Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.2 National Olympiad Prove it India

Problem:
Find all positive integers mm, nn, and primes p5p \geq 5 such that
m(4m2+m+12)=3(pn1) m\left(4 m^{2}+m+12\right)=3\left(p^{n}-1\right)

Solution

Solution:
Rewriting the given equation we have
4m3+m2+12m+3=3pn 4 m^{3}+m^{2}+12 m+3=3 p^{n}
The left hand side equals (4m+1)(m2+3)(4 m+1)\left(m^{2}+3\right).
Suppose that (4m+1,m2+3)=1\left(4 m+1, m^{2}+3\right)=1. Then (4m+1,m2+3)=(3pn,1),(3,pn),(pn,3)\left(4 m+1, m^{2}+3\right)=\left(3 p^{n}, 1\right),\left(3, p^{n}\right),\left(p^{n}, 3\right) or (1,3pn)\left(1,3 p^{n}\right), a contradiction since 4m+1,m2+344 m+1, m^{2}+3 \geq 4. Therefore (4m+1,m2+3)>1\left(4 m+1, m^{2}+3\right)>1.
Since 4m+14 m+1 is odd we have (4m+1,m2+3)=(4m+1,16m2+48)=(4m+1,49)=7\left(4 m+1, m^{2}+3\right)=\left(4 m+1,16 m^{2}+48\right)=(4 m+1,49)=7 or 4949. This proves that p=7p=7, and 4m+1=37k4 m+1=3 \cdot 7^{k} or 7k7^{k} for some natural number kk. If (4m+1,49)=7(4 m+1,49)=7 then we have k=1k=1 and 4m+1=214 m+1=21 which does not lead to a solution. Therefore (4m+1,m2+3)=49\left(4 m+1, m^{2}+3\right)=49. If 737^{3} divides 4m+14 m+1 then it does not divide m2+3m^{2}+3, so we get m2+3372<734m+1m^{2}+3 \leq 3 \cdot 7^{2}<7^{3} \leq 4 m+1. This implies (m2)2<2(m-2)^{2}<2, so m3m \leq 3, which does not lead to a solution. Therefore we have 4m+1=494 m+1=49 which implies m=12m=12 and n=4n=4. Thus (m,n,p)=(12,4,7)(m, n, p)=(12,4,7) is the only solution.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.