Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 6.4 National Olympiad Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Find all prime numbers pp such that
(x+y)19x19y19 (x+y)^{19}-x^{19}-y^{19}
is a multiple of pp for any positive integers x,yx, y.

Solution

Solution:
If x=y=1x = y = 1 then pp divides
2192=2(2181)=2(291)(29+1)=2511513=23371973 2^{19} - 2 = 2\left(2^{18} - 1\right) = 2\left(2^{9} - 1\right)\left(2^{9} + 1\right) = 2 \cdot 511 \cdot 513 = 2 \cdot 3^{3} \cdot 7 \cdot 19 \cdot 73
If x=2x = 2, y=1y = 1 then
p3192191 p \mid 3^{19} - 2^{19} - 1
We will show that 31921913^{19} - 2^{19} - 1 is not a multiple of 7373. Indeed,
31933(34)4338433(9)2278127870(mod73) 3^{19} \equiv 3^{3} \cdot (3^{4})^{4} \equiv 3^{3} \cdot 8^{4} \equiv 3^{3} \cdot (-9)^{2} \equiv 27 \cdot 81 \equiv 27 \cdot 8 \equiv 70 \pmod{73}
and
21926432(9)318811881442(mod73) 2^{19} \equiv 2 \cdot 64^{3} \equiv 2 \cdot (-9)^{3} \equiv -18 \cdot 81 \equiv -18 \cdot 8 \equiv -144 \equiv 2 \pmod{73}
Thus pp can be only among 2,3,7,192, 3, 7, 19. We will prove all these work.

- For p=19p = 19 this follows by Fermat's Theorem as
(x+y)19x+y(mod19),x19x(mod19),y19y(mod19) (x+y)^{19} \equiv x + y \pmod{19}, \quad x^{19} \equiv x \pmod{19}, \quad y^{19} \equiv y \pmod{19}

- For p=7p = 7, we have that
a19a(mod7) a^{19} \equiv a \pmod{7}
for every integer aa. Indeed, if 7a7 \mid a, it is trivial, while if 7a7 \nmid a, then by Fermat's Theorem we have
7a61    7a181 7 \mid a^{6} - 1 \implies 7 \mid a^{18} - 1
therefore
7a(a181) 7 \mid a(a^{18} - 1)

- For p=3p = 3, we will prove that
b19b(mod3) b^{19} \equiv b \pmod{3}
Indeed, if 3b3 \mid b, it is trivial, while if 3b3 \nmid b, then by Fermat's Theorem we have
3b21    3b181 3 \mid b^{2} - 1 \implies 3 \mid b^{18} - 1
therefore
3b(b181) 3 \mid b(b^{18} - 1)

- For p=2p = 2 it is true, since among x+yx + y, xx and yy there are 00 or 22 odd numbers.

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