Least n n .

Find the least positive integer n n for which there exists a set { s 1 , s 2 , , s n } \{ s_1,s_2,\ldots,s_n \} consisting of n n distinct positive integers such that

( 1 1 s 1 ) ( 1 1 s 2 ) ( 1 1 s 3 ) ( 1 1 s n ) = 42 2010 \left(1 - \dfrac{1}{s_1} \right) \left ( 1 - \dfrac{1}{s_2} \right) \left(1 - \dfrac{1}{s_3} \right) \ldots \left(1 - \dfrac{1}{s_n} \right) = \dfrac{42}{2010}


The answer is 48.

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Mark Hennings
Aug 2, 2017

Since j = 1 n s j 1 s j = 42 2010 = 7 5 × 67 \prod_{j=1}^n \frac{s_j-1}{s_j} \; = \; \frac{42}{2010} \; = \; \frac{7}{5 \times 67} without loss of generality we deduce that 67 67 must divide s n s_n , and hence s n 67 s_n \ge 67 . We can also assume that 2 s 1 < s 2 < . . . < s n 1 2 \le s_1 < s_2 < ... < s_{n-1} so that 42 2010 = j = 1 n ( 1 s j 1 ) 1 2 × 2 3 × 3 4 × 4 5 × . . . × n 1 n × 66 67 = 66 67 n \frac{42}{2010} \; = \; \prod_{j=1}^n \big(1 - s_j^{-1}\big) \; \ge \; \frac12 \times \frac23 \times \frac34 \times \frac 45 \times ... \times \frac{n-1}{n} \times \frac{66}{67} \; = \; \frac{66}{67n} and hence n 66 × 2010 42 × 67 = 47.14 n \; \ge \; \frac{66 \times 2010}{42 \times 67} \; = \; 47.14 so that n 48 n \ge 48 . But since 42 2010 = 1 2 × 2 3 × . . . × 32 33 × 35 36 × 36 37 × . . . × 49 50 × 66 67 \frac{42}{2010} \; = \; \frac12 \times \frac{2}{3} \times ... \times \frac{32}{33} \times \frac{35}{36} \times \frac{36}{37} \times ... \times \frac{49}{50} \times \frac{66}{67} we see that n = 48 n = \boxed{48} is possible.

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...