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Let $x$ and $y$ be two positive integers such that

$$\operatorname{lcm}\left(x+2{,}y+2\right)-\operatorname{lcm}\left(x+1{,}y+1\right)=\operatorname{lcm}\left(x+1{,}y+1\right)-\operatorname{lcm}\left(x{,}y\right)$$

Prove that one of the two numbers $x$ and $y$ divide the other.

So far I have been able to prove only this:

$$\operatorname{lcm}\left(x+2{,}y+2\right), \ \operatorname{lcm}\left(x+1{,}y+1\right), \ \operatorname{lcm}\left(x{,}y\right)$$ are in A.P.

I tried assuming the middle term as $m$ and the common difference as $d$ but nothing came after this. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

John Omielan
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  • Write $lcm(a,b)$ instead of $[a,b]$, it will be much clear. – RAHUL Nov 02 '21 at 06:59
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    @RAHUL FYI, instead of using lcm which shows as $lcm$, i.e., as if it's the product of variables $l$, $c$ and $m$, since MathJax (and $\LaTeX$ as well as far as I know) doesn't support \lcm as a special expression, you can use \operatorname{lcm}(a,b), which shows as $\operatorname{lcm}(a,b)$, instead (of course, you can use \operatorname also for any other such special functions which MathJax doesn't support directly). – John Omielan Nov 02 '21 at 07:11
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    Please try to avoid math-only titles. For more information, see Guidelines for good use of MathJax in question titles – soupless Nov 03 '21 at 02:24
  • I have attempted to replace in a thorough way certain things in your question, i.e., by applying the different advices you have received. This is important to have standard notations for retrieving information (and as well attracting people to your questions...) – Jean Marie Nov 23 '21 at 23:58

1 Answers1

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Unfortunately, I don't see any way to directly use that the $3$ $\operatorname{lcm}$ values are in an arithmetic progression. Instead, the problem can be solved by using that the $\operatorname{lcm}$ values are bounded integral multiples of both of its integers, in particular the larger ones.

Rearranging the given equation gives

$$2\operatorname{lcm}(x + 1, y + 1) = \operatorname{lcm}(x, y) + \operatorname{lcm}(x + 2, y + 2) \tag{1}\label{eq1A}$$

If $x = y$, then \eqref{eq1A} is true and also $x \mid y$. Otherwise, using the symmetry of $x$ and $y$, WLOG let $y \gt x$, so $x \le y - 1$. As asked & answered in several posts here, e.g., at Proving gcd($a,b$)lcm($a,b$) = $|ab|$, we get that

$$\operatorname{lcm}(x, y) = ay, \; \; 1 \le \left(a = \frac{x}{\gcd(x, y)}\right) \le y - 1 \tag{2}\label{eq2A}$$

$$\operatorname{lcm}(x + 1, y + 1) = b(y + 1), \; \; 1 \le \left(b = \frac{x + 1}{\gcd(x + 1, y + 1)}\right) \le y \tag{3}\label{eq3A}$$

$$\operatorname{lcm}(x + 2, y + 2) = c(y + 2), \; \; 1 \le \left(c = \frac{x + 2}{\gcd(x + 2, y + 2)}\right) \le y + 1 \tag{4}\label{eq4A}$$

Substituting the left sides of \eqref{eq2A}, \eqref{eq3A} and \eqref{eq4A} into \eqref{eq1A} results in

$$\begin{equation}\begin{aligned} 2b(y + 1) & = ay + c(y + 2) \\ 2by + 2b & = ay + cy + 2c \\ 2by - ay - cy & = 2c - 2b \\ (2b - a - c)y & = 2(c - b) \end{aligned}\end{equation}\tag{5}\label{eq5A}$$

Using the $\min$ and $\max$ values of the right sides of \eqref{eq3A} and \eqref{eq4A} gives

$$\begin{equation}\begin{aligned} 2(1 - y) & \le 2(c - b) \le 2((y + 1) - 1) \\ -2y \lt -2y + 2 & \le 2(c - b) \le 2y \end{aligned}\end{equation}\tag{6}\label{eq6A}$$

Since \eqref{eq5A} shows that $y \mid 2(c - b)$, then the limits in \eqref{eq6A} allows only $4$ possibilities:

  1. $2(c - b) = -y$ and $2b - a - c = -1$. Adding these together gives $c - a = -y - 1$. However, using \eqref{eq2A} and \eqref{eq4A} gives that $c - a \ge 1 - (y - 1) = -y + 2$, so this case is not possible.

  2. $2(c - b) = 0$ and $2b - a - c = 0$. Using $c = b$ from the first equation in the second one gives $b - a = 0 \; \to \; b = a$. From \eqref{eq2A} and \eqref{eq3A} we have $a \mid x$ and $b \mid x + 1$. Since $a = b$, then $a \mid x + 1$. Thus, $a \mid \gcd(x, x + 1) = 1$, so $a = b = c = 1$. Since the problem's request is equivalent to showing $a = 1$ in \eqref{eq2A}, this case is both valid and solves the problem.

  3. $2(c - b) = y$ and $2b - a - c = 1$. Adding these together gives $c - a = y + 1$. However, using \eqref{eq2A} and \eqref{eq4A} gives that $c - a \le (y + 1) - 1 = y$, so this case is not possible.

  4. $2(c - b) = 2y$ and $2b - a - c = 2$. Adding these together gives $c - a = 2y + 2$ which, as shown in case $3$ above, is also not valid.

Only case $2$ is possible, with this not only showing that $x \mid y$, as requested, but also that $x + 1 \mid y + 1$ and $x + 2 \mid y + 2$. An example solution is $x = 1$ and $y = 7$.

John Omielan
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