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Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

Find all integers nn, n1n \ge 1, such that n2n+1+1n \cdot 2^{n+1}+1 is a perfect square.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Let n n be an integer such that n1 n \geq 1 , and we want to find all values of n n for which n2n+1+1 n \cdot 2^{n+1} + 1 is a perfect square. We set:

n2n+1+1=k2 n \cdot 2^{n+1} + 1 = k^2

for some integer k k . Rearranging gives:

n2n+1=k21 n \cdot 2^{n+1} = k^2 - 1

which can be factored as:

(k1)(k+1)=n2n+1 (k - 1)(k + 1) = n \cdot 2^{n+1}

The factors k1 k - 1 and k+1 k + 1 are consecutive even numbers, so their difference is 2:

k+1=k1+2 k + 1 = k - 1 + 2

Thus, the number n2n+1 n \cdot 2^{n+1} can be expressed as the product of two consecutive even numbers. From here, we have:

- Since k1 k - 1 and k+1 k + 1 are even, we can let k1=2a k-1 = 2a and k+1=2b k+1 = 2b for integers a a and b b .
- We need to solve 2a2b=n2n+1 2a \cdot 2b = n \cdot 2^{n+1} .

Simplifying yields:

4ab=n2n+1 4ab = n \cdot 2^{n+1}

which implies:

ab=n2n+14 ab = \frac{n \cdot 2^{n+1}}{4}

or equivalently:

ab=n2n ab = n \cdot 2^n

Given the symmetry of products of consecutive numbers, we will examine when this would be equal for small values of n n .

### Testing small values of n n :

1. **If n=1 n = 1 :**
n2n+1+1=122+1=5 n \cdot 2^{n+1} + 1 = 1 \cdot 2^2 + 1 = 5
which is not a perfect square.

2. **If n=2 n = 2 :**
n2n+1+1=223+1=17 n \cdot 2^{n+1} + 1 = 2 \cdot 2^3 + 1 = 17
which is not a perfect square.

3. **If n=3 n = 3 :**
n2n+1+1=324+1=49 n \cdot 2^{n+1} + 1 = 3 \cdot 2^4 + 1 = 49
which is a perfect square (49=7249 = 7^2).

4. **For larger n n , suppose there is a solution, then:**

Given the structure above for consecutive even factors and the rapid growth of n2n+1 n \cdot 2^{n+1} compared to sums of squares, further manual checks for small values or proofs by induction or contradiction can show that higher n n do not satisfy the condition without resulting in extremely large or non-integral values of k k .

Thus, the only integer n n for which n2n+1+1 n \cdot 2^{n+1} + 1 is a perfect square is:

3 \boxed{3}

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