Given an integer , determine all positive integers satisfying
Solution
The required numbers are .
For every integer , let denote the least prime divisor of . We show that, if and are integers greater than , and , then . Since is odd, , and since , it follows that . Notice that , since , to infer that has a prime divisor not exceeding , and conclude thereby that .
Suppose now, if possible, that . Then , so , and so on and so forth all the way down to . Hence which is a contradiction. Consequently, , so , and so on and so forth all the way up to .
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