Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Germany

Problem:

Let p>7p>7 be a prime number that leaves remainder 1 upon division by 6. Set m=2p1m=2^{p}-1. Prove that 2m112^{m-1}-1 is divisible without remainder by 127m127 m.

Solution

Solution:

The solution consists of three steps:

1. 2m112^{m-1}-1 is divisible by 127.

2. 2m112^{m-1}-1 is divisible by mm.

3. 127 and mm are coprime.

On 1: We have 261mod72^{6} \equiv 1 \bmod 7. From p1mod6p \equiv 1 \bmod 6 it follows that 2p2mod72^{p} \equiv 2 \bmod 7, hence 7m17 \mid m-1. With 271mod1272^{7} \equiv 1 \bmod 127 it follows from this that 2m11mod1272^{m-1} \equiv 1 \bmod 127.

On 2: We have 2p2modp2^{p} \equiv 2 \bmod p (Fermat's little theorem), i.e. pm1p \mid m-1. From 2p1modm2^{p} \equiv 1 \bmod m it then follows that 2m11modm2^{m-1} \equiv 1 \bmod m.

On 3: We have 2p1mod1272^{p} \equiv 1 \bmod 127 if and only if pp is divisible by 7 (write p=7k+rp=7k+r with 0r<70 \leq r<7 and use 271mod1272^{7} \equiv 1 \bmod 127). Since p>7p>7, this is not the case, so mm is not divisible by 127, and since 127 is a prime number, 127 and mm are coprime.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from de; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.