Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2008

Number theory Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Prove that 2n+3n2^{n}+3^{n} is not a perfect cube for any positive integer nn.

Solution

Solution:
If n=1n=1 then 21+31=52^{1}+3^{1}=5 is not a perfect cube.

Perfect cubes give residues 1,0-1, 0 and 11 modulo 99. If 2n+3n2^{n}+3^{n} is a perfect cube, then nn must be divisible by 33 (consider the congruence 2n+3n=x32^{n}+3^{n}=x^{3} modulo 99).

If n=3kn=3k then 23k+33k>(3k)32^{3k}+3^{3k} > (3^{k})^{3}. Also, (3k+1)3=33k+332k+33k+1>33k+32k=33k+9k>33k+8k=33k+23k(3^{k}+1)^{3} = 3^{3k} + 3 \cdot 3^{2k} + 3 \cdot 3^{k} + 1 > 3^{3k} + 3^{2k} = 3^{3k} + 9^{k} > 3^{3k} + 8^{k} = 3^{3k} + 2^{3k}.

But, 3k3^{k} and 3k+13^{k}+1 are two consecutive integers so 23k+33k2^{3k}+3^{3k} is not a perfect cube.

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