Given are two coprime positive integers a,b with b odd and a>2. The sequence (xn) is defined by x0=2, x1=a and xn+2=axn+1+bxn for n≥1. Prove that
a) If a is even then there do not exist positive integers m,n,p such that xnxpxm is a positive integer.
b) If a is odd then there do not exist positive integers m,n,p such that mnp is even and xnxpxm is a perfect square.
Solution
The general formula for the sequence is xn=αn+βn with α and β such that α+β=a,αβ=−b.
We will now prove gcd(b,xm)=1 for all m. Indeed, suppose there are m and a prime p such that xm and b are divisible by p. Since gcd(a,b)=1, gcd(a,p)=1. Since xm−bxm−2=axm−1 results in axm−1 being divisible by p or xm−1 being divisible by p. By induction, we obtain am−2,…,a1 are divisible by p or a is divisible by p, contradiction. Thus b is coprime to all terms of the sequence.
We find the condition for the pairs (m,n) with m>0 such that xm∣xn. It is easy to check that (xn) is a strictly increasing sequence of positive integers. Therefore, the necessary condition is m≤n. Next, if n>2m, we have the following equation xn+(−b)mxn−2m=αn+βn+αmβm(αn−2m+βn−2m)=(αm+βm)(αn−m+βn−m) is divisible by xm. So we have xm∣xn⇔xm∣bmxn−2m⇔xm∣xn−2m. Therefore, by induction, if k is the remainder of n when divided by 2m, then xm∣xn if and only if xm∣xk. Here are two cases:
* If m≥k, then xk≤xm. Hence xm∣xn if and only if xm=xk or m=k. * If m<k<2m, write k=m+d with 0<d<k. We have xdxm−xm+d=(αd+βd)(αm+βm)−αm+d−βm+d=αdβd(αm−d+βm−d)=(−b)dxm−d. Therefore, xk is divisible by xm if and only if (−b)dxm−d is divisible by xm, i.e. xm−d is divisible by xm, which contradicts the fact that (xn) is strictly increasing.
In short, for m>0, we have xm∣xn if and only if n=(2k+1)m for some natural number k.
a.
Since x0=2 and x1=a are even, we can inductively prove that xn is even for all n. Considering the quotient of x(2k+1)n with xn, we have xnx(2k+1)n=αn+βnα(2k+1)n+β(2k+1)n=i=0∑k(−1)iαniβni(αn(2k−2i)+βn(2k−2i))=x2kn+bnx(2k−2)n+⋯+b(k−1)nx2n+bkn is odd, because bkn is odd. So if xm is divisible by xn then xnxm is odd, so this fraction is not divisible by xp.
b.
Consider three numbers m,n,p such that xm is divisible by xnxp. Then, there exist natural numbers k,l such that m=(2k+1)n=(2l+1)p. Since the product mnp is even, all of three numbers are even. Set m=2u, n=2v and p=2t. For each natural number k: x2k=α2k+β2k=(αk−βk)2+2b2k. On the other hand, (αk−βk)2=(a2−4b)i=0∑⌊k/2⌋αiβi(αk−2i+βk−2i)2=(a2−4b)i=0∑⌊k/2⌋(−b)ixk−2i2=(a2−4b)Fk2 where Fk is the expression inside the brackets. So by assumption, if xmxnxp is a perfect square then k∈{u,v,t}∏((a2−4b)Fk2+2b2k). Therefore, for every prime divisor p dividing a2−4b then 1=(p2b2u2b2v2b2t)=(p2) leads to 2 which is a quadratic residue modulo p. This implies that p has the form 8h+1 or 8h+7, for every prime divisor p of a2−4b. Thus a2−4b divided by 8 leaves a remainder of 1 or 7. On the other hand, a and b are odd so a2−4b≡1−4≡5(mod8), this is a contradiction. So xmxnxp is not a perfect square and the same for xnxpxm.
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