Number theoryDifficulty 5.7AIME, harderProve itAustria
Determine all pairs of positive integers (n,k) for which n!+n=nk holds.
Solution
Answer. The only solutions are (2,2), (3,2) and (5,3).
Because of n!+n>n, we immediately get k≥2. We divide both sides of the equation by n and get (n−1)!+1=nk−1. Now, we distinguish two cases:
* n is not a prime. Since n is clearly not 1, we can write n as n=ab for integers a,b with 1<a,b<n which implies 1<a≤n−1 and therefore a∣(n−1)!. We conclude that a>1 is relatively prime to the left-hand side (n−1)!+1, but a divides the right-hand side nk−1. This is not possible, so there are no solutions in this case.
* n is a prime. We check n=2,3,5 and find the solutions (2,2), (3,2) and (5,3). From now on, let n≥7. We get (n−1)!⟹(n−1)!⟹(n−2)!=nk−1−1=(1+n+n2+⋯+nk−2)(n−1)=1+n+n2+⋯+nk−2 Since n is prime and bigger than 3, the number n−1 is even and not a prime. Furthermore, n−1 is not the square of a prime since 4 is the only even square of a prime and n−1≥6. Therefore, we get n−1=ab with 1<a,b≤n−1 and a=b. We obtain that (n−2)! contains the separate factors a and b and is therefore divisible by ab=n−1 which implies (n−2)!≡0mod(n−1). Furthermore, n≡1mod(n−1), and therefore 0≡1+1+12+⋯+1k−2≡k−1mod(n−1). We conclude that n−1 divides k−1 and we write k−1=l(n−1) for a positive integer l. The case k=1 and l=0 has already been treated. Therefore, we get k−1≥n−1. However, (n−1)!=1⋅2⋅3⋯(n−1)<n−1 times(n−1)⋅(n−1)⋯(n−1)=(n−1)n−1, and therefore nk−1=(n−1)!+1≤(n−1)n−1<nn−1≤nk−1, giving a contradiction. So there are no further solutions.
(Michael Reitmeir) □
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