Olympiad Maths Prep

Track / Stage 8 / 73 of 180 #1773 of 2000

Problem 1773

IMO Shortlist mid-range; USAMO P2/P5
Number theory Difficulty 8.2 Find the answer china_team_selection_test

For any h=2rh = 2^{r} (rr is a non-negative integer), find all kNk \in \mathbb{N} which satisfy the following condition: There exists an odd natural number m>1m > 1 and nNn \in \mathbb{N}, such that kmh1,mnmh1k+1k \mid m^{h} - 1, m \mid n^{\frac{m^{h}-1}{k}} + 1.

Official solution

For any h=2r h = 2^{r} (where r r is a non-negative integer), we need to find all kN k \in \mathbb{N} which satisfy the following condition: There exists an odd natural number m>1 m > 1 and nN n \in \mathbb{N} , such that kmh1 k \mid m^{h} - 1 and mnmh1k+1 m \mid n^{\frac{m^{h}-1}{k}} + 1 .

We claim that k k works if and only if 2r+1k 2^{r+1} \mid k .

### Necessity:
Let A=m2r1k A = \frac{m^{2^r} - 1}{k} . We need to show that ν2(p1)ν2(A)+1 \nu_2(p-1) \geq \nu_2(A) + 1 for any prime divisor p p of m m .

Proof: Let u=ordp(n) u = \mathrm{ord}_p(n) . Then u2A u \mid 2A but uA u \nmid A (since m m is odd). Therefore, ν2(u)=ν2(A)+1 \nu_2(u) = \nu_2(A) + 1 . Since up1 u \mid p-1 , we have ν2(p1)ν2(A)+1 \nu_2(p-1) \geq \nu_2(A) + 1 .

Let t=ν2(A) t = \nu_2(A) . The claim implies m1(mod2t+1) m \equiv 1 \pmod{2^{t+1}} . Using the Lifting The Exponent (LTE) lemma, we get:
t=ν2(m2r1)ν2(k)=ν2(m1)+ν2(m+1)+r1ν2(k). t = \nu_2(m^{2^r} - 1) - \nu_2(k) = \nu_2(m-1) + \nu_2(m+1) + r - 1 - \nu_2(k).
Since ν2(m1)t+1 \nu_2(m-1) \geq t + 1 and ν2(m+1)1 \nu_2(m+1) \geq 1 , we have:
t(t+1)+1+r1ν2(k), t \geq (t + 1) + 1 + r - 1 - \nu_2(k),
which simplifies to ν2(k)r+1 \nu_2(k) \geq r + 1 .

### Sufficiency:
By Dirichlet's theorem, take a prime p1(mod4k) p \equiv 1 \pmod{4k} and let m=p m = p . The first divisibility condition kp2r1 k \mid p^{2^r} - 1 is clearly satisfied. Let t=ν2(p2r1k) t = \nu_2\left(\frac{p^{2^r} - 1}{k}\right) . Since p+12(mod4) p + 1 \equiv 2 \pmod{4} , we have:
t=ν2(p1)+ν2(p+1)+r1ν2(k)=ν2(p1)+(rν2(k)). t = \nu_2(p-1) + \nu_2(p+1) + r - 1 - \nu_2(k) = \nu_2(p-1) + (r - \nu_2(k)).
Thus, t+1ν2(p1) t + 1 \leq \nu_2(p-1) . Since the groups Zp× \mathbb{Z}_p^{\times} and Zp1 \mathbb{Z}_{p-1} are isomorphic, there exists an element n n of Zp× \mathbb{Z}_p^{\times} that has order 2t+1 2^{t+1} . This means:
n2t1(modp)    np2r1k=n2todd1(modp), n^{2^t} \equiv -1 \pmod{p} \implies n^{\frac{p^{2^r} - 1}{k}} = n^{2^t \cdot \text{odd}} \equiv -1 \pmod{p},
so this m m and n n work.

The answer is: \boxed{2^{r+1}}.

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