Maths Olympiad Prep

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Belorusija, 2012

Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

Find all prime numbers pp such that the number p2−p−1p^2 - p - 1 is a cube of some positive integer.

Solution

We have p2−p−1=n3p^2 - p - 1 = n^3. First, note that p2>n3≥n2⇒p≥n+1p^2 > n^3 \ge n^2 \Rightarrow p \ge n + 1. If p=n+1p = n + 1, then the equation becomes n3−n2−n+1=0⇒n=1,p=2n^3 - n^2 - n + 1 = 0 \Rightarrow n = 1, p = 2, which is a solution of the problem.

Let now p>n+1p > n + 1. Rewrite the equation as p(p−1)=(n+1)(n2−n+1)p(p-1) = (n+1)(n^2-n+1). So, (n+1)(n2−n+1)∤p(n+1)(n^2-n+1) \nmid p. Since n+1<pn+1 < p, we have n2−n+1∤pn^2-n+1 \nmid p, hence
n2−n+1=pk,k∈N.(1) n^2 - n + 1 = pk, \quad k \in \mathbb{N}. \qquad (1)
Thus p−1=k(n+1)p-1 = k(n+1) or
p=kn+k+1.(2) p = kn + k + 1. \qquad (2)
Substituting pp into (1) gives
n2−(k2+1)n−(k2+k−1)=0.(3) n^2 - (k^2 + 1)n - (k^2 + k - 1) = 0. \qquad (3)
The discriminant of this equation is D=k4+6k2+4k−3D = k^4 + 6k^2 + 4k - 3 must be a square of an integer. But if k≥4k \ge 4, then it is easy to see that (k2+3)2<D<(k2+4)2(k^2 + 3)^2 < D < (k^2 + 4)^2, a contradiction.

It remains to inspect the cases k=1,2,3k = 1, 2, 3, which gives the answer.

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