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Compute the sum of all n 50 n \leq 50 such that

10 ϕ ( n ) 10 \mid \phi(n)

where ϕ \phi represents Euler's totient function.


The answer is 257.

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2 solutions

Shabarish Ch
May 29, 2014

I have only recently gained level 4 in Number Theory and I am still a learner, so I am not able to provide a rigorous mathematical solution.

For 10 ϕ ( n ) 10 | \phi(n) , either the prime factorisation of n n should contain 5 and 2 or 5 and 2 should be introduced while calculating ϕ ( n ) \phi(n) from n n . I gave more importance to 5 than 2 because it occurs less frequently than 2 in numbers from 1 to 50. I know this is not a satisfactory reason, which is why I said I do not have a rigorous solution.

Let us take the first case. In case there is only one 5 in the prime factorisation of n n , it will get cancelled out when we calculate ϕ ( n ) \phi(n) . So there must be two 5's in the prime factorisation of n n . Only 25 and 50 satisfy this condition. On calculating ϕ ( 50 ) and ϕ ( 25 ) \phi(50) \text{and} \phi(25) , we do find that they are divisible by 10.

The second case will only come when the prime factorisation of n n contains a prime m m such that m 1 m -1 is a multiple of 5. The only possible values of m m are 11, 31 and 41. So, the possible values for n n in this case are 11, 22, 31, 33, 41 and 44. Again, checking ϕ ( n ) \phi(n) for these values of n n confirms the initial condition.

I don't have any argument to show that these are the only numbers satisfying this condition. I would appreciate it if someone would help me in this regard.

So, the answer is 11 + 22 + 25 + 31 + 33 + 41 + 44 + 50 = 257 11 + 22 + 25 + 31 + 33 + 41 + 44 + 50 = \boxed{257}

Can you tell me what 10 ϕ ( n ) 10| \phi (n) means..??

Sudipta Biswas - 7 years ago

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implies that 10 divides totient function of n

Alamuru Ganesh - 7 years ago

Case 1: ϕ ( p ) = p 1 = 10 k \phi(p) = p - 1 = 10k for any prime p in the form of 10k+1 for some positive integers k

As we can see that p = 11, 31, 41 satisfy the condition.

Case 2: ϕ ( 11 k ) = ϕ ( 11 ) ϕ ( k ) = 10 ϕ ( k ) \phi(11k) = \phi(11)\phi(k) = 10\phi(k) for some k such that g c d ( 11 , k ) = 1 gcd(11,k) = 1

We don't need to consider the values k because it already restricts that n 50 n \leq 50 .

So n = 11, 22, 33, 44 satisfy the condition.

Case 3: Some specific numbers

ϕ ( 25 ) = ϕ ( 5 2 ) = 5 2 5 1 = 20 \phi(25) = \phi(5^{2}) = 5^{2} - 5^{1} = 20

ϕ ( 50 ) = ϕ ( 2 × 25 ) = ϕ ( 2 ) ϕ ( 25 ) = 20 \phi(50) = \phi(2 \times 25) = \phi(2)\phi(25) = 20

So the possible values are 11, 22, 33, 44, 31, 41, 25, 50

The sum = 257 = \boxed{257}

Theorems about Euler's phi (totient) function for this one:

  • ϕ ( p ) = p 1 \phi(p) = p-1 for any prime p
  • ϕ ( m n ) = ϕ ( m ) ϕ ( n ) \phi(mn) = \phi(m)\phi(n) for m,n such that g c d ( m , n ) = 1 gcd(m,n) = 1
  • ϕ ( p k ) = p k p k 1 \phi(p^{k}) = p^{k} - p^{k-1} for any prime p and positive integer k

You can find some proofs for these theorems, or you can just try to prove it yourself. ^__^

Another useful theorem is: ϕ ( n m ) = n m 1 ϕ ( n ) \phi(n^m) = n^{m-1}\phi(n) Using this you can "solve" for case three. Notice you need either a 5 or 10 to make this thing work, You can look at the case of 5 2 5^2 (The only number in that is with these constraints) And notice that ϕ ( 5 2 ) = 5 ϕ ( 5 ) = 20 \phi(5^2) = 5 \phi(5) = 20 Hence, 25 works, and the multiples of it work (adding 50).

L N - 6 years, 9 months ago

Good job with you solution, btw!

L N - 6 years, 9 months ago

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