Problem:
Let be a prime and let be a quadratic polynomial with integer coefficients such that . Suppose is divisible by whenever is a positive integer. Find all possible values of .
Solution
Solution:
First substitute , to get so . Therefore .
Next substitute , to get . Since , this gives us .
Finally substitute , to get (mod ). Thus (mod ), and since , we get .
Adding and subtracting and we get
Now there are two cases: either or is odd.
Case 1
means that either or , i.e. the only two possibilities for are and . So the only candidate polynomials are
Now we check that these work. If which is always even because both 2 and are even for all integers . If which is always even because it has a factor of 2.
Case 2 is an odd prime:
Since , so . Also note that by subtracting from , so by a similar argument, . Thus,
Combining the two cases, for all and when are the only possible values of .
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