Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Find all positive integers nn such that nn+1n^n + 1 is divisible by n+1n+1.

Solution

For odd integer nn it is enough to decompose:
nn+1=(n+1)(nn1nn2+nn3+1). n^n + 1 = (n+1)(n^{n-1} - n^{n-2} + n^{n-3} - \dots + 1).
Let's assume that there exists an even number n=2kn = 2k such that K=(2k)2k+1K = (2k)^{2k} + 1 is divisible by 2k+12k + 1. Then 2k+12k + 1 is also a divisor of 2kK=(2k)2k+1+2k=((2k)2k+1+1)+(2k1)2kK = (2k)^{2k+1} + 2k = ((2k)^{2k+1} + 1) + (2k-1). Since (2k)2k+1+1=(2k+1)((2k)2k(2k)2k1+(2k)2k2+1)(2k)^{2k+1} + 1 = (2k+1)((2k)^{2k} - (2k)^{2k-1} + (2k)^{2k-2} - \dots + 1), then 2k12k-1 must also be divisible by 2k+12k+1. This is impossible and therefore no even number nn satisfies the condition.

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