Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Find the answer Italy

Problem:

For exactly four integer values of nn between 1 and 10, endpoints included, the expression n9+3n+1n6+33nn^{9}+3^{n+1} n^{6}+3^{3 n} represents a prime number. What is the sum of these four values of nn?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (B)\mathbf{( B )}. If n=3kn=3 k with kk an integer, clearly n9+3n+1n6+33nn^{9}+3^{n+1} n^{6}+3^{3 n} is divisible by 33 and therefore for n=3,6,9n=3,6,9 the expression does not represent a prime number.

Suppose instead that n=3k+1n=3 k+1 with kk an integer. Then
n9+3n+1n6+33n=(3k+1)9+33k+2(3k+1)6+39k+3 n^{9}+3^{n+1} n^{6}+3^{3 n}=(3 k+1)^{9}+3^{3 k+2}(3 k+1)^{6}+3^{9 k+3}
This expression is of the form a3+3a2b+b3a^{3}+3 a^{2} b+b^{3}, with a=(3k+1)3a=(3 k+1)^{3} and b=33k+1b=3^{3 k+1}. We can complete the cube, obtaining
a3+3a2b+b3=a3+3a2b+3ab2+b33b2a=(a+b)33b2a a^{3}+3 a^{2} b+b^{3}=a^{3}+3 a^{2} b+3 a b^{2}+b^{3}-3 b^{2} a=(a+b)^{3}-3 b^{2} a
and from the definition of aa and bb it follows that 3b2a=(32k+1(3k+1))33 b^{2} a=\left(3^{2 k+1}(3 k+1)\right)^{3}. Recalling now that in general x3y3=(xy)(x2+yx+y2)x^{3}-y^{3}=(x-y)\left(x^{2}+y x+y^{2}\right), one obtains that
(a+b)33b2a=(a+b32k+1(3k+1))((a+b)2+32k+1(3k+1)(a+b)+34k+2(3k+1)2). (a+b)^{3}-3 b^{2} a=\left(a+b-3^{2 k+1}(3 k+1)\right)\left((a+b)^{2}+3^{2 k+1}(3 k+1)(a+b)+3^{4 k+2}(3 k+1)^{2}\right) .
One easily verifies that for k=1,2,3k=1,2,3 both factors are strictly greater than 1 and thus for n=4,7,10n=4,7,10 the expression n9+3n+1n6+33nn^{9}+3^{n+1} n^{6}+3^{3 n} does not represent a prime number. By exclusion, with n=1,2,5,8n=1,2,5,8 one obtains four prime numbers. The answer is therefore 1+2+5+8=161+2+5+8= 16.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.