Putnam 1967 B4

a) A certain locker room contains $n$ lockers numbered $1,2,\ldots,n$ and all are originally locked. An attendant performs a sequence of operations $T_1, T_2 ,\ldots, T_n$ , whereby with the operation $T_k$ the state of those lockers whose number is divisible by $k$ is swapped. After all $n$ operations have been performed, it is observed that all lockers whose number is a perfect square (and only those lockers) are open. Prove this. b) Investigate in a meaningful mathematical way a procedure or set of operations similar to those above which will produce the set of cubes, or the set of numbers of the form $2 m^2$ , or the set of numbers of the form $m^2 +1$ , or some nontrivial similar set of your own selection.