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Divisors of An Integer Brilliant

The document defines divisors of an integer as positive numbers that divide the integer without remainder. It describes how to find all divisors of an integer by considering its prime factorization. The number of divisors is equal to the product of (qi + 1) for each power qi of each prime factor pi in the integer's prime factorization. The sum of all divisors of an integer can be found by taking the product of terms (1 + pi + pi^2 + ... + pi^qi) for each prime factor pi. The document also provides examples and applications, such as showing an integer has an odd number of divisors if and only if it is a perfect square.

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91 views2 pages

Divisors of An Integer Brilliant

The document defines divisors of an integer as positive numbers that divide the integer without remainder. It describes how to find all divisors of an integer by considering its prime factorization. The number of divisors is equal to the product of (qi + 1) for each power qi of each prime factor pi in the integer's prime factorization. The sum of all divisors of an integer can be found by taking the product of terms (1 + pi + pi^2 + ... + pi^qi) for each prime factor pi. The document also provides examples and applications, such as showing an integer has an odd number of divisors if and only if it is a perfect square.

Uploaded by

FanBoyGoodBoy
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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9/19/13

Divisors of an Integer | Brilliant

BRILLIANT
GetfreechallengingmathandphysicsproblemsatBrilliant.org

DivisorsofanInteger
Definition
WhatisadivisorofanumberN ?WesaythatmisadivisorofN ,ifthereexistsanintegerksuchthatN
= km

Ingeneral,thedivisorsofanumberrefertothepositivedivisors,unlessotherwisenoted.Sincethenegativedivisorswillbethenegative ofapositivedivisor(andviceversa),weshalljustconsiderpositivedivisors. Wealsotendtoignore0thepossibilityforanyofthesenumberstobe0.Since0 integerisadivisorof0 .


= 0 m

ourdefinitionabovegivesusthatevery

Technique
LettheintegerN haveaprimefactorizationp1
q1

q2 2

pn

qn

,wherep1 , p2

, pn

aredistinctprimenumbers,andq 1 , q 2

qn

are

positiveintegers.Letd beadivisorofN thenanyprimefactorpthatdividesd mustdivideN ,henceitmustbeoneofp1 , p2 , , pn . Withoutlossofgenerality,setp


ri qi

= pi

.Letthehighestpowerofpthatdividesd bepi .Then,pi dividesd ,whichinturndividesN ,


qi

ri

ri

hence,pi mustdividepi ,whichmeansthatri


d = p
r1 1

.Thus,byconsideringalltheprimefactorsofd ,wegetthatitmusthavetheform

r2 2

pn

rn

where0

ri qi

foralli.
= p
r1 1

Conversely,givenanumberd thathastheformd

r2 2

pn

rn

where0

ri qi

foralli,itisclearthatd isadivisorofN .As

such,wehaveacompleteclassificationofallthedivisors.

DivisorFunction
HowmanydivisorsdoesthenumberN have?Fromtheaboveclassification,wecansetupadirectbijectionbetween
d = p
r1 1 r2 2 rn

pn

andsetsofnintegers(r1 , r2 , rn )thatsatisfy0

ri qi

.Foreachri ,thereareq i 0 + 1

= qi + 1

possibilities.Hence,bytheproductrule,therearegoingtobe(q 1 anintegerN isoftendenotedasthe(N )or 0 (N ).

+ 1)(q 2 + 1) (q n + 1)

divisorsinall.Thenumberofdivisorsof

Howmanydivisorsdoesthenumber2000have?
Wehave2000 = 2
4

.Hence,fromtheabovediscussion,ithas(4 + 1)(3 + 1) = 20 divisors.

Wecanlistthemoutas1,2,4,8,16,5,10,20,40,80,25,50,100,200,400,125,250,500,1000,2000. (Canyouseewhywelistedoutthedivisorsthisway,insteadofinincreasingorder?)

Whatisthesumofalldivisorsofthenumber2000?

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9/19/13

Divisors of an Integer | Brilliant

Considertheproduct(1 + 2 + 2

+2

+ 2 )(1 + 5 + 5

+5 )

whenexpandedout.Fromtheclassificationofthedivisors,each

divisorwouldappearexactlyonceasaterm.Moreover,everytermwouldbeadivisorofthenumber2000 .Hencetheproduct representsthesumofallthedivisorsofthenumber2000 ,whichis31 156 = 4836 . (Popquiz:HowwouldyougeneralizethistofindthesumofalldivisorsofthenumberN ?Itissometimesdenotedas(N ) or


1 (N )

.)

ApplicationandExtensions

ShowthatanintegerN hasanoddnumberofdivisorsifandonlyifitisaperfectsquare.
Since(N ) = (q
i 1

+ 1)(q 2 + 1) (q n + 1)

,thisproductisoddifandonlyifeverytermisodd,whichhappensifandonlyifevery

valueq iseven,whichhappensifandonlyifN isaperfectsquare.

WhatisthesmallestintegerN thathasexactly14divisors?
Since14 = 2 7 ,anintegerhasexactly14divisorsifithastheformp orp
13 1

6 2

.Thesmallestnumberinthefirstcaseandsecond

caseare,2

13

= 8192

and3 2

= 192

,respectively.Hence192isthesmallestintegerthathasexactly14divisors.

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