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Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Japan

Let kk be a positive integer and mm an odd integer. Show that there exists a positive integer nn for which the number nnmn^n - m is divisible by 2k2^k.

Solution

We prove the assertion of the problem by using the mathematical induction on kk.

If k=1k=1 let n=1n=1. Then, nnm=1mn^n - m = 1 - m is divisible by 22 since mm is odd. So the assertion holds.

Suppose the assertion holds when k=tk = t, we will show that the assertion holds when k=t+1k = t + 1.
From the induction hypothesis, it follows that there exists a positive integer n0n_0 for which
n0n0m(mod2t). n_0^{n_0} \equiv m \pmod{2^t}.
Since n0n0n_0^{n_0} is odd, n0n_0 is odd. If n0n0m(mod2t+1)n_0^{n_0} \equiv m \pmod{2^{t+1}} is satisfied, then this n0n_0 satisfies the assertion for the case of k=t+1k = t + 1. If not, we have n0n0m+2t(mod2t+1)n_0^{n_0} \equiv m + 2^t \pmod{2^{t+1}}. Let us show that n=n0+2tn = n_0 + 2^t will satisfy the condition in this case.
This nn is then odd and hence nn and 2t+12^{t+1} are relatively prime, and by Euler's Theorem we have n21(mod2t+1)n^2 \equiv 1 \pmod{2^{t+1}}. Consequently, we have
nn=nn0+2tnn0n2tnn0(mod2t+1). n^n = n^{n_0+2^t} \equiv n^{n_0} \cdot n^{2^t} \equiv n^{n_0} \pmod{2^{t+1}}.
The binomial expansion of nn0=(n0+2t)n0n^{n_0} = (n_0 + 2^t)^{n_0} gives us
nn0=i=0n0ni2itn0n0i. n^{n_0} = \sum_{i=0}^{n_0} n_i \cdot 2^{it} n_0^{n_0-i}.
Since from the fact that itt+1it \ge t+1 if i2i \ge 2, it follows that 2it0(mod2t+1)2^{it} \equiv 0 \pmod{2^{t+1}} and we get
nn0n0n0+n0C12tn0n01(m+2t)+2tn0n0(mod2t+1)m+2t(n0n0+1). \begin{aligned} n^{n_0} &\equiv n_0^{n_0} + n_0 C_1 \cdot 2^t n_0^{n_0-1} \equiv (m + 2^t) + 2^t n_0^{n_0} \pmod{2^{t+1}} \\ &\equiv m + 2^t (n_0^{n_0} + 1). \end{aligned}
Since n0n0+1n_0^{n_0} + 1 is an even number, we get from the above that
nnnn0m+2t(n0n0+1)m(mod2t+1), n^n \equiv n^{n_0} \equiv m + 2^t (n_0^{n_0} + 1) \equiv m \pmod{2^{t+1}},
which shows that this nn satisfies the condition for k=t+1k = t + 1, and this completes the induction.

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