Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

3. Let p0=1+2n+3n+4np_{0}=1+2^{n}+3^{n}+4^{n}, find all positive integers nn such that the sum is divisible by 5.

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Solution

 3. Let 22(mod5),224(mod5)233(mod5),241(mod5), then 2D2n+4(mod5) .  \begin{array}{l} \text { 3. Let } 2 \equiv 2(\bmod 5), 2^{2} \equiv 4(\bmod 5) \text {, } \\ 2^{3} \equiv 3(\bmod 5), 2^{4} \equiv 1(\bmod 5), \\ \text { then } 2^{\mathrm{D}} \equiv 2^{\mathrm{n}+4}(\bmod 5) \text { . } \\ \end{array}

Similarly, 3n3n+4(mod5)3^{\mathrm{n}} \equiv 3^{\mathrm{n}+4}(\bmod 5),
4n4n+4(mod5) 4^{n} \equiv 4^{n+4}(\bmod 5) \text {. }

Therefore, papn+4(mod5)p_{\mathrm{a}} \equiv p_{n+{ }_{4}}(\bmod 5).
Also, p10(mod5),p20(mod5)p_{1} \equiv 0(\bmod 5), p_{2} \equiv 0(\bmod 5),
p30(mod5),p44(mod5), p_{3} \equiv 0(\bmod 5), p_{4} \equiv 4(\bmod 5),

Thus, except for multiples of 4, for all nn, p00(mod5)p_{0} \equiv 0(\bmod 5), which means the answer is all positive integers that are not multiples of 4.

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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.