Problem

Source: INMO 2023 P1

Tags: number theory, combinatorics, INMO, INMO 2023



Let $S$ be a finite set of positive integers. Assume that there are precisely 2023 ordered pairs $(x,y)$ in $S\times S$ so that the product $xy$ is a perfect square. Prove that one can find at least four distinct elements in $S$ so that none of their pairwise products is a perfect square. Note: As an example, if $S=\{1,2,4\}$, there are exactly five such ordered pairs: $(1,1)$, $(1,4)$, $(2,2)$, $(4,1)$, and $(4,4)$. Proposed by Sutanay Bhattacharya