A grasshopper is sitting in the origin of the number line, at number , and then it jumps, always in the same direction. For a positive integer , in the first jump the grasshopper jumps to number , and every following jump is exactly times longer than the previous jump. There is a hole in place of all multiples of number .
Determine all positive integers such that the grasshopper can jump times without falling into a hole. (Ilko Brnetić)
Problem 1868
Official solution
We are looking for all numbers such that for all .
Suppose that . Then every divided by gives the remainder , and since is divisible by we have that for all . Therefore, all positive integers which are not relatively prime to comply with the terms of the problem.
If , we observe the remainders of dividing by . If one of them is divisible by , such a is not good. Otherwise, since there are possible remainders, at least two numbers give the same remainder. Let these numbers be and , . In this case, their difference is divisible by . On the other hand, we have that
From and , it follows that , which is in contradiction with the assumption that none of the numbers is divisible by . Therefore, if , the grasshopper will jump into a hole.
To conclude, the only numbers which are suitable for the terms of the problem are those which are not relatively prime to .