AMC 12 Mock Exam 3 Problem 2
Problem 2 of 25
A craftsman has identical boxes, each containing unit cubes. He wants to use all of the unit cubes in the boxes, with none left over, to build a single solid cube. What is the smallest positive integer for which this is possible?
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Solution
The total number of unit cubes is , so we need the smallest for which is a perfect cube. Since , a multiple is a perfect cube exactly when every prime exponent in it is a multiple of . The exponent of must rise from to at least and the exponent of from to at least , so must be a multiple of ; and is a cube. The answer is .
Tagged: prime factorization and perfect cubes