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Difficulty: 7/102021 USAMO 2021 (Q4)

Set S of positive integers where for each in S and d|s, there's unique in S with gcd(s, t) = d. Possible |S|?

Options:

  • A.

    must be a power of 4.

  • B.

    must be a power of 1.

  • C.

    must be a power of 3.

  • must be a power of 2.

Guide / Hint

Hint 1: Represent the elements of by their prime factorizations. Show that no element in can contain a square of a prime.

Hint 2: Model the GCD relations as intersections of sets of prime factors.

Hint 3: Show that the divisibility structure is isomorphic to a Boolean algebra of subsets, whose cardinality is always a power of 2.

Solution

Step 1 (Poset Structure of ): Let be a finite set of positive integers satisfying the unique GCD condition. For any and divisor , there is a unique such that . This unique mapping defines a bijection on the divisibility poset of .

Step 2 (Square-Free and Prime Valuation): We show that the elements of must be square-free. If there exists with a squared prime factor , the unique GCD condition would fail for some divisor. Thus, each element can be represented as a subset of prime factors.

Step 3 (Boolean Lattice Isomorphism): The square-free divisibility relations mean that the set under the GCD operation is isomorphic to a Boolean lattice for some integer . The size of any Boolean lattice is exactly . Thus, must be a power of 2.

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    2021 USAMO 2021 Q4 - Olympiad Math Olympiad Question | Leminno