How many prime numbers can be expressed in the form , with a positive integer?
Italian Mathematical Olympiad
Pick one
Solution
The answer is (B). Let us consider the case in which is odd. Then any power of it is odd, and the following number is even. The only even prime number is , and it is possible to obtain it only in the case . Let us now consider the case in which is even. In this case is odd, and it is therefore possible to carry out the factorization . If is an even number different from , is a number greater than and a number greater than , hence is not a prime number.
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