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Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Given a positive integer kk, show that there exists a prime pp such that one can choose distinct integers a1,a2,,ak+3{1,2,,p1}a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{k+3} \in \{1, 2, \dots, p-1\} such that pp divides aiai+1ai+2ai+3ia_i a_{i+1} a_{i+2} a_{i+3} - i for all i=1,2,3,,ki = 1, 2, 3, \dots, k.

Solution

First we choose distinct positive rational numbers r1,,rk+3r_1, \dots, r_{k+3} such that
riri+1ri+2ri+3=ifor 1ik r_i r_{i+1} r_{i+2} r_{i+3} = i \quad \text{for } 1 \le i \le k
Let r1=x,r2=y,r3=zr_1 = x, r_2 = y, r_3 = z be some distinct primes greater than kk; the remaining terms satisfy r4=1r1r2r3r_4 = \frac{1}{r_1 r_2 r_3} and ri+4=i+1irir_{i+4} = \frac{i+1}{i} r_i. It follows that if rir_i are represented as irreducible fractions, the numerators are divisible by xx for i1(mod4)i \equiv 1 \pmod 4, by yy for i2(mod4)i \equiv 2 \pmod 4, by zz for i3(mod4)i \equiv 3 \pmod 4 and by none for i0(mod4)i \equiv 0 \pmod 4. Notice that ri<ri+4r_i < r_{i+4}; thus the sequences
r1<r5<r9<,r2<r6<r10<,r3<r7<r11<,r4<r8<r12< r_1 < r_5 < r_9 < \dots, \quad r_2 < r_6 < r_{10} < \dots, \quad r_3 < r_7 < r_{11} < \dots, \quad r_4 < r_8 < r_{12} < \dots
are increasing and have no common terms, that is, all rir_i are distinct.

If each rir_i is represented by an irreducible fraction uivi\frac{u_i}{v_i}, choose a prime pp which divides neither viv_i, 1ik+11 \le i \le k+1, nor vivjv_i v_j (rirjr_i - r_j) =vjuiviuj= v_j u_i - v_i u_j for i<ji < j, and define aia_i by the congruence aiviui(modp)a_i v_i \equiv u_i \pmod{p}. Since riri+1ri+2ri+3=ir_i r_{i+1} r_{i+2} r_{i+3} = i, we have
ivivi+1vi+2vi+3=riviri+1vi+1ri+2vi+2ri+3vi+3=uiui+1ui+2ui+3aiviai+1vi+1ai+2vi+2ai+3vi+3(modp) \begin{aligned} iv_i v_{i+1} v_{i+2} v_{i+3} &= r_i v_i r_{i+1} v_{i+1} r_{i+2} v_{i+2} r_{i+3} v_{i+3} \\ &= u_i u_{i+1} u_{i+2} u_{i+3} \equiv a_i v_i a_{i+1} v_{i+1} a_{i+2} v_{i+2} a_{i+3} v_{i+3} \pmod{p} \end{aligned}
and therefore aiai+1ai+2ai+3i(modp)a_i a_{i+1} a_{i+2} a_{i+3} \equiv i \pmod{p} for 1ik1 \le i \le k.

If aiaj(modp)a_i \equiv a_j \pmod{p}, then uivjaivjvjujvi(modp)u_i v_j \equiv a_i v_j v_j \equiv u_j v_i \pmod{p}, a contradiction. \square

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