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Number theory Difficulty 7.9 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Turkey

Let ϕ(n)\phi(n) denote the number of positive integers less than nn that are relatively prime to nn where nn is a positive integer. Find all pairs (m,n)(m, n) of positive integers satisfying
2n+(nϕ(n)1)!=nm+1. 2^n + (n - \phi(n) - 1)! = n^m + 1.

Solution

The answer is (2,2)(2, 2) and (2,4)(2, 4).

For n=1n = 1, we have 2+1=22 + 1 = 2 which yields a contradiction.

If nn is a prime number, then ϕ(n)=n1\phi(n) = n - 1 and hence 2n=nm2^n = n^m. Therefore m=n=2m = n = 2.

If n=p2n = p^2 where pp is a prime number, then ϕ(n)=p2p\phi(n) = p^2 - p and we get 2p2+(p1)!=p2m+12^{p^2} + (p-1)! = p^{2m} + 1.
For p>2p > 2 we have (p1)!2(mod4)(p-1)! \equiv 2 \pmod 4 which is possible only when p=3p = 3 but 29+2=514=32m+12^9 + 2 = 514 = 3^{2m} + 1 has no solution in integers. For p=2p = 2, we get m=2m = 2.

In all the other cases, let pp be the smallest prime factor of nn. As 1<p<2p<<p2<n1 < p < 2p < \dots < p^2 < n, we have n1ϕ(n)pn - 1 - \phi(n) \ge p and therefore pp divides (nϕ(n)1)!(n - \phi(n) - 1)!. Thus, p2n1p|2^n - 1 and pp is odd. As p2p11p|2^{p-1} - 1, p2d1p|2^d - 1 where d=gcd(n,p1)d = \gcd(n, p-1). Since pp is the smallest prime factor of nn, we get d=1d = 1 and hence p1p|1 which is a contradiction.

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