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Number theory Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Does there exist an even positive integer nn for which n+1n + 1 is divisible by 5 and the two numbers 2n+n2^n + n and 2n12^n - 1 are co-prime?

Solution

Because (2n+n)(2n1)=n+1(2^n + n) - (2^n - 1) = n + 1, we have gcd(2n+n,2n1)=gcd(n+1,2n1)\text{gcd}(2^n + n, 2^n - 1) = \text{gcd}(n + 1, 2^n - 1).
From 224(mod5)2^2 \equiv 4 \pmod{5}, 233(mod5)2^3 \equiv 3 \pmod{5} and Fermat's Little Theorem we see that 2n1(mod5)2^n \equiv 1 \pmod{5} iff nn is divisible by 4. Hence, when n1(mod5)n \equiv -1 \pmod{5} and n0(mod4)n \equiv 0 \pmod{4}, the two numbers 2n+n2^n + n and 2n12^n - 1 are both divisible by 5. They can only be co-prime for n2(mod4)n \equiv 2 \pmod{4}.
Suppose n=4k+2n = 4k + 2, then n+1=4k+3n + 1 = 4k + 3 and this number is divisible by 5 exactly when k3(mod5)k \equiv 3 \pmod{5}. Such kk can be written as k=5m+3k = 5m + 3 and so n=20m+14n = 20m + 14. This means that the smallest candidates for nn for which 2n+n2^n + n and 2n12^n - 1 could be co-prime, are n=14,34,54,n = 14, 34, 54, \dots.
Next we observe that 2n(1)n1(mod3)2^n \equiv (-1)^n \equiv 1 \pmod{3} for all even numbers nn. Hence, whenever n+1n+1 is divisible by 3, the two numbers 2n+n2^n + n and 2n12^n - 1 are both divisible by 3. This rules out n=14n = 14.
Consider n=34n = 34, then n+1=35=57n + 1 = 35 = 5 \cdot 7. As we have seen above, 241(mod5)2^4 \equiv 1 \pmod{5} and so 234224(mod5)2^{34} \equiv 2^2 \equiv 4 \pmod{5} which means that 5 does not divide gcd(35,2341)\text{gcd}(35, 2^{34} - 1). Similarly, we have 231(mod7)2^3 \equiv 1 \pmod{7} and so 2342(mod7)2^{34} \equiv 2 \pmod{7}, which shows that 7 does not divide gcd(35,2341)\text{gcd}(35, 2^{34} - 1). Hence, gcd(35,2341)=1\text{gcd}(35, 2^{34} - 1) = 1 and n=34n = 34 is the smallest positive even integer for which n+1n+1 is divisible by 5 and for which 2n+n2^n + n and 2n12^n - 1 are co-prime.

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