Number theoryDifficulty 6.4National OlympiadProve itSouth Korea
Let a, b be relatively prime positive integers and let an and bn be integer sequences satisfying (a+b2)2n=an+bn2. Find all primes p such that there is a positive integer n less than or equal to p satisfying bn≡0(modp).
Solution
Let p be a prime. First suppose that p is an odd prime dividing a2−2b2. Since a and b are relatively prime, b1=2ab is not divisible by p. Suppose that there is a positive integer n such that bn is divisible by p. Let r be the smallest positive integer such that br is divisible by p. Note that (a−b2)2n=an−bn2 because both an and bn are integers, and {an=(a2+2b2)an−1+4abbn−1bn=2aban−1+(a2+2b2)bn−1. Then we have 0≡br=2ab((a2+2b2)ar−2+4abbr−2+(a2+2b2)br−1)=2(a2+2b2)br−1−(a2−2b2)2br−2≡2(a2+2b2)br−1(modp), which is a contradiction to the assumption. Therefore bn is not divisible by p for any positive integer n.
Now let p be a prime not dividing a2−2b2. Since b1=2ab, we may assume that p is odd and ab is not divisible by p. Note that bn=2(a+b2)2n−(a−b2)2n=k=0,k≡1(mod2)∑2n2(k2n)a2n−kbk22k−1 First assume that there is an integer m such that m2≡2(modp). Then we have bn=k=0,k≡1(mod2)∑2n2(k2n)a2n−kbk22k−1=k=0,k≡1(mod2)∑2nm2(k2n)a2n−kbkmk−1=m(a+bm)2n−(a−bm)2n(modp). Since (a+bm)(a−bm)=a2−m2b2≡a2−2b2≡0(modp), b2p−1≡0(modp) by Fermat's little theorem.
Now suppose that x2≡2(modp) does not have any integer solution, that is, 2 is a quadratic non-residue modulo p. Clearly, (kp+1)≡0(modp) for any 2≤k≤p−1. Therefore by Euler's criterion, we have b2p+1=k=0,k≡1(mod2)∑p+12(kp+1)ap+1−kbk22k−1=2(p+1)apb+(p+1)abp22p+1=2ab(1+22p−1)≡0(modp). Therefore such a prime is exactly 2 or relatively prime to a2−2b2. □
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