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Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all integers n2n \geq 2 for which 3n+4n+5n+8n+10nn\sqrt[n]{3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}} is an integer.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

We have 33+43+53+83+103=1233^{3}+4^{3}+5^{3}+8^{3}+10^{3}=12^{3}, that is n=3n=3 satisfies the property. We shall prove that this is the unique solution. Consider the function h:[2,)Rh:[2, \infty) \rightarrow \mathbb{R},
h(x)=(312)x+(412)x+(512)x+(812)x+(1012)x h(x)=\left(\frac{3}{12}\right)^{x}+\left(\frac{4}{12}\right)^{x}+\left(\frac{5}{12}\right)^{x}+\left(\frac{8}{12}\right)^{x}+\left(\frac{10}{12}\right)^{x}
which is a strictly decreasing function with h(3)=1h(3)=1. It follows that for n>3n>3, we have h(n)<h(3)=1h(n)<h(3)=1. That is
3n+4n+5n+8n+10nn<12 \sqrt[n]{3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}}<12
On the other hand, it is clear that
10<3n+4n+5n+8n+10nn 10<\sqrt[n]{3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}}
hence if 3n+4n+5n+8n+10nn\sqrt[n]{3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}} is an integer, then it must be 11. We get 3n+4n+5n+8n+10n=11n3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}=11^{n}, relation which is not possible since the left hand side is an even number.

Solution 2

Assume that
3n+4n+5n+8n+10nn=k \sqrt[n]{3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}}=k
for some positive integer kk, that is 3n+4n+5n+8n+10n=kn3^{n}+4^{n}+5^{n}+8^{n}+10^{n}=k^{n}. Since the left hand side is an even number, it follows that 2kn2 \mid k^{n}, hence 2nkn2^{n} \mid k^{n}. We obtain 2n3n+5n2^{n} \mid 3^{n}+5^{n}.
On the other hand, we have
3n+5n(1)n+1(mod4)2(mod4) 3^{n}+5^{n} \equiv (-1)^{n}+1 \quad (\bmod 4) \equiv 2 \quad (\bmod 4)
if nn is even, hence there are no even integers satisfying the property.
If nn is odd, then we have
3n+5n=(3+5)(3n13n25++5n1)=23a 3^{n}+5^{n}=(3+5)\left(3^{n-1}-3^{n-2} \cdot 5+\ldots+5^{n-1}\right)=2^{3} \cdot a
where aa is an odd number. It follows n3n \geq 3, and we get the unique solution n=3n=3.

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