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Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad

Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Brazil

Find all solutions in positive integers to (n+1)k−1=n!(n+1)^k - 1 = n!.

Solution

The solutions are n=1,k=1n = 1, k = 1; n=2,k=1n = 2, k = 1; n=4,k=2n = 4, k = 2.
It is easy to check that the solutions above are the only solutions for n≤4n \le 4. So assume n>4n > 4. So n!+1>n+1n! + 1 > n + 1, so k>1k > 1. If nn is odd, then n+1n + 1 is even, but n!+1n! + 1 is odd, so there are no solutions. So nn is even. Hence nn is composite. So nn divides (n−1)!(n-1)!. But using the binomial theorem we have (n+1)k−1=nk+(k1)nk−1+⋯+(kk−2)n2+kn(n+1)^k - 1 = n^k + \binom{k}{1}n^{k-1} + \cdots + \binom{k}{k-2}n^2 + kn. Hence (n−1)!=n(nk−2+nk−3+⋯+(kk−2))+k(n-1)! = n(n^{k-2} + n^{k-3} + \cdots + \binom{k}{k-2}) + k. Hence nn divides kk. But that means k≥nk \ge n, and (n+1)n>n!+1(n+1)^n > n! + 1. So there are no other solutions.

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