Number theoryDifficulty 9.1Prove itThe 65th IMO China National Team Selection Test · China
Let m>1 be an integer. It is known that there exists a prime number in the interval [2m−m+1,2m]. Prove that among any m pairwise distinct positive integers a1,a2,…,am, there exist two numbers ai and aj (1≤i,j≤m) such that (ai,aj)ai≥m, where (ai,aj) denotes the greatest common divisor of the positive integers ai and aj.
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Proof. Without loss of generality, assume that the greatest common divisor of a1,a2,…,am is 1, otherwise divide all a1,a2,…,am by their greatest common divisor, which does not change the conclusion. Let p be a prime number in the interval [2m−m+1,2m]. If p divides any ai, since the greatest common divisor of a1,…,am is 1, there exists some aj not divisible by p, then (ai,aj)ai≥p>m. So, we can assume that a1,a2,…,am are not divisible by p. If there exists ai≡aj(modp), assume ai>aj, then (ai,aj)ai=(ai,aj)ai−aj+(ai,aj)aj≥p+1>m. Therefore, we can assume that a1,a2,…,am have pairwise distinct remainders modulo p. Let m=2p−1+r, then the condition 2m−m+1≤p≤2m is equivalent to r∈[1,2m]. Divide all non-zero residues modulo p into 2p−1 groups, each group containing the residues i and p−i. By the pigeonhole principle, there are r groups, each containing two elements from a1,a2,…,am. Therefore, we can assume a2i−1≡−a2i(modp),a2i−1<a2i,i=1,2,…,r. Notice that for i=1,2,…,r, we have p∣(a2i−1,a2i)a2i−1+a2i. If (a2i−1,a2i)a2i−1+a2i≥2p, then max((a2i−1,a2i)a2i−1,(a2i−1,a2i)a2i)≥p>m. Therefore, we can assume that for i=1,2,…,r, we have (a2i−1,a2i)a2i−1+a2i=p. Let di=(a2i−1,a2i),a2i−1=uidi,a2i=vidi. Then ui<vi and ui+vi=p. Notice that if any vi≥m, the conclusion is already satisfied. Therefore, we can assume vi∈{2p−1+1,2p−1+2,…,2p−1+r−1=m−1}. By the pigeonhole principle, there are two equal numbers among v1,…,vr. Assume v1=v2=v, hence u1=u2=p−v, denoted as u. Clearly, d1=d2 (since a1=a3). Now consider a1,a2,a3,and a4, assuming d1 and d2 are coprime (otherwise divide them by their greatest common divisor). We have (a1,a4)a1=(d1,v)⋅(d2,u)d1u≥(d2,u)(d1,u)⋅u;(a2,a3)a3=(d1,u)⋅(d2,v)d2u≥(d1,u)(d2,u)⋅u;(6) (a2,a3)a2=(d1,u)⋅(d2,v)d1v≥(d2,v)(d1,v)⋅v;(a1,a4)a4=(d1,v)⋅(d2,u)d2v≥(d1,v)(d2,v)⋅v.(7) Notice that the conditions r∈[1,2m] and p−m+1≤u<v≤m−1 give the following inequality: vm−1<um−1≤p−m+1m−1≤m−m+2m−1<m−mm−1=mm+1. If both (ai,aj)ai in (6) are not greater than m−1, then mm+1≥(d2,u)(d1,u),mm+1≥(d2,u)(d1,u). Thus, either (d1,u)=(d2,u) or (d1,u)>m and (d2,u)>m both hold simultaneously. But note that (d1,u)⋅(d2,u)≤u<m, so it must be that (d1,u)=(d2,u), and since d1 and d2 are coprime, they must both be equal to 1. Similarly, if both (ai,aj)ai in (7) are not greater than m−1, then (d1,v)=(d2,v)=1, but then (a1,a4)a4=(d2,u)(d1,v)d2v=d2v≥2v>m, which is a contradiction! Therefore, there must exist ai and aj such that (ai,aj)ai≥m. □
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