Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 3.8 AMC 10/12 Find the answer Italy

How many prime numbers can be expressed in the form nn+1+1n^{n+1}+1, with nn a positive integer?

Pick one

Solution

The answer is (B). Let us consider the case in which nn is odd. Then any power of it is odd, and the following number is even. The only even prime number is 22, and it is possible to obtain it only in the case n=1n=1. Let us now consider the case in which nn is even. In this case n+1n+1 is odd, and it is therefore possible to carry out the factorization nn+1+1=(n+1)Q(n)n^{n+1}+1=(n+1) \cdot Q(n). If nn is an even number different from 00, n+1n+1 is a number greater than 22 and Q(n)Q(n) a number greater than 11, hence nn+1+1n^{n+1}+1 is not a prime number.

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