Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /234 of 348

Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME Find the answer

Suppose that mm and nn are integers with 1m491 \leq m \leq 49 and n0n \geq 0 such that mm divides nn+1+1n^{n+1}+1. What is the number of possible values of mm ?

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

Solution

If nn is even, n+1nn+1+1n+1 \mid n^{n+1}+1, so we can cover all odd mm. If mm is even and mnn+1+1m \mid n^{n+1}+1, then nn must be odd, so n+1n+1 is even, and mm cannot be divisible by 4 or any prime congruent to 3(mod4)3(\bmod 4). Conversely, if m/2m / 2 has all factors 1(mod4)1(\bmod 4), then by CRT there exists N1(mod4)N \equiv 1(\bmod 4) such that mN2+1NN+1+1(m\left|N^{2}+1\right| N^{N+1}+1( note (N+1)/2(N+1) / 2 is odd )). So the only bad numbers take the form 2k2 k, where 1k241 \leq k \leq 24 is divisible by at least one of 2,3,7,11,19,23,31,2,3,7,11,19,23,31, \ldots We count k=2,4,,24k=2,4, \ldots, 24 (there are 12 numbers here), k=3,9,15,21k=3,9,15,21 (another four), k=7,11,19,23k=7,11,19,23 (another four), giving a final answer of 491244=2949-12-4-4=29.

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.

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