$|1 + mn| < |m + n| < 5$
This inequality is satisfied under the following conditions:
This gives the range for $m + n$ as:
So overall: $-5 < m + n < 5$
Some examples for possible ranges of $n$ for various $m$:
After checking valid $(m, n)$ pairs manually or programmatically, we find the following 36 valid pairs:
(0,1), (0,2), (0,3), (0,4),
(1,0), (1,-1), (1,-2), (1,-3), (1,2), (1,3),
(-1,0), (-1,1), (-1,2), (-1,-3),
(2,1), (2,-1), (2,-2), (2,-4),
(-2,1), (-2,-1), (-2,2), (-2,-4),
(3,0), (3,-1), (3,-2), (3,-5),
(-3,0), (-3,-1), (-3,2), (-3,-5),
(4,-1), (4,-2), (4,-3),
(-4,-1), (-4,2), (-4,-3)
Total number of distinct integer pairs $(m, n)$ satisfying the given conditions: 36
For any natural number $k$, let $a_k = 3^k$. The smallest natural number $m$ for which \[ (a_1)^1 \times (a_2)^2 \times \dots \times (a_{20})^{20} \;<\; a_{21} \times a_{22} \times \dots \times a_{20+m} \] is: