# Find the number of ordered triples $(a,b,c)$ so that: $a\times\gcd (b,c)=b\times \gcd (a,c)=c\times \gcd (a,b)=2^6 \times 3^8 \times 5^{10}$

Find the number of ordered triples $(a,b,c)$ of positive integers so that the following relations hold: $$a\times\gcd (b,c)=b\times \gcd (a,c)=c\times \gcd (a,b)=2^6 \times 3^8 \times 5^{10}$$ I just know the official answer is 2080.

I think we must consider the prime factorization of $a,b,c$ and try to find the powers of primes in each,but seems too difficult to me...

Well first off, each of the $a,b,c$ divide $2^63^85^{10}$ so each $a,b,c$ is of the form $2^m3^k5^j$.

Let $a = 2^{m_a}3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 2^{m_b}3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 2^{m_c}3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$

$a\gcd(b,c) = 2^{m_a + \min(m_b, m_c)} 3^{k_a + \min(k_b, k_c)}5^{j_c + \min(j_b, j_c}$ etc.

So $m_a + \min(m_b, m_c) = m_b+ \min(m_a, m_c) = m_c + \min(m_a, m_b)=6$. etc.

Let's label $m_1$ to be the least of $m_a, m_b, m_c$ and $m_2$ to be the median value of of $m_a, m_b, m_c$ and $m_3$ to be the maximum of the three.

So $m_1 + m_2 = m_2 + m_1 = m_3 + m_1 = 6$ so $m_2 = m_3 = 6 - m_1$ so the possible values are $(0, 6,6), (1,5,5), (2,4,4), (3,3,3)$. For the first three there are $3$ options for whether it is $m_a, m_b$ or $m_c$ that is the least value. So there are 10 possible ways to distribute the powers of $2$ to the triplets.

I.E. the triples must be of one of these 10 forms:

$a = 3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 64*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 64*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$.. $a = 64*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 64*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$..$a = 64*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 64*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$. or

$a = 2*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 32*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 32*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$.. $a = 32*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 23^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 32*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$..$a = 32*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 32*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 2*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$. or

$a = 4*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 16*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 16*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$.. $a = 16*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 4*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 16*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$..$a = 16*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 16*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 4*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$. or

$a = 8*3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 8*3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 8*3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$

By the exact same reasoning, the powers of $3$ must be: $(0,8,8)....(3,5,5)(4,4,4)$ and there are $3*4 + 1 = 13$ ways to distribute the powers of $3$ into triplets.

And the powers of $5$ must be: $(0, 10,10) .... (4,6,6)(5,5,5)$ and there are $3*5+1 = 16$ ways to distribute the powers of $5$ into triplets.

SO there are $10*13*16 = 2080$ possible triplets.

They are $a = 2^{m_a}3^{k_a}5^{j_a};b = 2^{m_b}3^{k_b}5^{j_b};c = 2^{m_c}3^{k_c}5^{j_c}$ where

• two of $m_a, m_b, m_c$ are equal and larger or equal to the third and the sum of all three add to $6$. (There are 10 ways to do this.)
• two of $j_a, j_b, j_c$ are equal and larger or equal to the third and the sum of all three add to $8$. ( There are 13 ways to do this.)
• two of $k_a, k_b, k_c$ are equal and larger or equal to the third and the sum of all three add to $10$. (There are 16 ways to do this.)

Hint:

Let the highest power of $2$ in $a,b,c$ be $A,B,C$

$\implies A+$min$(B,C)=B+$min$(C,A)=C+$min$(A,B)=6$

Now WLOG $A\ge B\ge C$

$\implies A+B=C+A=6\implies B=C,6=A+B\le A+A\iff A\ge3$

So, we can have four combinations $\{(3,3);(4,2);(5,1);(6,0)\}$

Similarly for the other two primes namely, $3,5$

• What do you mean by "highest power of 2" ??!! I think it's no meaning! Every prime has a certain power in a unique factorization of a given number – Hamid Reza Ebrahimi Apr 29 '17 at 18:38
• @fleablood Hey man,I already knew that!! I mean "highest power" in the prime factorization has no useful meaning... – Hamid Reza Ebrahimi Jun 16 '17 at 2:56
• Sure it does. "Highest power of two that divides k" and "the power of 2 in the prime factorization of k" are two ways of saying the exact same thing. In my opinion the first is more natural and common. It certainly not "??!!" worthy. – fleablood Jun 16 '17 at 5:59