Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2013

Number theory Difficulty 7.9 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Slovenia

Let mm and nn be coprime natural numbers of different parity. Prove that the numbers 22m+2m+1+12^{2m} + 2^{m+1} + 1 and 22n+2n+1+12^{2n} + 2^{n+1} + 1 are coprime as well.

Solution

Denote a=22n+2n+1+1a = 2^{2n} + 2^{n+1} + 1 and b=22m+2m+1+1b = 2^{2m} + 2^{m+1} + 1. We notice that a=(2n+1)2a = (2^n + 1)^2 and b=(2m+1)2b = (2^m + 1)^2. Because we have (22n1)2=(2n+1)2(2n1)2=a(2n1)2(2^{2n} - 1)^2 = (2^n + 1)^2(2^n - 1)^2 = a(2^n - 1)^2 and (22m1)2=b(2m1)2(2^{2m} - 1)^2 = b(2^m - 1)^2, the greatest common divisor D(a,b)D(a,b) divides D((22n1)2,(22m1)2)D((2^{2n} - 1)^2, (2^{2m} - 1)^2). We also know that
D((22n1)2,(22m1)2)=D(22n1,22m1)2=(2D(2m,2n)1)2. D((2^{2n} - 1)^2, (2^{2m} - 1)^2) = D(2^{2n} - 1, 2^{2m} - 1)^2 = (2^{D(2m,2n)} - 1)^2.
This equals (221)2=9(2^2 - 1)^2 = 9 because numbers mm and nn are coprime. The greatest common divisor D(a,b)D(a,b) can thus only be 1, 3 or 9.
But one of the numbers nn and mm must be even since they are of different parity. Suppose this is nn. We then have 2n1(mod3)2^n \equiv 1 \pmod 3 and hence a=(2n+1)2(1+1)21(mod3)a = (2^n+1)^2 \equiv (1+1)^2 \equiv 1 \pmod 3. This is to say, number aa is not divisible by 3, it is coprime to 3. The greatest common divisor D(a,b)D(a,b) of the numbers aa and bb must thus be 1, which means that aa and bb are coprime.

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