Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / IMO Hk TST /85 of 119

IMO Hk TST, 1997

Number theory Difficulty 8.2 Shortlist Prove it Hong Kong

Let nn be a positive integer with the following property: 2n−12^n - 1 divides a number of the form m2+81m^2 + 81, where mm is a positive integer. Find all possible nn.

Solution

nn can be any nonnegative integral power of 22.

If nn has an odd divisor d≥3d \ge 3, then 2d−1∣2n−1∣m2+812^d - 1 \mid 2^n - 1 \mid m^2 + 81. Since 2d−1≡3(mod4)2^d - 1 \equiv 3 \pmod{4} and 3∤2d−13 \nmid 2^d - 1, there exists an odd prime p>3p > 3 such that p≡3(mod4)p \equiv 3 \pmod{4} and p∣2d−1p \mid 2^d - 1. This implies p∣m2+81p \mid m^2 + 81. However, this means m2≡−92(modp)m^2 \equiv -9^2 \pmod{p}, and hence (9−1m)2≡−1(modp)(9^{-1}m)^2 \equiv -1 \pmod{p}. This is impossible as p≡3(mod4)p \equiv 3 \pmod{4}. Therefore, nn has no odd divisor greater than 11. Thus, n=2kn = 2^k for some nonnegative integer kk.

It remains to find an mm such that 22k−1∣m2+812^{2^k} - 1 \mid m^2 + 81. Firstly, note that
22k−1=(2+1)(22+1)⋯(22k−1+1). 2^{2^k} - 1 = (2 + 1)(2^2 + 1)\cdots(2^{2^{k-1}} + 1).
The factors on the right are pairwise relatively prime. Indeed, if r<sr < s, then 22r+1∣22s−12^{2^r} + 1 \mid 2^{2^s} - 1, and (22s−1,22s+1)=(22s−1,2)=1(2^{2^s} - 1, 2^{2^s} + 1) = (2^{2^s} - 1, 2) = 1, so that (22r+1,22s+1)=1(2^{2^r} + 1, 2^{2^s} + 1) = 1. Now, by the Chinese remainder theorem, there exists m∈Z+m \in \mathbb{Z}^+ such that 3∣m3 \mid m and
m≡9⋅22j−1(mod22j+1) m \equiv 9 \cdot 2^{2^{j-1}} \pmod{2^{2^j} + 1}
for j=1,2,…,k−1j = 1, 2, \dots, k - 1. For this mm, we have 3∣m2+813 \mid m^2 + 81 and
m2+81≡81(22j+1)≡0(mod22j+1). m^2 + 81 \equiv 81(2^{2^j} + 1) \equiv 0 \pmod{2^{2^j} + 1}.
Hence, 22k−1∣m2+812^{2^k} - 1 \mid m^2 + 81 as desired.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,604 problems in a working order, from Junior Challenge level to the IMO shortlist.

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