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Number theory Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Prove it United States

Consider the assertion that for each positive integer n2n \ge 2, the remainder upon dividing 22n2^{2n} by 2n12^n - 1 is a power of 4. Either prove the assertion or find (with proof) a counterexample.

Solution

The assertion is false, and the smallest nn for which it fails is n=25n = 25. Given n2n \ge 2, let rr be the remainder when 2n2^n is divided by nn. Then 2n=kn+r2^n = kn + r where kk is a positive integer and 0r<n0 \le r < n. It follows that
22n=2kn+r2r(mod2n1), 2^{2n} = 2^{kn+r} \equiv 2^r \pmod{2^n - 1},
where 2r<22n12^r < 2^{2n} - 1. Thus, the remainder when 22n2^{2n} is divided by 2n12^n - 1 is 2r2^r. Now, 2r2^r is a power of 4 if and only if rr is even, so to disprove the assertion it is enough to find an nn for which the corresponding rr is odd. We describe now a method to find such an nn.
If nn is even then so is r=2nknr = 2^n - kn. If nn is an odd prime then 2n2(modn)2^n \equiv 2 \pmod n by Fermat's Little Theorem; hence r2n2(modn)r \equiv 2^n \equiv 2 \pmod n and r=2r = 2. Therefore, we may rule out these values of nn.
It remains to try cases in which nn is odd and composite. In the first three instances n=9,15,21n = 9, 15, 21 there is no contradiction to the assertion:
n=9:261(mod9)2926238(mod9) n = 9: \quad 2^6 \equiv 1 \pmod 9 \quad \Rightarrow \quad 2^9 \equiv 2^6 \cdot 2^3 \equiv 8 \pmod 9
n=15:241(mod15)215(24)3238(mod15) n = 15: \quad 2^4 \equiv 1 \pmod{15} \quad \Rightarrow \quad 2^{15} \equiv (2^4)^3 \cdot 2^3 \equiv 8 \pmod{15}
n=21:261(mod21)221(26)3238(mod21) n = 21: \quad 2^6 \equiv 1 \pmod{21} \quad \Rightarrow \quad 2^{21} \equiv (2^6)^3 \cdot 2^3 \equiv 8 \pmod{21}
However, for n=25n = 25, we see that
210=102412201225257(mod25), 2^{10} = 1024 \equiv -1 \Rightarrow 2^{20} \equiv 1 \Rightarrow 2^{25} \equiv 2^5 \equiv 7 \pmod{25},
so 7 is the remainder when 2252^{25} is divided by 25 and 272^7 is the remainder when 22252^{2^{25}} is divided by 22512^{25} - 1. This gives the desired counterexample.

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