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Number theory Difficulty 6.6 National olympiad Find the answer

Find, with proof, all positive integers nn for which 2n+12n+2011n2^n + 12^n + 2011^n is a perfect square.

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

Solution

The answer is n=1n=1 , which is easily verified to be a valid integer nn .
Notice that 2n+12n+2011n2n+7n(mod12).2^n+12^n+2011^n\equiv 2^n+7^n \pmod{12}. Then for n2n\geq 2 , we have 2n+7n3,5(mod12)2^n+7^n\equiv 3,5 \pmod{12} depending on the parity of nn . But perfect squares can only be 0,1,4,9(mod12)0,1,4,9\pmod{12} , contradiction. Therefore, we are done. \blacksquare

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