{T}{T+1} = 1 \]
as desired. $\square$
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mannshah1211
651 posts
#33 • 1 Y
Y by GeoKing
For mindset, replace $k$ by $m$. The answer is all $m, n$ with $m \nmid n$, $n \nmid m$. Note that the only ``relevant" primes $p$ are the ones that divide at least one of $m, n$; otherwise they contribute exactly the same multiple to both $d(sn)$ and $d(sm)$, so it suffices to have $s$ divisible by only those primes. Let's assume there are $k$ primes dividing at least one of $m, n$. Let $m = p_1^{\alpha_1}p_2^{\alpha_2}\cdots p_k^{\alpha_k}$, $n = p_1^{\beta_1}p_2^{\beta_2} \cdots p_k^{\beta_k}$. Then, it suffices to exist a solution $(x_1, x_2, \cdots, x_k)$ to the equation $$\prod_{i = 1}^{k} \left(\frac{\alpha_i + x_i}{\beta_i + x_i}\right) = 1.$$Note that $\alpha_i = \beta_i$ doesn't matter, since they don't change the product anyway, so let's split all of $i \in \{1, 2, \cdots, k \}$ with $\alpha_i \ne \beta_i$ into two groups: $P$, with $\alpha_i > \beta_i$, and $N$ with $\alpha_i < \beta_i$. Let $P = \{p_1, p_2, \cdots, p_{|P|} \}$ and $N = \{n_1, n_2, \cdots, n_{|N|}\}$. So, our product transforms into $$\prod_{i \in P} \left(\frac{\alpha_i + x_i}{\beta_i + x_i}\right) \cdot \prod_{i \in N} \left(\frac{\alpha_i + x_i}{\beta_i + x_i}\right) = 1.$$Now, this transforms to $$\prod_{i \in P} \left(\frac{\alpha_i + x_i}{\beta_i + x_i}\right) = \prod_{i \in N} \left(\frac{\alpha_i + x_i}{\beta_i + x_i}\right),$$now we aim to make this ``telescope", here's how: First, pick some $x_{p_1}$. Then, we will pick inductively, in order for any $2 \le i \le |P|$, $x_{p_i}$ such that $\alpha_{p_{i - 1}} + x_{p_{i - 1}} = \beta_{p_i} + x_{p_i}$. Then, our LHS becomes $\left(\frac{V + x_{p_1}}{\beta_{p_1} + x_{p_1}} \right)$, where $V = \alpha_{p_1} + (\alpha_{p_2} - \beta_{p_2}) + \cdots + \alpha_{p_{|P|}}$. Similarly picking $y_i$ for the RHS such that it telescopes as well, we have $\left(\frac{W + x_{n_1}}{\alpha_{n_1} + x_{n_1}}\right)$, where $W = \beta_{n_1} +  (\beta_{n_2} - \alpha_{n_2}) + \cdots + \beta_{n_{|N|}}$ . So, it suffices for $\frac{V - \beta_{p_1}}{\beta_{p_1} + x_{p_1}} = \frac{W - \alpha_{n_1}}{\alpha_{n_1} + x_{n_1}}$, it is obvious that there exist infinitely many solutions $(x_{p_1}, x_{n_1})$ to this; just pick any one large enough for every $x_i$ to be positive, and we're done.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by mannshah1211, Jan 3, 2024, 11:37 AM
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rstenetbg
72 posts
#34
Y by
If $m=n$, any $s$ works so from now on assume WLOG that $n>m.$

I claim the answer is all pairs $(m,n)$ for which $m\nmid n$ and $n\nmid m$.

Firstly, we will show that there is no solution for $s$ if $m\mid n$. Indeed, if $m\mid n$, then $sm\mid sn$. This means that $\tau(sm)<\tau(sn)$.

From now on assume $m\nmid n$. Let $p_1,p_2,\dots p_k$ be all prime divisors of $mn$. Hence, $$n=\prod_{i=1}^kp_i^{\alpha_i} \hspace{3mm}\text{and}\hspace{3mm} m=\prod_{i=1}^kp_i^{\beta_i}.$$We will search $s$ to be in the form $$s=\prod_{i=1}^kp_i^{\gamma_i},$$where we will choose $\gamma_i$ to satisfy $\tau(sm)=\tau(sn).$ Now we have $$\frac{\tau(sn)}{\tau(sm)}=\prod_{i=1}^k\frac{\alpha_i+\gamma_i+1}{\beta_i+\gamma_i+1}.$$Notice that if $\alpha_i=\beta_i$ for some $i$, then the "$i$-th" fraction will be equal to $1$ and will not change the product, so assume that $\alpha_i\neq\beta_i$ for all $i$.


Let us prove the following claim.


Claim: Let $\alpha>\beta$. Then, if $M$ is any integer such that $M\ge\beta+1$, there exists an integer $\gamma$, for which

$$\frac{1+\alpha+\gamma}{1+\beta+\gamma}=\frac{M+1}{M}.$$
Proof: Indeed, the condition above is equivalent to $$\gamma = M(\alpha-\beta)-(\beta+1),$$so we are done.


WLOG let $\alpha_i>\beta_i$ for $i=1,2\dots,r$ for some natural $r$ and let $\alpha_j<\beta_j$ for $j=r+1,r+2,\dots,k$. Now pick a sufficiently large integer $T$. Then from the claim we have $$\prod_{i=1}^r\frac{1+\alpha_i+\gamma_i}{1+\beta_i+\gamma_i}=\frac{rT+1}{rT}\cdot\frac{rT+2}{rT+1}\dots\frac{rT+r}{rT+r-1}=\frac{T+1}{T}.$$Similarly, we obtain $$\prod_{i=r+1}^k\frac{1+\beta_i+\gamma_i}{1+\alpha_i+\gamma_i}=\frac{(k-r)T+1}{(k-r)T}\cdot\frac{(k-r)T+2}{(k-r)T+1}\dots\frac{(k-r)T+(k-r)}{(k-r)T+k-r-1}=\frac{T+1}{T}.$$
Multiplying these two gives that $$\frac{\tau(sn)}{\tau(sm)}=\frac{T+1}{T}\cdot\frac{T}{T+1}=1,$$so we are done.
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dolphinday
1323 posts
#35 • 1 Y
Y by cursed_tangent1434
Let $m$, $n$, and $p$ be in the form
\[ m = \prod_i^k p_i^{a_i}\]\[n = \prod_i^k p_i^{b_i}\]\[s = \prod_i^k p_i^{c_i}\]with $a_i$ or $b_i$ possibly equaling $0$ but not both.
Notice that if $m | n$ or vice versa with $m \neq n$ then obviously $sm$ and $sn$ can't have the same number of divisors.
If $m = n$ then $s = 1434$ works.
Now if $a_i = b_i$ for any $i$ the we can effectively remove it from the sequence for obvious reasons.
We can also let $\alpha_i$ be $a_i$ but ordered least to greatest with $\beta_i$ being defined similarly for $b_i$.
Let $p$ be an integer so that $\alpha_p < \beta_p$ but $\alpha_{p+1} > b_{p+1}$.
So then we can set $c_i$ so that for some sufficiently large integer $\mathcal{Q}$ we have
\[\prod_{i=1}^{p} \frac{\alpha_i + c_i + 1}{\beta_i + c_i + 1} = \prod_{i=1}^{p} \frac{p\mathcal{Q} + i - 1}{p\mathcal{Q} + i} = \frac{\mathcal{Q}}{\mathcal{Q} + 1}\]and
\[\prod_{i={p+1}}^{k} \frac{\alpha_i + c_i + 1}{\beta_i + c_i + 1} = \prod_{i=p+1}^{k} \frac{(k-p)\mathcal{Q} + i - p}{(k-p)\mathcal{Q} + i - p - 1} = \frac{\mathcal{Q} + 1}{\mathcal{Q}}\]so we get that $\prod_i \frac{a_i + c_i + 1}{b_i + c_i + 1} = 1$ as desired.
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ezpotd
1260 posts
#36
Y by
I claim the answer is only pairs $(n,k)$ such that $n$ does not divide $k$ and $k$ does not divide $n$.

Proof claimed pairs work: Let $n = p_1^{a_1} \cdots p_y^{a_y} q_1^{c_1} \cdots q_z^{c_z}, k = p_1^{b_1} \cdots p_y^{q_y} q_1^{d_1} \cdots q_z^{d_z}$, let $s = p_1^{e_1} \cdots p_y^{e_y} q_1 \cdots q_z^{f_z}$, where $a_i \ge b_i$ and $c_i \le d_i$. Then we desire to prove $\prod \frac{e_i + a_i + 1}{e_i + b_i + 1} = \prod \frac{f_i + d_i + 1}{f_i + c_i + 1}$. Choosing such $e_i, f_i$ is easy. We claim that we can achieve each side of the product being $\frac{x + 1}{x}$ for sufficiently large $x$. Each individual term in the product can hit $\frac{m + 1}{m}$ for all sufficiently large integers $m$, so we can chain and write the left side as $\frac{m + y}{m}$, so we can achieve $\frac{x + 1}{x}$ for all sufficiently large $x$, finishing.

Proof nothing else works: Clearly all divisors of one of the numbers are all divisors of the other, and since one number is larger it has more divisors.
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eg4334
631 posts
#37
Y by
Needed to use hint :|
The answer is all $m, n$ such that one does not divide the other (except for $m=n$ ofc).

Let $v_{p_i}(m)=e_i, v_{p_i}(n)=f_i, v_{p_i}(s)=g_i$. Then we want $$\prod \frac{e_i+g_i+1}{f_i + g_i+1} = 1$$Now when all $e_i \leq f_i$ or vice versa without them all being equal it is obviously not possible because every term is $\leq 1$ so the product cannot possibly be $1$ without them all being equal. Call a factor of that product down if $e_i \leq f_i$ and up if $e_i > f_i$.
Claim: For up factors we can choose a sufficient $g$ such that it is in the form $\frac{M+1}{M}$, and simiarly for down factors.
Proof: You can just find a solution of the linear equation that follows.

If there are $x$ up factors and $y$ down factors then we can group all of them together to telescope the product into $$\frac{M_1}{M_1+x} \frac{M_2+y}{M_2}$$for any integers $M_1, M_2$ by our claim. Setting $M_1 = y, M_2=x$ clearly works so we are done.
This post has been edited 3 times. Last edited by eg4334, Nov 15, 2024, 2:11 AM
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EVKV
53 posts
#38
Y by
Simplest solution
By that I mean non rigorous
Infinite
d(n) = d(k)
n = p1^e1 •p2^e2 • ....... • pz^ez
k = g1^f1 •g2^f2 • ....... • gz^fz

Here not all gi^fi = pi^ei

If s does not divide n,k
Then d(sn) = d(sk)

If s | k or n or both
Then if
s = x1^w1 • ........• xh^wh
Some of xi will match with pi
These same xi will match with gi

Therefore there will be infinite such numbers
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Sedro
5838 posts
#40 • 1 Y
Y by alexanderhamilton124
I was starting to run of variable names :|

Replace $(n,k)$ by $(a,b)$ and $s$ by $t$. We claim that there exist a positive integer $t$ satisfying $\tau(ta)=\tau(tb)$ if and only if $a \nmid b$ and $b\nmid a$. If $a\mid b$, since $a\ne b$, $ta$ is a proper divisor of $tb$. Hence, $\tau(ta) < \tau(tb)$, and no such $t$ exists. By symmetry, the case where $b\mid a$ is analogous, so we now show that if $a \nmid b$ and $b\nmid a$, then there is some $t$ such that $\tau(ta)=\tau(tb)$.

We first introduce some variables. Let $a=p_1^{e_1}\cdots p_r^{e_r}o_1^{c_1}\cdots o_u^{c_u}$ and $b=q_1^{f_1}\cdots q_s^{f_s}o_1^{d_1}\cdots o_u^{d_u}$, where $r$, $s$, and $u$ are positive integers, $e_1,\dots, e_r, f_1, \dots, f_s, c_1, \dots, c_u, d_1, \dots, d_u$ are positive integers, and $p_1,\dots, p_r, q_1, \dots, q_s, o_1, \dots, o_u$ are distinct primes. Then, let $t = p_1^{g_1-1}\cdots p_r^{g_r-1}q_1^{h_1-1}\cdots q_s^{h_s-1}o_1^{k_1-1}\cdots o_u^{k_u-1}$, where $g_1,\dots, g_r, h_1, \dots, h_s, k_1, \dots, k_u$ are positive integers.

In order to have $\tau(ta)=\tau(tb)$, we must have \begin{align*} ((e_1+g_1)\cdots (e_r+g_r)) \cdot (h_1 \cdots h_s) \cdot ((c_1+k_1)\cdots (c_u+k_u)) &= \\ ((f_1+h_1)\cdots (f_s+h_s)) \cdot (g_1 \cdots g_r)\cdot  ((d_1+k_1)\cdots (d_u+k_u)).\end{align*}Let $A$ be the set of ordered pairs $(c_i,d_i)$ where $c_i > d_i$, and let $B$ be the set of ordered pairs $(c_i,d_i)$ where $c_i<d_i$. If $c_i = d_i$, the terms $c_i+k_i$ and $d_i+k_i$ cancel in the above equation, and we can ignore the values of $c_i$ and $d_i$. Now, for all $(c_i,d_i)\in A$, let $k_i = (c_i-d_i)v_i - d_i$, where every $v_i$ is a positive integer, and for all $(c_i,d_i)\in B$, let $k_i = (d_i-c_i)w_i - c_i$, where every $w_i$ is a positive integer. Also, for every valid $i$, let $g_i = x_ie_i$ for some positive integer $x_i$, and for every valid $i$, let $h_i = y_ih_i$. The above equation can now be rearranged as \[\left(\prod_{i=1}^r \frac{x_i+1}{x_i} \right)\left(\prod_{(c_i,d_i)\in A} \frac{v_i+1}{v_i}\right) = \left( \prod_{i=1}^s \frac{y_i+1}{y_i}\right)\left(\prod_{(c_i,d_i)\in B} \frac{w_i+1}{w_i}\right).\]Call a positive rational number that can be written in the form $\tfrac{n+1}{n}$ for a positive integer $n$ tight. To finish the problem, note that it suffices to prove that for any two positive integers $N_1$ and $N_2$, we can find $N_1$ tight numbers that have some product $P$, and $N_2$ tight numbers that have the same product $P$. This is because we can let each $x_i$, $y_i$, $v_i$, and $w_i$ be any positive integer.

To do this, we claim that any tight number can be written as the product of $m$ tight numbers, where $m$ is any positive integer. The claim is trivial when $m=1$, and for any $m>1$, consider \[\frac{n+1}{n} = \prod_{i=0}^{m-1} \frac{mn+i+1}{mn+i},\]which proves the claim. Now, pick some arbitrary tight number, and express it as a product of $r+|A|$ tight numbers and as a product of $s+|B|$ tight numbers. $\blacksquare$
This post has been edited 2 times. Last edited by Sedro, Dec 28, 2024, 5:18 AM
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smileapple
1010 posts
#41
Y by
If $n\mid k$ or $k\mid n$, clearly $s$ cannot exist. Conversely, we show that if $n\nmid k$ and $k\nmid n$, then it is possible to construct such a value of $s$.

Let $a_1,a_2,\dots,a_m,b_1,b_2,\dots,b_m$ be nonnegative integers for which $n=\prod_{i=1}^mp_i^{a_i}$ and $k=\prod_{i=1}^mp_i^{b_i}$, where the $p_i$ are distinct primes. Then the existence of $s$ is equivalent to finding positive integers $c_1,c_2,\dots,c_m$ for which \[\prod_{i=1}^m\frac{a_i+c_i}{b_i+c_i}=1.\]
Assume without loss of generality that $a_i<b_i$ if $1\le i\le u$, and $a_i>b_i$ otherwise. This is justified as the $\frac{a_i+c_i}{b_i+c_i}$ well always cancel if $a_i=b_i$ for some index $i$. Since $n\nmid k$ and $k\nmid n$, the value of $u$ is well-defined. Then for each $u\in\{2,\dots,m\}\setminus\{u+1\}$ set $c_i=c_{i-1}+b_{i-1}-a_i$. Set $X=b_1+\sum_{i=2}^u(b_i-a_i)$ and $Y=b_{u+1}+\sum_{i=2}^u(b_i-a_i)$, with $Y$ possibly negative. Then we have \[\prod_{i=1}^m\frac{a_i+c_i}{b_i+c_i}=\left(\frac{a_1+c_1}{X+c_1}\right)\left(\frac{a_{u+1}+c_{u+1}}{Y+c_{u+1}}\right).\]We have $a_1<X$ and $Y<a_{u+1}$, and setting this to $1$ reduces to an equation that admits an infinite number of solutions across the positive integers, as desired. $\blacksquare$
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Batzorig
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#42
Y by
didnt solve it
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Saucepan_man02
1323 posts
#43
Y by
Nice problem (replace $k$ with $m$):

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akliu
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The answer is all pairs $(m, n)$ such that $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$, unless $m = n$. The proof of this result can be broken down into two main steps: proving that all claimed pairs $(m, n)$ satisfy the condition, and proving that all pairs $(m, n)$ that should not satisfy the condition do not satisfy the condition.

Denote $m = p_1^{a_1}p_2^{a_2}\dots$, $n = p_1^{b_1}p_2^{b_2}\dots$, and $s = p_1^{c_1}p_2^{c_2}\dots$ where $p_1$, $p_2$, $\dots$ are prime numbers.

Claim: All $(m, n)$ such that $m \mid n$ or $n \mid m$ do not satisfy the condition, except when $m=n$.

Proof: Without loss of generality, assume that $m \mid n$ and $m \neq n$. We then have $b_i+c_i+1 \geq a_i+c_i+1$ for all $i$. This in particular implies $(b_1+c_1+1)(b_2+c_2+1)\dots \geq (a_1+c_1+1)(a_2+c_2+1)\dots$, where equality is attained only when $m = n$. When $m = n$, the condition is trivially satisfied; $sm$ is equal to $sn$, and clearly, $sm$ clearly has the same number of divisors as itself. If $sm \neq sn$, there is an inequality, and $sn$ will always have more divisors than $sm$ for all $s$. $\square$

Now, we want to prove that all pairs $(m, n)$ that we claimed to satisfy the condition satisfy the condition.

Claim: All pairs $(m, n)$ that we claimed satisfy the condition do satisfy the condition.

Proof:
To prove this, we want to prove that we can select the values of $\nu_{p_i}(s)$ such that the following equation holds:

\begin{align*}
        \prod_i(a_i+c_i+1) = \prod_i(b_i+c_i+1)
    \end{align*}
For all primes $p_k$ such that $\nu_{p_k}(m) = \nu_{p_k}(n)$, we can eliminate their factor from both sides of the equation. Since $m \nmid n$ and $n \nmid m$, that means that there exists at least one prime $p_i$ where $(a_i+c_i+1) > (b_i+c_i+1)$, and at least one prime $p_j$ where $(a_j+c_j+1) < (b_j+c_j+1)$. Say there exists $x$ primes of the first kind, and $y$ primes of the second kind. Our product is equivalent to the following:

\begin{align*}
        \prod_i \frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} = \prod_j \frac{b_j+c_j+1}{a_j+c_j+1}
    \end{align*}
Consider when $a_i+c_i+1 > b_i+c_i+1$ for some $i$. We can always choose some $c_i$ such that $\frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} = \frac{M+1}{M}$ for some $M$: Set $c_i = M(a_i-b_i)-b_i-1$, which gives us that exact fraction. On the LHS of our product there are $x$ fractions, and on the RHS there are $y$ fractions. Since we can choose desired $c_i$ and $c_j$ to turn these fractions into any value of the form $\frac{M+1}{M}$, we select specific values of $M$ ranging from $x$ to $2x-1$ and $y$ to $2y-1$, such that we can choose some arbitrary value $s$ to satsify the following equation:

\begin{align*}
        \prod_i \frac{a_i+c_i+1}{b_i+c_i+1} &= \prod_j \frac{b_j+c_j+1}{a_j+c_j+1}\\
        \frac{x+1}{x} \cdot \frac{x+2}{x+1} \dots \frac{2x}{2x-1} &= \frac{y+1}{y} \cdot \frac{y+2}{y+1} \dots \frac{2y}{2y-1}\\
        \frac{2x}{x} &= \frac{2y}{y}\\
        2 &= 2
    \end{align*}Since the equation of products is satisfied, we have proven that there exist some choice of $\nu_{p_i}(s)$ for all $p_i$ such that there exists an $s$ satisfying our condition for our given pair $(m, n)$.
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