Finding the divisors of the number $p^3q^6$

Let's take $p=3$ and $q=2$ as an example. Then the number is $3^32^6 = 1728$, and the 28 divisors of 1728 are:

$$\begin{matrix} 1&2&4&8&16&32&64 \\ 3&6&12&24&48&96&192 \\ 9 & 18 & 36 & 72 & 144 & 288 & 576 \\ 27 & 54 & 108 & 216 & 432 & 864 & 1728 \end{matrix}$$

These values are, respectively:

$$\begin{matrix} 2^03^0 & 2^13^0 & 2^23^0 & 2^33^0 & 2^43^0 & 2^53^0 & 2^63^0 \\ 2^03^1 & 2^13^1 & 2^23^1 & 2^33^1 & 2^43^1 & 2^53^1 & 2^63^1 & \\ 2^03^2 & 2^13^2 & 2^23^2 & 2^33^2 & 2^43^2 & 2^53^2 & 2^63^2 & \\ 2^03^3 & 2^13^3 & 2^23^3 & 2^33^3 & 2^43^3 & 2^53^3 & 2^63^3 \end{matrix}$$


I assume your text also says $p$ and $q$ are primes, and $p\ne q$ --- otherwise, the statement isn't true.

Do you know that any divisor of $p^3q^6$ must itself be of the form $p^aq^b$ for some $a,b$ with $0\le a\le3$ and $0\le b\le6$? If so, do you see how to get from there to 28?


There can be 0-3 factors of $p$, so there are 4 ways for that to occur. There are 0-6 factors for $q$, so there are 7 ways for that to occur.