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Algebra Difficulty 7.7 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Saudi Arabia

Define a0=2a_0 = 2 and an+1=an2+an1a_{n+1} = a_n^2 + a_n - 1 for n0n \ge 0. Prove that ana_n is coprime to 2n+12n + 1 for all nNn \in \mathbb{N}.

Solution

Consider any prime divisor pp of ana_n. Consider a directed graph with pp edges on {0,1,,p1}\{0, 1, \dots, p-1\} (mod pp) connecting xyx \to y if and only if
x2+x1y(modp). x^2 + x - 1 \equiv y \pmod{p}.
Observe that p12\frac{p-1}{2} is connected to b=p254b = \frac{p^2-5}{4} (mod pp), every element has out-degree 1, and every element other than bb has in-degree 2 or 0, elements ±1\pm 1 form loops, 21-2 \to 1 and 010 \to -1. If we have a path a0a1ana_0 \to a_1 \to \dots \to a_n, then each of the elements has in-degree two, with at least one having in-degree one, giving 2n12n - 1 edges in total. Counting the four extra edges above, we deduce that p2n+3p \ge 2n + 3, which implies that gcd(an,2n+1)=1\gcd(a_n, 2n+1) = 1. \square

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