Back to Mathematical Olympiad
Difficulty: 5/102019 IMO 2019 (Q4)

Find all pairs of positive integers such that

Options:

  • A.

    and .

  • B.

    and .

  • and .

  • D.

    and .

Guide / Hint

Hint 1: Factor out powers of 2 from the RHS: . The 2-adic valuation of must match .

Hint 2: Check small cases directly: gives , gives , gives which is not a factorial. What pattern emerges?

Hint 3: For , compare the largest prime factor of with . Since the RHS contains large odd factors, must be large, but then exceeds .

Solution

Step 1 (Simplify the RHS): The right-hand side is

Note: this product equals , the order of the general linear group over .

Step 2 (Compare sizes): The RHS satisfies . For : RHS , so works. For : RHS , so works.

Step 3 (Upper bound on ): The RHS is less than . By Stirling, , so roughly ... More precisely, RHS , and since for large (by direct check), we get for large .

Step 4 (2-adic valuation comparison): . And . So .

Combining: . Also, from the odd part: must equal . For : . For : RHS . We need , but and , so no solution.

For : RHS . Check: , . So no .

For : the factor is odd and appears in the product. For , , which is prime. We'd need this prime to divide , so . But then for moderate , giving a contradiction for in a middle range. Careful case analysis for (done computationally above) and asymptotics for rule out all other cases.

Conclusion: .

Ready to track your progress and master these topics?

Create a free account
    2019 IMO 2019 Q4 - Olympiad Math Olympiad Question | Leminno