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Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions

Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let (Fn)n≥0\left(F_{n}\right)_{n \geq 0} be the sequence of Fibonacci numbers: F0=0F_{0}=0, F1=1F_{1}=1 and Fn+2=Fn+1+FnF_{n+2}=F_{n+1}+F_{n}, for every n≥0n \geq 0. Prove that for any prime p≥3p \geq 3, pp divides F2p−FpF_{2p}-F_{p}.

Solution

Observe that
F2p=15[(1+52)2p−(1−52)2p]=15[(1+52)p−(1−52)p][(1+52)p+(1−52)p]=FpLp \begin{gathered} F_{2p} = \frac{1}{\sqrt{5}} \left[ \left( \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^{2p} - \left( \frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^{2p} \right] \\ = \frac{1}{\sqrt{5}} \left[ \left( \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^p - \left( \frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^p \right] \left[ \left( \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^p + \left( \frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^p \right] \\ = F_p L_p \end{gathered}
where LnL_n is the Lucas number, that is
Ln=(1+52)n+(1−52)n,n=0,1,… L_n = \left( \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^n + \left( \frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^n, \quad n=0,1, \ldots
it follows F2p−Fp=FpLp−Fp=Fp(Lp−1)F_{2p} - F_p = F_p L_p - F_p = F_p (L_p - 1). Now
Lp−1=(1+52)p+(1−52)p−1=12p−1[(p0)+(p2)5+…+(pp−1)5p−12]−1 \begin{aligned} & L_p - 1 = \left( \frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^p + \left( \frac{1-\sqrt{5}}{2} \right)^p - 1 \\ = & \frac{1}{2^{p-1}} \left[ \binom{p}{0} + \binom{p}{2} 5 + \ldots + \binom{p}{p-1} 5^{\frac{p-1}{2}} \right] - 1 \end{aligned}
=12p−1[(p2)5+(p4)52+…+(pp−1)5p−12−(2p−1−1)], = \frac{1}{2^{p-1}} \left[ \binom{p}{2} 5 + \binom{p}{4} 5^{2} + \ldots + \binom{p}{p-1} 5^{\frac{p-1}{2}} - \left(2^{p-1} - 1\right) \right],
hence p∣Lp−1p \mid L_p - 1, since pp divides (p2),(p4),…,(pp−1)\binom{p}{2}, \binom{p}{4}, \ldots, \binom{p}{p-1}, and 2p−1−12^{p-1} - 1, and gcd⁡(p,2)=1\gcd(p, 2) = 1.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.