Problem:
Determine all natural numbers () which have the following property: if are all natural numbers less than and relatively prime to , and the ordering holds, then none of the sums for is divisible by 3.
Problem:
Determine all natural numbers () which have the following property: if are all natural numbers less than and relatively prime to , and the ordering holds, then none of the sums for is divisible by 3.
Solution:
For the condition of the problem is satisfied only for . Let . Notice that the sequence is symmetric with respect to . Thus . If , then and . On the other hand, if , choose such that : then . Further, and , so . From this we also get and .
If , then . Only the case remains.
Further, if , then . Therefore we may assume that for . By induction we find
Since , it follows that , and since we also have . From this we obtain and , i.e. .
Now we have , but the numbers and 26 are not relatively prime to , and by the number 23 also cannot occur in the sequence . Thus 21 and 27 are neighbors in the sequence , but , a contradiction.
Therefore, the only solutions are 2, 4 and 10.