Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 7.6 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Show that there are infinitely many positive integer numbers nn such that n2+1n^2 + 1 has two positive divisors whose difference is nn.

Solution

Define the sequence (ak)k0(a_k)_{k \ge 0} by a0=1a_0 = 1, a1=2a_1 = 2 and ak+2ak=ak+12+1a_{k+2} a_k = a_{k+1}^2 + 1, k=0,1,2,k = 0, 1, 2, \dots, and check inductively that the aka_k are all positive integer numbers, the nk=ak+1akn_k = a_{k+1} - a_k form a strictly increasing sequence of positive integer numbers, and aka_k and ak+1a_{k+1} both divide nk2+1n_k^2 + 1.

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