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Iranian Mathematical Olympiad

Iran number theory

Problem

Does there exist a non-identity function that: The number of divisors of is , if and only if the number of divisors of is , for each two natural numbers and .
Solution
The answer is Yes! Let be the number of divisors of natural number . We want to construct such that for any positive integer , . Let . For example, and is the set of prime numbers. Note that has an infinite number of elements for every , because for every prime number . To define , set , , and . For each , suppose that is defined for . If is not defined then let . is well defined because . Let be the least element of that has not been defined on it yet, so we have . Define and . Therefore, for each natural number , these properties are gained inductively: Hence for every , we have .

Techniques

τ (number of divisors)Existential quantifiersInjectivity / surjectivity