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Number theory Difficulty 6.0 National olympiad Prove it

Prove that there are infinitely many positive integer numbers nn such that 22n+1+12^{2^{n}+1}+1 is divisible by nn, but 2n+12^{n}+1 is not.

Solution

Throughout the solution nn stands for a positive integer. By Euler's theorem, (23n+1)(23n1)=223n10(mod3n+1)\left(2^{3^{n}}+1\right)\left(2^{3^{n}}-1\right)=2^{2 \cdot 3^{n}}-1 \equiv 0\left(\bmod 3^{n+1}\right). Since 23n11(mod3)2^{3^{n}}-1 \equiv 1(\bmod 3), it follows that 23n+12^{3^{n}}+1 is divisible by 3n+13^{n+1}.

The number (23n+1+1)/(23n+1)=223n23n+1\left(2^{3^{n+1}}+1\right) /\left(2^{3^{n}}+1\right)=2^{2 \cdot 3^{n}}-2^{3^{n}}+1 is greater than 3 and congruent to 3 modulo 9, so it has a prime factor pn>3p_{n}>3 that does not divide 23n+12^{3^{n}}+1 (otherwise, 23n12^{3^{n}} \equiv-1 (mod pn)\left.p_{n}\right), so 223n23n+13(modpn)2^{2 \cdot 3^{n}}-2^{3^{n}}+1 \equiv 3\left(\bmod p_{n}\right), contradicting the fact that pnp_{n} is a factor greater than 3 of 223n23n+12^{2 \cdot 3^{n}}-2^{3^{n}}+1).

We now show that an=3npna_{n}=3^{n} p_{n} satisfies the conditions in the statement. Since 2an+12^{a_{n}}+1 \equiv 23n+1≢0(modpn)2^{3^{n}}+1 \not \equiv 0\left(\bmod p_{n}\right), it follows that ana_{n} does not divide 2an+12^{a_{n}}+1.

On the other hand, 3n+13^{n+1} divides 23n+12^{3^{n}}+1 which in turn divides 2an+12^{a_{n}}+1, so 23n+1+12^{3^{n+1}}+1 divides 22an+1+12^{2^{a_{n}}+1}+1. Finally, both 3n3^{n} and pnp_{n} divide 23n+1+12^{3^{n+1}}+1, so ana_{n} divides 22an+1+12^{2^{a_{n}}+1}+1.

As nn runs through the positive integers, the ana_{n} are clearly pairwise distinct and the conclusion follows.

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Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.