Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / Singapur /12 of 23

Singapur, 2015

Number theory Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Singapore

Find all positive integers kk such that kk+1k^k + 1 is divisible by 3030. Justify your answer.

Solution

An integer is divisible by 3030 iff it is divisible by 22, 33 and 55.

Note that 2∣kk+12 \mid k^k + 1 iff kk is odd. Thus we may assume that kk is odd. Write k=2t+1k = 2t + 1.

If k≡0k \equiv 0 or 1(mod3)1 \pmod{3}, then 3∤kk+13 \nmid k^k + 1. If k≡2≡−1(mod3)k \equiv 2 \equiv -1 \pmod{3}, then 3∣kk+13 \mid k^k + 1 iff kk is odd, i.e. iff k=6t+5k = 6t + 5.

If k≡0k \equiv 0 or 1(mod5)1 \pmod{5}, 5∤kk+15 \nmid k^k + 1.
If k≡2k \equiv 2 or 3(mod5)3 \pmod{5}, then k≡±2(mod5)k \equiv \pm 2 \pmod{5}. Therefore
kk+1≡(±2)k+1≡(±2)2t+1+1≡(±2)4t+1≡(±2)(−1)t+1≢0(mod5). k^k + 1 \equiv (\pm 2)^k + 1 \equiv (\pm 2)^{2t+1} + 1 \equiv (\pm 2)4^t + 1 \\ \equiv (\pm 2)(-1)^t + 1 \not\equiv 0 \pmod{5}.
If k≡4≡−1(mod5)k \equiv 4 \equiv -1 \pmod{5}, then 5∣kk+15 \mid k^k + 1 iff kk is odd.

Thus 30∣kk+130 \mid k^k + 1 iff kk is odd and k≡5(mod6)k \equiv 5 \pmod{6} and k≡9(mod10)k \equiv 9 \pmod{10}.

Thus k=30n+29k = 30n + 29, n=0,1,2,…n = 0, 1, 2, \ldots

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