Find the minimum positive integer such that for all integers .
Solution
Note that and , so if then is always true. We show that this is necessary as well. Choosing , we see that . Thus always, and we can move to the exponent by choosing to be a generator modulo 23 : The choice of here is independent of the choice since 22 and 23 are coprime. Thus we must have again that , by choosing . But then always, and we can go to the exponent modulo by choosing a generator modulo 11 : From here it follows that as well. Thus and 2530 is the minimum positive integer desired.
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.