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Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it Netherlands

We consider an integer n>1n > 1 with the following property: for every positive divisor dd of nn we have that d+1d+1 is a divisor of n+1n+1. Prove that nn is a prime number.

Solution

Suppose by contradiction that nn is not prime. Now consider the greatest divisor d<nd < n of nn. Then we can write nn as dede. Since nn is not prime, we have d>1d > 1 and hence also e<ne < n. Now ee must satisfy e>1e > 1 and ede \le d (because dd is the greatest divisor satisfying d<nd < n). Now d+1d+1 must be a divisor of n+1n+1. Moreover, d+1d+1 is a divisor of (d+1)e=de+e=n+e(d+1)e = de + e = n + e. This means that d+1d+1 must also be a divisor of the difference n+e(n+1)=e1n + e - (n+1) = e - 1. This, however, is impossible, because e1e-1 is a number between 1 and d1d-1. Therefore, our assumption that nn is not prime must be false, and nn must actually be a prime number. \square

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