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Number theory Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Find the answer

Let C(k)C(k) denotes the sum of all different prime divisors of a positive integer kk. For example, C(1)=0C(1)=0, C(2)=2,C(45)=8C(2)=2, C(45)=8. Find all positive integers nn such that C(2n+1)=C(n)C(2^{n}+1)=C(n)

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Solution

Let P(t)P(t) be the largest prime divisor of a positive integer t>1t>1. Let mm be the largest odd divisor of n:n=2kmn: n=2^{k} m. Then 2n+1=22km+1=am+12^{n}+1=2^{2^{k} m}+1=a^{m}+1, where a=22ka=2^{2^{k}}. If k>0k>0, that is, nn is even, then C(n)=C(m)+2C(n)=C(m)+2 and C(2n+1)=C(am+1)C(2^{n}+1)=C(a^{m}+1). We need the following two lemmas. Lemma 1. For every prime p>2p>2 we have P(ap+1a+1)=pP(\frac{a^{p}+1}{a+1})=p or P(ap+1a+1)2p+1P(\frac{a^{p}+1}{a+1}) \geqslant 2 p+1. Proof. Let P(ap+1a+1)=qP(\frac{a^{p}+1}{a+1})=q. It follows from Fermat's little theorem that qq divides 2q112^{q-1}-1 and therefore (a2p1,aq11)=a(2p,q1)1(a^{2 p}-1, a^{q-1}-1)=a^{(2 p, q-1)}-1. The greatest common divisor (2p,q1)(2 p, q-1) is even and must equal 2p2 p or 2. In the first case 2p2 p divides q1q-1, whence q2p+1q \geqslant 2 p+1. In the second case qq divides a21a^{2}-1 but not a1a-1 (because ap+1a^{p}+1 is divisible by qq), that is, a1(modq)a \equiv-1 \pmod{q}. Then ap+1a+1=ap1+1p(modq)\frac{a^{p}+1}{a+1}=a^{p-1}-\ldots+1 \equiv p \pmod{q} and p=qp=q. Lemma 2. If p1p_{1} and p2p_{2} are different odd primes then P(ap1+1a+1)P(ap2+1a+1)P(\frac{a^{p_{1}}+1}{a+1}) \neq P(\frac{a^{p_{2}}+1}{a+1}). Proof. If P(ap1+1a+1)=P(ap2+1a+1)=qP(\frac{a^{p_{1}}+1}{a+1})=P(\frac{a^{p_{2}}+1}{a+1})=q then qq divides a2p11a^{2 p_{1}}-1 and a2p21a^{2 p_{2}}-1, therefore (a2p11,a2p21)=a(2p1,2p2)1=a21(a^{2 p_{1}}-1, a^{2 p_{2}}-1)=a^{(2 p_{1}, 2 p_{2})}-1=a^{2}-1 and hence a+1a+1, but then p1=qp_{1}=q and p2=qp_{2}=q, a contradiction. We are ready now to solve the problem. Let p1,,psp_{1}, \ldots, p_{s} be all the prime divisors of nn. It follows from Lemma 2 that C(2n+1)P(ap1+1a+1)++P(aps+1a+1)C(2^{n}+1) \geqslant P(\frac{a^{p_{1}}+1}{a+1})+\ldots+P(\frac{a^{p_{s}}+1}{a+1}) If C(2n+1)>P(ap1+1a+1)++P(aps+1a+1)C(2^{n}+1)>P(\frac{a^{p_{1}}+1}{a+1})+\ldots+P(\frac{a^{p_{s}}+1}{a+1}), then 2n+12^{n}+1 has at least one prime divisor not summed in the L.H.S., that is, C(2n+1)P(ap1+1a+1)++P(aps+1a+1)+3p1++ps+3>C(n)C(2^{n}+1) \geqslant P(\frac{a^{p_{1}}+1}{a+1})+\ldots+P(\frac{a^{p_{s}}+1}{a+1})+3 \geqslant p_{1}+\ldots+p_{s}+3>C(n) Therefore we can assume the equality: C(2n+1)=P(ap1+1a+1)++P(aps+1a+1)C(2^{n}+1)=P(\frac{a^{p_{1}}+1}{a+1})+\ldots+P(\frac{a^{p_{s}}+1}{a+1}) If in this case there is an ii such that P(api+1a+1)piP(\frac{a^{p_{i}}+1}{a+1}) \neq p_{i}, then C(2n+1)p1++ps+pi+1>C(n)C(2^{n}+1) \geqslant p_{1}+\ldots+p_{s}+p_{i}+1>C(n). It remains to consider the case when P(api+1a+1)=piP(\frac{a^{p_{i}}+1}{a+1})=p_{i} for all ii. In this case we have C(n)=C(2n+1)=p1++psC(n)=C(2^{n}+1)=p_{1}+\ldots+p_{s}, so nn must be odd and a=2a=2. But 2p2(modp)2^{p} \equiv 2 \pmod{p} for all odd prime pp, therefore p>3p>3 cannot divide 2p+12^{p}+1. Thus s=1,p=3,n=3rs=1, p=3, n=3^{r} with some positive integral rr. The number 2n+1=23r+12^{n}+1=2^{3^{r}}+1 must be a power of 3. However 19 divides this number for r=2r=2 and consequently for all r2r \geqslant 2. Thus the only remaining case is n=3n=3, which obviously satisfies the condition.

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