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VIII OBM

Brazil number theory

Problem

Find the number of ways that a positive integer can be represented as a sum of one or more consecutive positive integers.
Solution
The sum of consecutive integers is . So we require . Note that and have opposite parity and that .

Now suppose with odd. Then must be even. So and cannot be equal. Take to be the smaller, then put and we have a solution. So the total number of solutions is just the number of odd factors of .
Final answer
the number of odd divisors of 2n

Techniques

Factorization techniquesτ (number of divisors)Sums and products