Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Determine all triples (p,m,n)(p, m, n) of positive integers such that pp is prime and
2mp2+1=n5 2^m p^2 + 1 = n^5

Solution

If we write down the given equation in the form 2mp2=n512^m p^2 = n^5 - 1 and factorise the right-hand side, we get
2mp2=(n1)(n4+n3+n2+n+1). 2^m p^2 = (n-1)(n^4 + n^3 + n^2 + n + 1).
Factor n4+n3+n2+n+1n^4 + n^3 + n^2 + n + 1 is odd, so n1n-1 is divisible by 2m2^m.
We immediately see that pp is odd.
On the other hand, since nn is positive, we clearly have n4+n3+n2+n+1>n1n^4 + n^3 + n^2 + n + 1 > n - 1. Hence pp cannot divide n1n-1, because otherwise n1n-1 would be at least 2mp2^m p, and n4+n3+n2+n+1n^4 + n^3 + n^2 + n + 1 would be at most pp, which is less than 2mp2^m p. Hence, we have
2m+1=n,p2=n4+n3+n2+n+1. 2^m + 1 = n, \quad p^2 = n^4 + n^3 + n^2 + n + 1.

n4+n3+n2+n=p21, n^4 + n^3 + n^2 + n = p^2 - 1,
n(n+1)(n2+1)=(p1)(p+1). n(n + 1)(n^2 + 1) = (p - 1)(p + 1).
By plugging n=2m+1n = 2^m + 1 into the last equation we get
(2m+1)(2m+2)(22m+2m+1+2)=(p1)(p+1), (2^m + 1)(2^m + 2)(2^{2m} + 2^{m+1} + 2) = (p - 1)(p + 1),
which leads us to
4(2m1+1)(2m+1)(22m1+2m+1)=(p1)(p+1). 4(2^{m-1} + 1)(2^m + 1)(2^{2m-1} + 2^m + 1) = (p - 1)(p + 1).
Since pp is odd, the right-hand side is the product of two consecutive even numbers, so it is divisible by 8. The left-hand side is not divisible by 8, unless m=1m = 1.
It follows that the only solution is (p,m,n)=(11,1,3)(p, m, n) = (11, 1, 3).

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