\documentclass[ solutions, singlenumbering, nopagenumber ]{../../resources/ormc_handout} \usepackage{../../resources/macros} \title{Warm-Up: Partition Products} \subtitle{Prepared by \githref{Mark} on \today.} \begin{document} \maketitle \problem{} Take any positive integer $n$. \par Now, write it as sum of smaller positive integers: $n = a_1 + a_2 + ... + a_k$. \par Maximize the product $a_1 \times a_2 \times ... \times a_k$. \begin{solution} \textbf{Interesting Solution:} Of course, all $a_i$ should be greater than $1$. \par Also, all $a_i$ should be smaller than four, since $x \leq x(x-2)$ if $x \geq 4$. \par Thus, we're left with sequences that only contain 2 and 3. \par \note{Note that two twos are the same as one four, but we exclude fours for simplicity.} \vspace{2mm} Finally, we see that $3^2 > 2^3$, so any three twos are better repackaged as two threes. \par The best sequence $a_i$ thus consists of a maximal number of threes followed by 0, 1, or 2 twos. \linehack{} \textbf{Calculus Solution:} First, solve this problem for equal, non-integer $a_i$: \vspace{2mm} We know $n = \prod{a_i}$, thus $\ln(n) = \sum{\ln(a_i)}$. \par If all $a_i$ are equal, we get $\ln(n) = k \times \ln(n / k)$. \par Derive wrt $k$ and set to zero to get $\ln(n / k) = 1$ \par So $k = n / e$ and $n / k = e \approx 2.7$ \vspace{2mm} If we try to approximate this with integers, we get the same solution as above. \end{solution} \end{document}