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Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Find all prime numbers pp and qq such that pp divides q+6q + 6 and qq divides p+7p + 7.

Solution

p=2p = 2 and pp divides q+6q + 6 together imply 22 divides qq. Hence q=2q = 2. But then qq divides p+7p + 7 is not satisfied. Thus pp is odd.
q=2q = 2 and pp divides q+6q + 6 together imply p=2p = 2 but p=2=qp = 2 = q contradicts qq divides p+7p + 7. Thus pp and qq are both odd.
p+7p + 7 is even and so q(p+7)/2(q+6+7)/2q \le (p + 7)/2 \le (q + 6 + 7)/2. Hence q13q \le 13.
Now examine each of the cases q=3,5,7,11,13q = 3, 5, 7, 11, 13. Only one case q=13q = 13 provides a solution in which p=19p = 19.

Second solution: By hypothesis, there are a,bNa, b \in \mathbb{N} such that q+6=pa,p+7=bqq + 6 = pa, p + 7 = bq. Hence
13=p(a1)+q(b1)pm+qn, 13 = p(a-1) + q(b-1) \equiv pm + qn,
where m,nm, n are nonnegative integers. Suppose m,nNm, n \in \mathbb{N}. Then
4p+qpm+qn=13, 4 \le p+q \le pm+qn = 13,
and so p,q{2,3,5,7,11}p, q \in \{2, 3, 5, 7, 11\}. An inspection of the possible pairs (p,q)(p, q) that can be formed from this set shows that no such pair satisfies the hypotheses. Hence, one of m,nm, n is zero. Suppose n=0n = 0. Then b=1,a=2,p=13b = 1, a = 2, p = 13 which means that q=20q = 20, which isn't a prime number. It follows that m=0m = 0, i.e., a=1,b=2,q=13a = 1, b = 2, q = 13 and hence p=267=19p = 26 - 7 = 19. Thus p=19,q=13p = 19, q = 13 is the only solution pair.

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