No label defined (Q4239693)

The authors consider the diophantine equation \[ x_1x_2\cdots x_n=h(n)(x_1+x_2+\cdots+x_n), \] where \(h(n)\) is a given integer-valued arithmetic function and the unknowns \(x_1\leq x_2\leq\cdots\leq x_n\) are positive integers. \textit{A. Schinzel} first investigated the equation in case \(h(n)=1\) [Elem. Math. 11, 75-78 (1956; Zbl 0074.03401)]. Using elementary methods the authors obtain an upper bound \({1\over 2}h(n)n(h(n)n+1)\) for the number of solutions of the equation. Some properties of solutions \((x_1,x_2,\dots,x_n)\) are also obtained. For example, either \(x_{n-1}\leq h(n)\) or \(x_n\leq h(n)(h(n)+n-1)\), and if \(2(2^k-(k+1))h(n)>h(n)(n-k-1)\) for some \(k\) with \(1\leq k<n\), then \(x_1=x_2=\cdots=x_{n-k}=1\). Finally, the authors propose several open problems related to this equation, most of which are due to \textit{P. Erdős} [Publ. Math. Inst. Hung. Acad. Sci., Ser. A 6, 221-254 (1961; Zbl 0100.02001)], and give a table of the number of solutions of the equation for \(n\leq 40\) and \(h(n)=1,2,3,n,2n,n^2\).