Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /169 of 520

Number theory Difficulty 6.1 National olympiad Find the answer

Let cc be a positive integer. The sequence a1,a2,,an,a_{1}, a_{2}, \ldots, a_{n}, \ldots is defined by a1=ca_{1}=c, and an+1=an2+an+c3a_{n+1}=a_{n}^{2}+a_{n}+c^{3}, for every positive integer nn. Find all values of cc for which there exist some integers k1k \geq 1 and m2m \geq 2, such that ak2+c3a_{k}^{2}+c^{3} is the mth m^{\text {th }} power of some positive integer.

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

First, notice:

an+12+c3=(an2+an+c3)2+c3=(an2+c3)(an2+2an+1+c3) a_{n+1}^{2}+c^{3}=\left(a_{n}^{2}+a_{n}+c^{3}\right)^{2}+c^{3}=\left(a_{n}^{2}+c^{3}\right)\left(a_{n}^{2}+2 a_{n}+1+c^{3}\right)

We first prove that an2+c3a_{n}^{2}+c^{3} and an2+2an+1+c3a_{n}^{2}+2 a_{n}+1+c^{3} are coprime.
We prove by induction that 4c3+14 c^{3}+1 is coprime with 2an+12 a_{n}+1, for every n1n \geq 1.
Let n=1n=1 and pp be a prime divisor of 4c3+14 c^{3}+1 and 2a1+1=2c+12 a_{1}+1=2 c+1. Then pp divides 2(4c3+1)=(2c+1)(4c22c+1)+12\left(4 c^{3}+1\right)=(2 c+1)\left(4 c^{2}-2 c+1\right)+1, hence pp divides 1, a contradiction. Assume now that (4c3+1,2an+1)=1\left(4 c^{3}+1,2 a_{n}+1\right)=1 for some n1n \geq 1 and the prime pp divides 4c3+14 c^{3}+1 and 2an+1+12 a_{n+1}+1. Then pp divides 4an+1+2=(2an+1)2+4c3+14 a_{n+1}+2=\left(2 a_{n}+1\right)^{2}+4 c^{3}+1, which gives a contradiction.

Assume that for some n1n \geq 1 the number

an+12+c3=(an2+an+c3)2+c3=(an2+c3)(an2+2an+1+c3) a_{n+1}^{2}+c^{3}=\left(a_{n}^{2}+a_{n}+c^{3}\right)^{2}+c^{3}=\left(a_{n}^{2}+c^{3}\right)\left(a_{n}^{2}+2 a_{n}+1+c^{3}\right)

is a power. Since an2+c3a_{n}^{2}+c^{3} and an2+2an+1+c3a_{n}^{2}+2 a_{n}+1+c^{3} are coprime, then an2+c3a_{n}^{2}+c^{3} is a power as well.
The same argument can be further applied giving that a12+c3=c2+c3=c2(c+1)a_{1}^{2}+c^{3}=c^{2}+c^{3}=c^{2}(c+1) is a power.
If a2(a+1)=tma^{2}(a+1)=t^{m} with odd m3m \geq 3, then a=t1ma=t_{1}^{m} and a+1=t2ma+1=t_{2}^{m}, which is impossible. If a2(a+1)=t2m1a^{2}(a+1)=t^{2 m_{1}} with m12m_{1} \geq 2, then a=t1m1a=t_{1}^{m_{1}} and a+1=t2m1a+1=t_{2}^{m_{1}}, which is impossible.

Therefore a2(a+1)=t2a^{2}(a+1)=t^{2} whence we obtain the solutions a=s21,s2,sNa=s^{2}-1, s \geq 2, s \in \mathbb{N}.

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.

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