Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.0 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Define sequence of positive integers (an)\left(a_{n}\right) as a1=aa_{1}=a and an+1=an2+1a_{n+1}=a_{n}^{2}+1 for n1n \geq 1. Prove that there is no index nn for which
k=1n(ak2+ak+1) \prod_{k=1}^{n}\left(a_{k}^{2}+a_{k}+1\right)
is a perfect square.

Solution

Denote pp as a prime of a12+a1+1a_{1}^{2}+a_{1}+1, note that a1a_{1} is odd (since a12+a1+1=a1(a1+1)+1a_{1}^{2}+a_{1}+1= a_{1}\left(a_{1}+1\right)+1 is an odd number) and pa1p \mid a_{1}. By induction, we can show that
ana2a1(modp) for any n>1. a_{n} \equiv a_{2} \equiv -a_{1} \pmod{p} \text{ for any } n>1.
Thus an2+an+1a12a1+12a1≢0(modp)a_{n}^{2}+a_{n}+1 \equiv a_{1}^{2}-a_{1}+1 \equiv -2a_{1} \not\equiv 0 \pmod{p} so
vp(k=1n(ak2+ak+1))=vp(a12+a1+1). v_{p}\left(\prod_{k=1}^{n}\left(a_{k}^{2}+a_{k}+1\right)\right)=v_{p}\left(a_{1}^{2}+a_{1}+1\right).
Since a12<a12+a1+1<(a1+1)2a_{1}^{2}<a_{1}^{2}+a_{1}+1<\left(a_{1}+1\right)^{2}, then a12+a1+1a_{1}^{2}+a_{1}+1 is not a perfect square.
This implies that there exist some prime pp such that vp(a12+a1+1)v_{p}\left(a_{1}^{2}+a_{1}+1\right) is odd. This finishes the proof. \square

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