2017 AMC 10B Problem 20
The number has over positive integer divisors. One of them is chosen at random. What is the probability that it is odd?
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Key insight
21! has eighteen factors of 2. Divisors split into 19 equal groups by how many 2s they contain, and the odd ones are one group.
Solution
Try a small case first. Take . Its divisors, sorted by how many s they contain:
| number of s | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| divisors |
Each group has the same size, because each group is just the odd divisors multiplied by , or . The odd divisors are one group out of . The same idea works for ; we only need to know how many s it contains.
1. Count the s in .
- Every even number gives at least one : there are even numbers up to .
- Multiples of give a second : , that is more.
- Multiples of give a third: , that is more.
- Multiples of give a fourth: , that is more.
- Total: .
2. So , where is odd.
3. Every divisor of is (a power of from to ) times (a divisor of ). That is possible powers of , and each one goes with the same list of divisors of . So the divisors split into groups of equal size.
4. The odd divisors are exactly the group with , one group out of .
The probability is .
The answer is .
Why this works
"Odd" depends only on the number of s in a divisor, and every allowed number of s (from up to ) comes with the same set of choices for the other primes. So the fraction of odd divisors is always divided by (the number of s plus one). The huge number and the "over " are there only to distract.
Concise solution
A shorter write-up, the way contest solutions are usually written. It may take a different route from the solution above.
Find the power of in by counting multiples of , , , up to :
So with odd.
A divisor of is , where and is a divisor of . For each of the possible values of there are the same number of choices of , so the divisors split into equal groups according to their power of . The odd divisors are exactly the group with .
The probability is .
The answer is .
Review in the AoPS books
- Introduction to Number Theory, Chapter 1: Integers: The Basics (§1.4, §1.5)
- Introduction to Number Theory, Chapter 2: Primes and Composites
- Introduction to Counting & Probability, Chapter 7: Introduction to Probability
- Introduction to Number Theory, Chapter 5: Divisor Problems (§5.2, §5.3)
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Problem © Mathematical Association of America (MAA), American Mathematics Competitions. Reproduced for non-commercial educational use. Solution and commentary are original to this site.