MPOTD 402

Alex takes a set of k consecutive positive integers and partitions them into two disjoint sets such that the product of their elements is equal. Find all values of k such that this is possible. 402.1 Solution Sketch Attempt One immediate consequence of our problem is that if there exists k consecutive positive integers that can be partitioned into two such sets, then it must be the case that the product of those k integers is the product of that of the two sets, or a perfect square. Intuitively, the contrapositive also holds. That is, if we can show that the product k consecutive positive integers cannot be a perfect square, then we have proven that there exists no k consecutive positive integers that can be partitioned into two disjoint sets holding the above property. Theorem (402.1) The product of consecutive integers is never a square. This is a well known product of the famous Hungarian mathematician Paul Erds 1 . o I will only give a brief survey of how he proved this. First of all, its obvious that no pairs of consecutive integers are equal to each other. Furthermore, taking the k = 3 case, there must be an even number of twos, so the odd number within the three consecutive integers must be sandwhiched in the middle or if the even number in the middle is a perfect square. In whatever case, the middle number must be a perfect square. However, under those cases, the sandwiching evens, when divided by two, must have all of their prime factors a multiple of two, because otherwise each of those prime factor can only have a single power. This is only the case for both numbers a power 2, which cannot be found within 3 consecutive integers except for (2, 3, 4). However, this contradicts the assumption that 3 is a perfect square, hence theres no length 3 sequence whose product is a perfect square. Then considering the k > 3 case and assuming (n)(n + 1)(n + 2) . . . (n + k 1) = y 2 , then we can rewrite each term n + i as the product between a square free number ai (squarefree means that there are no squares in as factors, or that none of the prime factors has an even power) and a perfect square x2 . Erds claims that assuming that o i the product series is a perfect square must mean that at least two of the ai s are the same. Since everything else is distinct, then it must be the case that there exists at least one prime dividing y 2 whose power is odd, which contradicts the assumption that y 2 is perfect. 402.2 Solutions There exists no k consecutive integers that can be partitioned into two disjoint sets such that the product of their elements is equal.

http://www.renyi.hu/~p_erdos/1939-03.pdf pg 197