Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 7.5 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all positive integers nn such that φ(n)\varphi(n) is a divisor of n2+3n^{2}+3.

Solution

First assume nn is a prime number. Thus φ(n)=n1n2+3=(n1)(n+1)+4\varphi(n)=n-1 \mid n^{2}+3=(n-1)(n+1)+4, implying n14n-1 \mid 4. We deduce that n=2,3n=2,3 or 55.

From now on, assume nn is composite and set n=i=1kpiαin=\prod_{i=1}^{k} p_{i}^{\alpha_{i}}, where kk is the number of distinct prime divisors of nn. Since n3n \geq 3, φ(n)\varphi(n) is even. In particular, the condition φ(n)n2+3\varphi(n) \mid n^{2}+3 shows that nn is odd and so the pip_{i}'s are all odd. It follows that
2kφ(n)=i=1kpiαi1(pi1). 2^{k} \mid \varphi(n)=\prod_{i=1}^{k} p_{i}^{\alpha_{i}-1}(p_{i}-1).
So n2+3n^{2}+3 is divisible by 2k2^{k} implying that k2k \leq 2. Moreover, if αi2\alpha_{i} \geq 2 then piφ(n)p_{i} \mid \varphi(n), so pin2+3p_{i} \mid n^{2}+3, forcing pi=3p_{i}=3. In this case, 9n2+39 \nmid n^{2}+3 and 9φ(n)9 \nmid \varphi(n). This shows that αi=2\alpha_{i}=2. Our discussion shows that if the composite n3n \geq 3 satisfies the problem then n=32=9n=3^{2}=9 or n=9pn=9p, or n=pqn=pq for some odd primes p,qp, q. Of course, n=9n=9 is a solution of our problem.

- Suppose n=9pn=9p. Then φ(n)=6(p1)\varphi(n)=6(p-1) and n2+3=81(p1)(p+1)+84n^{2}+3=81(p-1)(p+1)+84. Therefore, 3(p1)843(p-1) \mid 84, or equivalently p128p-1 \mid 28. It follows that p=5p=5 or p=29p=29. But in both cases, we have 8φ(n)8 \mid \varphi(n), contradiction.

- Suppose n=pqn=pq, where p,qp, q are odd primes. First, consider the case q=3q=3 (the case p=3p=3 is of course similar). Then φ(n)=2(p1)\varphi(n)=2(p-1) so n2+3=9(p1)(p+1)+12n^{2}+3=9(p-1)(p+1)+12. It follows that 2(p1)122(p-1) \mid 12, and p16p-1 \mid 6, implying p=3p=3 or p=7p=7. In this case we obtain a new solution n=pq=3×7=21n=pq=3 \times 7=21 of our problem.

Now, suppose p,q>3p, q>3. Thus, 3n2+33 \nmid n^{2}+3 so 3(p1)(q1)3 \nmid (p-1)(q-1). This shows that p,q2(mod3)p, q \equiv 2 \pmod{3}. Since (p1)(q1)p2q2+3=(p21)(q21)+p2+q2+2(p-1)(q-1) \mid p^{2}q^{2}+3=(p^{2}-1)(q^{2}-1)+p^{2}+q^{2}+2 so (p1)(q1)p2+q2+2(p-1)(q-1) \mid p^{2}+q^{2}+2. Set
p2+q2+2=k(p1)(q1), p^{2}+q^{2}+2=k(p-1)(q-1),
where kk is a positive integer. Set p=2x+1p=2x+1, q=2y+1q=2y+1, then the above equation reads x2+y2+x+y+1=kxyx^{2}+y^{2}+x+y+1=kxy, or equivalently,
x2(ky1)x+y2+y+1=0. x^{2}-(ky-1)x+y^{2}+y+1=0.
By a Vieta jumping technique, we deduce that k=5k=5. Thus, we have
5(p1)(q1)=p2+q2+2. 5(p-1)(q-1)=p^{2}+q^{2}+2.
But then pq2(mod3)p \equiv q \equiv 2 \pmod{3} and the left hand side is 2(mod3)\equiv 2 \pmod{3}, while the right hand side is 1(mod3)\equiv 1 \pmod{3}, contradiction.

Therefore, all numbers satisfy the given condition are n{1,2,3,5,9,21}n \in \{1,2,3,5,9,21\}.

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