Number theoryDifficulty 8.3ShortlistFind the answer
Find all integers n≥2 for which there exists an integer m and a polynomial P(x) with integer coefficients satisfying the following three conditions: [list] [*]m>1 and gcd(m,n)=1; [*]the numbers P(0), P2(0), …, Pm−1(0) are not divisible by n; and [*]Pm(0) is divisible by n. [/list] Here Pk means P applied k times, so P1(0)=P(0), P2(0)=P(P(0)), etc.
Carl Schildkraut
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Solution
We need to find all integers n≥2 for which there exists an integer m and a polynomial P(x) with integer coefficients satisfying the following conditions: 1. m>1 and gcd(m,n)=1; 2. The numbers P(0),P2(0),…,Pm−1(0) are not divisible by n; 3. Pm(0) is divisible by n.
### Part A: Necessity
We start by proving a critical lemma about cycles modulo pt.
Lemma: Consider the mapping from Z/ptZ to itself defined by x↦P(x). Then the length of each cycle in this mapping must be p-smooth (i.e., each prime factor does not exceed p).
Proof: We use induction on t. The base case t=1 is obvious as the length of each cycle is 1,2,…,p. Assume this is true for t−1. Consider a cycle a→P(a)→P(P(a))→⋯→P(n)(a)=a and let m be the smallest integer such that pt−1∣P(m)(a)−a (i.e., the length of the cycle viewed modulo pt−1). Clearly, m∣n and m is p-smooth. Let T(x)=P(m)(x). Then T(a),T(T(a)),… must be congruent to a(modpt−1). There are p such residues that are congruent to a(modpt−1), so m/n∈{1,2,…,p}, which implies the claim. ■
Now, order all primes p1<p2<⋯ in increasing order and suppose that n=p1a1p2a2⋯pkak works where a1,a2,…,ak>0. Since m>1, there exists an index i such that the length ℓ of the cycle of P modulo piai that contains 0 is >1. However, by the lemma, ℓ must be pi-smooth, which is forced to be not coprime to n, a contradiction.
### Part B: Sufficiency
Let p be the largest prime divisor of n and t=νp(n). Due to the condition on n, there exists a prime q<p that does not divide n. Take m=q. First, we construct this polynomial modulo pt.
Claim: There exists a polynomial Q∈Z[x] such that the length of the cycle containing 0 modulo pt is exactly q.
Proof: Take any integers x1,x2,…,xq−1 of your choice such that they are distinct modulo p. Set x0=xq=0. Take the Lagrange Interpolation polynomial Q(x)=i=0∑q−1xi+1j=ij∈{0,1,…,q−1}∏xi−xjx−xj(modpt) so that Q(xi)=xi+1 for all i=0,1,2,…,q−1. Fractions are acceptable since the denominators are not divisible by p, so we use inverses modulo pt. ■
Take Q from above and let Q(x)=∑i=0daixi. We construct bi such that bibi≡0(modptn),≡ai(modpt), and let P(x)=∑i=0dbixi. It's clear that modulo ptn, P maps 0 to itself, while modulo pt, it takes q applications of P to get back to 0. Hence m=q works and we are done.
Thus, the answer is: n works if and only if the set of prime divisors of n is not the set of the first k primes for some k.
The answer is: n works if and only if the set of prime divisors of n is not the set of the first k primes for some k.
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