Prove that there exist infinitely many pairs of positive integers such that divides .
Solution
We shall find a pair such that is prime and is even. Applying Wilson's theorem we have
It follows from Fermat's Little Theorem that , therefore
thus it suffices to prove that the number has a prime divisor for infinitely many even .
We prove that this condition is satisfied, for instance, by all the numbers of the form , where is prime. Let . For a prime and integer we denote by the largest integer such that divides .
If , therefore has a prime divisor , q.e.d.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.