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Number theory Difficulty 6.8 National olympiad Prove it

13. Let nn be an odd number greater than 1. Prove: for any mNm \in \mathbf{N}^{*}, we have
n(mn1+1)n \nmid\left(m^{n-1}+1\right) \text {. }

Solution

13. If nn is a prime, then when nmn \mid m, it is obvious that n(mn1+1)n \nmid\left(m^{n-1}+1\right); if nmn \nmid m, then by Fermat's Little Theorem, we know n(mn11)n \mid\left(m^{n-1}-1\right); if n(mn1+1)n \mid\left(m^{n-1}+1\right), then it requires n2n \mid 2, which contradicts nn being an odd number greater than 1.

If nn is a composite number, and there exists mNm \in \mathbf{N}^{*}, such that n(mn1+1)n \mid\left(m^{n-1}+1\right). We set 2t(n1)2^{t} \|(n-1), then
(mk)2t1(modn)\left(m^{k}\right)^{2^{t}} \equiv-1(\bmod n)

where k=n12tNk=\frac{n-1}{2^{t}} \in \mathbf{N}^{*}. For any prime factor pp of nn, by (1) we know (mk)2t1(modp)\left(m^{k}\right)^{2^{t}} \equiv-1(\bmod p), and by Fermat's Little Theorem, we know (mk)p11(modp)\left(m^{k}\right)^{p-1} \equiv 1(\bmod p), so the power of 2 in the prime factorization of δp(mk)\delta_{p}\left(m^{k}\right) is t+1\geqslant t+1, and 2t+1(p1)2^{t+1} \mid(p-1). Since pp is any prime factor of nn, this requires n1(mod2t+1)n \equiv 1\left(\bmod 2^{t+1}\right), which contradicts the definition of tt.

Therefore, the proposition holds.

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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.