Find all solutions in positive integers

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves finding all solutions in positive integers a, b, and c to the equation a!b! = a! + b! + c!. The original poster has rearranged the equation and identified one solution but is uncertain about the completeness of their findings.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster attempts to find solutions by testing small values for b and has raised questions about the completeness of their findings. Another participant suggests considering the equation modulo b! and discusses implications for the values of a and c. A question is raised about the equivalence of a! + 1 + c! modulo b!.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants exploring different approaches and reasoning. Some guidance has been offered regarding the implications of assuming a ≤ b ≤ c and the modular arithmetic involved, but no consensus has been reached on the completeness of the solution set.

Contextual Notes

The original poster has noted that testing values for b beyond 4 leads to larger numbers, which may complicate finding additional solutions. There is also an assumption that a, b, and c are positive integers.

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Find all solutions in positive integers a; b; c to the equation
a!b! = a! + b! + c!

I have rearranged and got (a!-1)(b!-1) = c!+1

And the only solutions I can find are a=3 b=3 c=4 but I can't be sure that they are the only ones. How would I go about finding other solutions?

I have tried b=1 to 4 but after that the numbers start getting a bit big
 
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It's clear that we without loss of generality can assume [itex]a \leq b \leq c[/itex]. Consider the equation modulo b!. Then you get
[tex]a! \equiv a! + c! \equiv 0 \pmod {b!}[/tex]
so [itex]b! \, | \, a![/itex] and therefore you must have [itex]a=b[/itex]. Now you can substitute and see [itex]c! = a!(a!-2)[/itex] which you can prove has no solution for a > 3 by noting that if a+1 is prime, then a+1 divides c!, but not a!(a!-2) which is a contradiction; and if a+1=pn is composite with p the smallest possible prime then p and n divide a! so if p and n are not equal a+1=pn|a! and if they are equal, then [itex]a+1=p^2[/itex] so [itex]p,2p \leq a[/itex] for a>3 which proves a+1 | a!. Together this shows [itex]a! \equiv 0 \pmod {a+1}[/itex] whenever a>3 and since [itex]a+1 | a!-2[/itex] we have:
[tex]2 \equiv a! \equiv 0 \pmod {a+1}[/tex]
 


Isn't a! + 1 + c! equivalent to 0 (mod b!) though?
 


Sorry...Just thought about it...I think I get it now.

Thanks for your help
 

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