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Number theory Difficulty 6.0 National Olympiad Prove it Slovenia

Find all positive integers nn such that
(n2+11n4)n!+3313n+4 (n^2 + 11n - 4) \cdot n! + 33 \cdot 13^n + 4
is a perfect square.

Solution

For reasons of readability let us write An=(n2+11n4)n!+3313n+4A_n = (n^2 + 11n - 4) \cdot n! + 33 \cdot 13^n + 4. First, consider the value of AnA_n modulo 88 for n4n \ge 4. We have 81234n=n!8 \mid 1 \cdot 2 \cdot 3 \cdot 4 \cdot \dots \cdot n = n!, so
An=(n2+11n4)n!+3313n+40+15n+4(mod8). A_n = (n^2 + 11n - 4) \cdot n! + 33 \cdot 13^n + 4 \equiv 0 + 1 \cdot 5^n + 4 \pmod{8}.
Since 521(mod8)5^2 \equiv 1 \pmod{8}, we have 52k1(mod8)5^{2k} \equiv 1 \pmod{8} and 52k15(mod8)5^{2k-1} \equiv 5 \pmod{8} for all kNk \in \mathbb{N}. For even nn we get An5(mod8)A_n \equiv 5 \pmod{8} and for odd nn we have An1(mod8)A_n \equiv 1 \pmod{8}. On the other hand a perfect square can only give the remainder of 0,10, 1 or 44 when divided by 88, so all even n4n \ge 4 are out of consideration.

Now, consider the value of AnA_n modulo 77 for n7n \ge 7. We have 7n!7 \mid n!, so
An=(n2+11n4)n!+3313n+40+5(1)n+4(mod7). A_n = (n^2 + 11n - 4) \cdot n! + 33 \cdot 13^n + 4 \equiv 0 + 5 \cdot (-1)^n + 4 \pmod{7}.
Since (1)2=1(mod7)(-1)^2 = 1 \pmod{7}, we have (1)2k=1(mod7)(-1)^{2k} = 1 \pmod{7} and (1)2k1=1(mod7)(-1)^{2k-1} = -1 \pmod{7} for all kNk \in \mathbb{N}. For even nn we get An2(mod7)A_n \equiv 2 \pmod{7}, for odd nn we get An6(mod7)A_n \equiv 6 \pmod{7}. A perfect square can only give the remainders of 0,1,20, 1, 2 or 44 when divided by 77, so we can exclude all odd n7n \ge 7.

The remaining options are n=1,2,3n = 1, 2, 3 and 55.
If n=3n = 3 we have
A331+333+43(mod5). A_3 \equiv 3 \cdot 1 + 3 \cdot 3^3 + 4 \equiv 3 \pmod{5}.
A perfect square can only give the remainder of 0,10, 1 or 44 when divided by 55, so A3A_3 is not a perfect square.
A similar reasoning helps us see that n=5n = 5 does not work, since
A5(4)0+335+43(mod5). A_5 \equiv (-4) \cdot 0 + 3 \cdot 3^5 + 4 \equiv 3 \pmod{5}.
If n=1n = 1, then A1=441=212A_1 = 441 = 21^2. If n=2n = 2, then A2=5625=752A_2 = 5625 = 75^2. Thus, n=1n = 1 and n=2n = 2 are the only solutions.

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