Maths Olympiad Prep

Track / Stage 4 / 47 of 340 #307 of 1964

Problem 307

AMC 12 late, AIME early
Number theory Difficulty 4.6 Find the answer

Find all integers aa such that 5a3+3a+15 \mid a^{3}+3 a+1

A number or a short expression. Spacing, $ signs and \frac vs / are all fine.

Official solution

We test all possible congruences of aa:

a0:a3+3a+11-a \equiv 0: a^{3}+3 a+1 \equiv 1

a1:a3+3a+11+3+10-a \equiv 1: a^{3}+3 a+1 \equiv 1+3+1 \equiv 0

a2:a3+3a+18+6+10-a \equiv 2: a^{3}+3 a+1 \equiv 8+6+1 \equiv 0

a3:a3+3a+127+9+121+12-a \equiv 3: a^{3}+3 a+1 \equiv 27+9+1 \equiv 2-1+1 \equiv 2

a4:a3+3a+113+12-a \equiv 4: a^{3}+3 a+1 \equiv-1-3+1 \equiv 2

Therefore, all numbers congruent to 1 and 2 are solutions.

Source: NuminaMath-1.5, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic, difficulty and ordering added by this site.