2019 AMC 10B Problem 19
Problem 19 of 25HarderNumber Theory
Let be the set of all positive integer divisors of How many numbers are the product of two distinct elements of
Answer choices
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Solution
First, note that
Therefore, any element of must be of the form with
Suppose I have distinct with Then, Thus, This means that there are possible exponent pairs for a product. However, some products can arise only when , namely when .
If then must be true.
If then must be true.
With any other value of we can have
Similar structure holds for Thus, if then thus making
This means we have to eliminate choices, leaving
Thus, the answer is C .