IMO 1976 · Problem 4

Determine, with proof, the largest number which is the product of positive integers whose sum is 1976.

Official text of the problem. Official problem paper (PDF)

Answer

\[ \boxed{2\cdot 3^{658}}. \]

Solution

There are only finitely many lists of positive integers with sum \(1976\), since each list has at most \(1976\) entries and each entry is at most \(1976\). Thus a maximum product exists. Choose a list attaining it.

No entry can be \(1\): if an entry is \(1\), there must be another entry \(a\), and replacing \(1,a\) by \(a+1\) preserves the sum while increasing the product.

No entry can be an integer \(a\ge5\), because replacing it by \(3,a-3\) preserves the sum and increases the product: \[ 3(a-3)-a=2a-9>0. \] Consequently, every entry is \(2\), \(3\), or \(4\).

Replace each \(4\) by two \(2\)'s. This preserves both the sum and the product, so we now have a maximizing list consisting only of \(2\)'s and \(3\)'s. It contains at most two \(2\)'s, since replacing three \(2\)'s by two \(3\)'s preserves their sum but increases their product from \(8\) to \(9\).

Let \(t\) and \(s\) denote the numbers of \(2\)'s and \(3\)'s, respectively. Then \[ 2t+3s=1976,\qquad t\in\{0,1,2\}. \] Reducing modulo \(3\) gives \(2t\equiv2\pmod3\), so \(t=1\). Hence \[ s=\frac{1976-2}{3}=658. \] Therefore the maximum product is \(2\cdot3^{658}\), attained by one \(2\) and \(658\) copies of \(3\), whose sum is indeed \(1976\).

The solution was checked against John Scholes' IMO solution archive (Kalva).