TITLE: Prove that $\frac{(3 a+3 b) !(2 a) !(3 b) !(2 b) !}{(2 a+3 b) !(a+2 b) !(a+b) ! a !(b !)^{2}}$ is an integer.
QUESTION [14 upvotes]: Prove that $$\frac{(3 a+3 b) !(2 a) !(3 b) !(2 b) !}{(2 a+3 b) !(a+2 b) !(a+b) ! a !(b !)^{2}}$$ is an integer for all pairs of positive integers $a, b$
(American Mathematical Monthly)

My work -
$
v_{p}((3 a+3 b) !(2 a) !(3 b) !(2 b) !)=\sum_{k \geq 1}\left(\left\lfloor\frac{3 a+3 b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{2 a}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{3 b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{2 b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor\right)
$
and
$
\begin{array}{l}
v_{p}\left((2 a+3 b) !(a+2 b) !(a+b) ! a !(b !)^{2}\right) \\
\quad \quad=\sum_{k \geq 1}\left(\left\lfloor\frac{2 a+3 b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{a+2 b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{a+b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{a}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor+2\left\lfloor\frac{b}{p^{k}}\right\rfloor\right)
\end{array}
$
now
With the substitution $x=\frac{a}{p^{k}}, y=\frac{b}{p^{k}},$ we have to prove that for any nonnegative real numbers $x, y$ we have
$\lfloor 3 x+3 y\rfloor+\lfloor 2 x\rfloor+\lfloor 3 y\rfloor+\lfloor 2 y\rfloor \geq\lfloor 2 x+3 y\rfloor+\lfloor x+2 y\rfloor+\lfloor x+y\rfloor+\lfloor x\rfloor+2\lfloor y\rfloor$
I tried putting $\{x\}+\lfloor x\rfloor=x$ and $\{y\}+\lfloor y\rfloor=y$ and i get things in terms of fractional parts but i am not able to prove after that ....
thankyou

REPLY [7 votes]: The left-hand side minus the right-hand side of your inequality is always 0, 1, or 2. The Mathematica plot below mostly proves it. One can cut the work in half by noticing a symmetry $(x, y) \mapsto (-x, -y)$ which induces $L-R \mapsto 2-(L-R)$. The picture strongly suggests that case-by-case reasoning will be messy no matter what. Having the computer check non-negativity for a certain finite collection of points would also be a proof.