Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Thailand

Determine the largest integer that divides p41p^4 - 1 for all primes pp greater than 33.

Solution

We first show that 3(p41)3 \mid (p^4 - 1). Since p>3p > 3 is a prime, we have 3p3 \nmid p, and so p±1(mod3)p \equiv \pm 1 \pmod{3}. Thus, p41(mod3)p^4 \equiv 1 \pmod{3}, as required.

We next claim that 24(p41)2^4 \mid (p^4 - 1). Since pp is odd, we have p±1,±3,±5,±7(mod16)p \equiv \pm 1, \pm 3, \pm 5, \pm 7 \pmod{16}. If p±1(mod16)p \equiv \pm 1 \pmod{16}, then, clearly, p41(mod16)p^4 \equiv 1 \pmod{16}. The remaining possibilities are similarly checked, and the claim follows.

Since gcd(24,3)=1\gcd(2^4, 3) = 1, we have 24×3(p41)2^4 \times 3 \mid (p^4 - 1). Let dNd \in \mathbb{N} be a divisor of p41p^4 - 1 for all primes p>3p > 3. Thus, d(541)d \mid (5^4 - 1) and d(741)d \mid (7^4 - 1) yielding dgcd(541,741)=24×3d \mid \gcd(5^4 - 1, 7^4 - 1) = 2^4 \times 3.

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