Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Problem:
Prove that for any integer a4a \geq 4 there exist infinitely many squarefree positive integers nn that divide an1a^{n}-1.

Solution

Solution:
First we shall prove the following:

LEMMA. Let p3p \geq 3 be an odd divisor of bb. Then there exists an odd prime qq that divides (b+1)p1(b+1)^{p}-1 but does not divide bb.

Proof of the lemma. If b=pcb=pc, then
(b+1)p1=b((b+1)p1++b+1)=b(Bb2+p(p1)2b+p)=bp(b(Bc+p12)+1)=bpd \begin{aligned} (b+1)^{p}-1 & =b\left((b+1)^{p-1}+\cdots+b+1\right) \\ & =b\left(B b^{2}+\frac{p(p-1)}{2} b+p\right)=b p\left(b\left(B c+\frac{p-1}{2}\right)+1\right)=b p d \end{aligned}
and it remains to choose a prime divisor of dd. Note that dd is odd (if bb is even, then d=bK+1d=b K+1 is odd; if bb is odd, then (b+1)p1(b+1)^{p}-1 is odd, and hence dd is odd, too).

We shall prove now that if a2k+1a \neq 2^{k}+1, then there exists a sequence of odd primes p1,p2,p_{1}, p_{2}, \ldots such that p1p_{1} divides a1a-1, and if Pn=ap0p1pn1P_{n}=a^{p_{0} p_{1}} p_{n}-1 (here p0=1p_{0}=1 ), then pn+1p_{n+1} divides PnP_{n}, but does not divide Pn1P_{n-1}, n1n \geq 1.

Let p1p_{1} be an odd prime divisor of a1a-1 and we have already chosen the primes p1,,pkp_{1}, \ldots, p_{k}. Applying the lemma for b=Pkb=P_{k} and p=pkp=p_{k}, we find an odd prime pk+1p_{k+1} that divides PkP_{k} but does not divide Pk1P_{k-1}.

Since Pk1P_{k-1} is divisible by p1,p2,,pkp_{1}, p_{2}, \ldots, p_{k}, we conclude that pk+1p_{k+1} differs from them. Therefore the numbers p1,p2,,pkp_{1}, p_{2}, \ldots, p_{k} have the required property.

If a=2l+1,l2a=2^{l}+1, l \geq 2, then a22m+1a^{2} \neq 2^{m}+1 and it remains to multiply by 2 the numbers already found for a2a^{2}.

Remark. It can be proved that if nn divides 2n12^{n}-1, then n=1n=1, and if nn divides 3n13^{n}-1 then n=1,n=2n=1, n=2, or nn is divisible by 4. The above solution shows that for a=34a=3^{4} there exist infinitely many positive square-free odd integers nn such that 4n4 n divides 34n13^{4 n}-1.

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