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Give two integers $m$ and $n$ such that $n^2$ is a multiple of $m$, $n$ is not a multiple of $m$ and $n > m.$

I think that such two integers don't exist, but even if that were true, I'm having trouble with proving that. I have found clear examples when I neglect the last condition ($n > m$).

Any help on this problem would be much appreciated. The observation that I did make is the fact that since $n^2$ is a multiple of $m$ we can write it as $k * m$, which means that $k$ has to be larger than $n$.

I think that could be a starting point of some sort, but I wasn't capable of going any further.

Thomas Andrews
  • 177,126

2 Answers2

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In general pick $n=pq$, where $p$ is a prime and let $m=p^2$, where $q$ is also a prime such that $p<q$. This satisfies all your requirements.

Anurag A
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Given a squarefree $a$ and $c>b>1$ such that $b$ is not a factor of $c,$ then we can define $m=ab^2$ need $n=abc.$

Then $n=abc>ab^2=m,$ and $n^2=a^2b^2c^2$ is divisible by $m=ab^2$, and $\frac{n}{m}=\frac{abc}{ab^2}=\frac{c}{b}$ is not an integer since $c$ is not divisible by $b.$


On the other hand, given any two $m,n$ satisfying these conditions, we can find $a,b,c.$

If $m$ is square-free, then $m\mid n^2$ implies $m\mid n.$ (Why?) So $m$ is not square-free.

This means that we can write (uniquely) $m=ab^2$ where $a$ is square-free and $b>1.$

Now, since $ab^2\mid n^2,$ with $a$ square-free, then then $ab\mid n.$ (Why?)

Writing $n=abc$ for some $c,$ then we then see $n>m$ means $c>b.$ We also see that that $m=ab^2$ is a factor of $n=abc$ if and only if $b$ is a factor of $c.$

So this construction gives all $m,n$ uniquely: Start with $a$ square-free, and $c>b>1$ with $c$ not a multiple of $b.$ Then take $m=ab^2,n=abc.$


Simple cases: When $n=1$ and $b>1$ we can choose $c=b+1$ then we get $m=b^2$ and $n=b(b+1).$

Thomas Andrews
  • 177,126
  • Someone asking about elementary number theory most likely does not know what a squarefree number is. – cubesnyc May 06 '21 at 21:13
  • “Elementary number theory” does not mean beginner number theory. Being “square-free” is definitely something taught in elementary number theory. It does not involve analysis or higher algebra, so it is considered “elementary.” @cubesnyc – Thomas Andrews May 06 '21 at 22:28
  • @cubesnyc For example, from Wikipedia. “ The term elementary generally denotes a method that does not use complex analysis.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_theory – Thomas Andrews May 06 '21 at 22:32
  • @cubesnyc and this own site’s defintion of the tag: Questions on divisibility, gcd and lcm, congruences, linear Diophantine equations, Fermat's and Wilson's theorems, the Chinese Remainder theorem, primitive roots, quadratic congruences, and other related topics in the early study of number theory. More advanced topics should receive the number-theory tag instead. – Thomas Andrews May 07 '21 at 01:45