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Number theory Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it Switzerland

Problem:
Let φ\varphi denote the Euler phi-function. Prove that for every positive integer nn
2n(n+1)32φ(22n1) 2^{n(n+1)} \mid 32 \cdot \varphi\left(2^{2^{n}}-1\right)

Solution

Solution:
We induct on nn. The cases n=1,2,3n=1,2,3 can easily be checked by hand:
- n=1:22322n=1: 2^{2} \mid 32 \cdot 2.
- n=2:2625φ(15)=25223n=2: 2^{6} \mid 2^{5} \cdot \varphi(15)=2^{5} \cdot 2 \cdot 2^{3}
- n=3:21225φ(255)=2522224=212n=3: 2^{12} \mid 2^{5} \cdot \varphi(255)=2^{5} \cdot 2 \cdot 2^{2} \cdot 2^{4}=2^{12}

For n4n \geq 4 assume the statement is true for all 1k<n1 \leq k < n and note that
φ(22n1)=φ((22n11)(22n1+1))=φ(22n11)φ(22n1+1) \varphi\left(2^{2^{n}}-1\right)=\varphi\left(\left(2^{2^{n-1}}-1\right)\left(2^{2^{n-1}}+1\right)\right)=\varphi\left(2^{2^{n-1}}-1\right) \cdot \varphi\left(2^{2^{n-1}}+1\right)
since gcd(22n11,22n1+1)=1\gcd\left(2^{2^{n-1}}-1,2^{2^{n-1}}+1\right)=1. But from our inductive assumption we know that
2(n1)n32φ(22n11) 2^{(n-1) n} \mid 32 \cdot \varphi\left(2^{2^{n-1}}-1\right)
so all that is left to prove is that
22nφ(22n1+1) 2^{2 n} \mid \varphi\left(2^{2^{n-1}}+1\right)
Take now any prime pp that divides 22n1+12^{2^{n-1}}+1 and let dd be the order of 2modp2 \bmod p. We know that
22n11modp, squaring gives 22n1modp 2^{2^{n-1}} \equiv -1 \bmod p, \text{ squaring gives } 2^{2^{n}} \equiv 1 \bmod p
By the properties of the order we therefore have
d2n but d2n1 d \mid 2^{n} \text{ but } d \nmid 2^{n-1}
This implies d=2nd=2^{n} and since we also have dp1d \mid p-1 we get
2np1 and therefore p1mod2n 2^{n} \mid p-1 \text{ and therefore } p \equiv 1 \bmod 2^{n}
If we are also able to prove that 22n1+12^{2^{n-1}}+1 contains at least two different prime factors we would be done. This is because if p,qp, q are two different such primes we can write
22n1+1=pxqyN 2^{2^{n-1}}+1=p^{x} \cdot q^{y} \cdot N
with NN a positive integer and p,qNp, q \nmid N. Then
φ(22n1+1)=(p1)(q1)px1qy1φ(N)0mod22n \varphi\left(2^{2^{n-1}}+1\right)=(p-1)(q-1) \cdot p^{x-1} q^{y-1} \varphi(N) \equiv 0 \bmod 2^{2 n}
Assume now that 22n1+12^{2^{n-1}}+1 is instead a prime power, say pxp^{x}. It follows that
(p1)(px1+px2++p+1)=px1=22n1 (p-1)\left(p^{x-1}+p^{x-2}+\ldots+p+1\right)=p^{x}-1=2^{2^{n-1}}
It follows that xx is odd since squares are 0\equiv 0 or 1mod41 \bmod 4 and using the fact that p1mod2np \equiv 1 \bmod 2^{n} we find
px1+px2++p+1xmod2n p^{x-1}+p^{x-2}+\ldots+p+1 \equiv x \bmod 2^{n}
implying x=1x=1. But then 22n1+12^{2^{n-1}}+1 is a prime and
φ(22n1+1)=22n1 \varphi\left(2^{2^{n-1}}+1\right)=2^{2^{n-1}}
and since n4n \geq 4 we have 2n12n2^{n-1} \geq 2 n and we are done in this case as well.

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