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Tajland, 2014

Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Thailand

Determine all primes pp such that 2p2−3p−12p^2 - 3p - 1 is a cube of a positive integer.

Solution

Let pp be a prime and nn be a positive integer such that
2p2−3p−1=n3.(1) 2p^2 - 3p - 1 = n^3. \qquad (1)
Since
n3=2p2−3p−1<2p2≤p3, n^3 = 2p^2 - 3p - 1 < 2p^2 \le p^3,
it follows that n<pn < p, so n+1≤pn + 1 \le p.

Consider the case p=n+1p = n + 1. We then get by (1) that
n3−2n2−n+2=0 n^3 - 2n^2 - n + 2 = 0
which implies
(n−2)(n−1)(n+1)=0,∴n=1,2. (n - 2)(n - 1)(n + 1) = 0, \quad \therefore n = 1, 2.
Thus p=2,3p = 2, 3.

Consider the case p>n+1p > n + 1. By (1) we get
p(2p−3)=n3+1=(n+1)(n2−n+1).(2) p(2p - 3) = n^3 + 1 = (n + 1)(n^2 - n + 1). \qquad (2)
But p>n+1p > n + 1 and pp is a prime, hence p∣n2−n+1p \mid n^2 - n + 1. Thus there is an integer kk such that
n2−n+1=kp.(3) n^2 - n + 1 = kp. \qquad (3)
Setting (3) into (2) we then get 2p=k(n+1)+32p = k(n + 1) + 3 which implies in particular that kk is odd.

Setting p=k(n+1)+32p = \frac{k(n+1)+3}{2} into (3) we have
2n2−(k2+2)n−(k2+3k−2)=0.(4) 2n^2 - (k^2 + 2)n - (k^2 + 3k - 2) = 0. \quad (4)
By (4) and that nn is a positive integer, we have that
(−k2+2)2−4(2)(−k2+3k−2)=k4+12k2+24k−12 (-k^2 + 2)^2 - 4(2)(-k^2 + 3k - 2) = k^4 + 12k^2 + 24k - 12
is a square.
If k≥9k \ge 9 then we have
(k2+6)2<k4+12k2+24k−12<(k2+7)2 (k^2 + 6)^2 < k^4 + 12k^2 + 24k - 12 < (k^2 + 7)^2
which implies that k4+12k2+24k−12k^4 + 12k^2 + 24k - 12 cannot be a square, contradicting the above. Thus 1≤k≤81 \le k \le 8. Now 1≤k≤81 \le k \le 8 is an odd integer, hence k∈{1,3,5,7}k \in \{1, 3, 5, 7\}. It is directly to check that these numbers cannot make nn to fulfil the condition of the problem. So there are no p>n+1p > n + 1.

We conclude that p=2,3p = 2, 3 are the only primes making 2p2−3p−12p^2 - 3p - 1 a cubic. □\square

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