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Number theory Difficulty 7.5 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Netherlands

Determine all positive integers nn for which all prime factors of 2n12^n - 1 are at most 7.

Solution

We note that 22n12 \nmid 2^n - 1 for all n>1n > 1, so we are looking for all nn such that 3, 5 and 7 are the only divisors, or 2n1=3a5b7c2^n - 1 = 3^a 5^b 7^c. The answers are n=1,2,3,4,6n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, which we easily check with outcomes 1, 3, 7, 353 \cdot 5, 3273^2 \cdot 7.

We compute 221(mod3)2^2 \equiv 1 \pmod{3}, 241(mod5)2^4 \equiv 1 \pmod{5} and 231(mod7)2^3 \equiv 1 \pmod{7}, and these are the smallest positive exponents for which 2n2^n is congruent to 1. That means that 32n13 \mid 2^n - 1 if and only if 2n2 \mid n, that 52n15 \mid 2^n - 1 if and only if 4n4 \mid n and that 72n17 \mid 2^n - 1 if and only if 3n3 \mid n.

If nn is odd, then it follows from what we said before that 2n12^n - 1 has no factors 3 or 5. We distinguish two cases. If 3n3 \nmid n and n>1n > 1, the prime 7 is not a divisor either, while 2n1>12^n - 1 > 1. So 2n12^n - 1 must have a prime divisor greater than 7, and these nn do not satisfy the conditions. The other option for odd nn is that 3n3 \mid n. To satisfy the conditions, we must then have that 2n1=7c2^n - 1 = 7^c. Thus, if n4n \ge 4 we find the relation 7c1(mod16)7^c \equiv -1 \pmod{16}. However, this contradicts 7c7,1(mod16)7^c \equiv 7, 1 \pmod{16}, because 72=49=316+17^2 = 49 = 3 \cdot 16 + 1. So the only possibility is n=3n = 3.

281=3517,2101=31131,2121=325713. \begin{aligned} 2^8 - 1 &= 3 \cdot 5 \cdot 17, \\ 2^{10} - 1 &= 3 \cdot 11 \cdot 31, \\ 2^{12} - 1 &= 3^2 \cdot 5 \cdot 7 \cdot 13. \end{aligned}

Now suppose n=2mn = 2m with m7m \ge 7, and suppose that for all even kk with 8k<n8 \le k < n, the number 2k12^k - 1 has a prime factor greater than 7. Consider the factorisation 2n1=22m1=(2m1)(2m+1)2^n - 1 = 2^{2m} - 1 = (2^m - 1)(2^m + 1). If mm is odd, then the first factor has a prime factor greater than 7 since m7>3m \ge 7 > 3. If mm is even, then the same is true based on the induction hypothesis since now 8m<2m=n8 \le m < 2m = n. This completes the proof by induction. \square

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