S5 Number Theory

Ahmed Hasib Ittihad

M Ahsan Al Mahir

February 17, 2021

r se
1 Theorems of course

ou
(copied from 104 and Masum Billal’s note, go read them if you already haven’t)

Theorem 1.1 (Remainder Theorem) — For any positive integers a and b there exists a unique pair

C
(q, r) of nonnegative integers such that b = aq + r and r < a. We say that q is the quotient and r the
remainder when b is divided by a
Theorem 1.2 (Divisibility Facts) — Let a, b, c be positive integers, p be a prime, and m, n be two integers
with gcd(m, n) = 1. x, y are any two integers. Then we have:
sh
1. a|b =⇒ b ≥ a

2. a|b, a|c =⇒ a|bx ± cy, a|bc. Some important cases here are a|b + ax, a|b ± c

3. a|b, a ̸ |c =⇒ a ̸ |b ± c, a|bc
ra

4. ac|bc =⇒ a|b

5. p|mn =⇒ p|m or p|n

C

6. (a, b) = 1, a|c, b|c =⇒ ab|c

Theorem 1.3 (The Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic) — Any integer n greater than 1 has a unique
representation (up to a permutation) as a product of primes, i.e.
O

1 · · · pk
αk
n = pα1

It is called the Canonical factorization or just factorization of n.

dM

Theorem 1.4 (GCD facts) — Let p be a prime, m, n be two integers. Then we have:

1. gcd(p, m) = p or gcd(p, m) = 1.

2. If d = gcd(m, n), m = dm′ , n = dn′ , then gcd (m′ , n′ ) = 1.

3. If d = gcd(m, n), m = d′ m′′ , n = d′ n′′ , gcd (m′′ , n′′ ) = 1, then d′ = d.

B

4. If d′ is a common divisor of m and n, then d′ divides gcd(m, n).

5. If m = pα 1 · · · pk
1 αk
and n = pβ1 1 · · · pβkk , αi , βi ≥ 0, i = 1, . . . , k, then gcd(m, n) =
min(α1 ,β1 ) min(αk ,βk )
p1 . . . pk

6. If m = nq + r, then gcd(m, n) = gcd(n, r)

7. a|bc, gcd(a, b) = 1 =⇒ a|c

1
 Theorem 1.5 (Bézout’s theorem) — For positive ingers m and n there exist integers x and y such that

mx + ny = gcd(m, n)
Theorem 1.6 (LCM facts) — let s, t, m, n be positive intgers. Then,

1. If lcm(s, t) = m, m = ss′ = tt′ , then gcd (s′ , t′ ) = 1.

2. If m′ is a common multiple of s and t and m′ = ss′ = tt′ , gcd (s′ , t′ ) = 1 then m′ = m

3. If m′ is a common multiple of s and t, then m | m′ .

4. If m | s and n | s, then lcm(m, n) | s.

se
5. If n is an integer, n lcm(s, t) = lcm(ns, nt).
β1 βk
1 · · · pk and t = p1 · · · pk , αi , bi ≥ 0, i = 1, . . . , k, then
αk
6. If s = pα1

r
max(α1 ,β1 ) max(αk ,βk )
lcm(s, t) = p1 . . . pk

ou
Theorem 1.7 (LCM and GCM) — For any positive integers m and n the following relation holds:

mn = gcd(m, n) · lcm(m, n)
αk
Theorem 1.8 (The number of divisors) — Let n = pα 1 α2

C
1 p2 . . . pk . Then the number of positive divisors
of n is denoted by
τ (n) = (α1 + 1)(α2 + 1) . . . (αk + 1)
√
Theorem 1.9 — For any positive integer n, τ (n) ≤ 2 n.
sh
1 · · · pk is the prime factorization of n, then
αk
Theorem 1.10 (Sum of Divisors) — If n = pα1

pα 1 +1
−1 pαk +1 − 1
σ(n) = 1
··· k
p1 − 1 pk − 1
ra

Theorem 1.11 (Factorization Identities) — The identities below are extremely useful, and should be
“memorized”.
xn+1 − 1
C

1. xn + xn−1 + xn−2 + . . . 1 =
x−1
xn+1 + 1
2. xn − xn−1 + xn−2 − . . . (−1)n =
x+1
O

3. a − b|an − bn for all a, b, n ∈ Z. And a + b|an + bn for odd n.

4. x4 + x2 + 1 = x2 + x + 1 x2 − x + 1
dM

5. Sophie German Identity: a4 + 4b4 = a2 + 2ab + 2b2 a2 − 2ab + 2b2



6. Fibbonacci-Brahmagupta Identity: a2 + b2 c2 + d2 = (ac + bd)2 + (ad − bc)2 = (ad +
bc)2 + (ac − bd)2
Theorem 1.12 — For all integers a, b and m, n, we have:
B

gcd (am − bm , an − bn ) = agcd(m,n) − bgcd(m,n)

2 Warmup

Problem 2.1. Let n be an integer greater than 1. Prove that (a) 2n is the sum of two odd consecutive integers;
(b) 3n is the sum of three consecutive integers.

Problem 2.2. Prove that, gcd(a, a + 1) = 1. Also, gcd(a, a + 2) = 2 or 1

2
Problem 2.3 (AHSME 1976). If p and q are primes and x2 − px + q = 0 has distinct positive integral roots, find
p and q

Problem 2.4. Find all positive integers n for which 3n − 4, 4n − 5, and 5n − 3 are all prime numbers.



Lemma 2.1 — Let p be a prime, and let k be an integer with 1 ≤ k < p. Then p  kp .

3 Push ups (easy)

se
Problem 3.1. Determine the number of ordered pairs of positive integers (a, b) such that the least common
multiple of a and b is 23 57 1113

r
Lemma 3.1 — If n = pa1 1 pa2 2 · · · pakk is a prime decomposition of n, then there are

ou
(2a1 + 1) (2a2 + 1) · · · (2ak + 1)

distinct pairs of ordered positive integers (a, b) with lcm(a, b) = n.

C
Problem 3.2. Determine the product of distinct positive integer divisors of n = 4204

Problem 3.3. Find the sum of even positive divisors of 10000.

Lemma 3.2 — Every prime greater than 3 is of the form 6k ± 1.

sh
Problem 3.4. Find all n that satisfies the relation:

7n + 1 | 8n + 55
ra

Problem 3.5. Find all positive integers d such that d divides n2 + 1 and (n + 1)2 + 1 for some natural n
C

4 Past National Problems

Problem 4.1 (Regional Higher Secondary 2019 P7).

O

Problem 4.2 (Secondary 2019 P3). Find all prime numbers such that the square of the prime number can be
written as the sum of cubes of two positive integers.
dM

Problem 4.3 (Regional Secondary 2019 P6). How many three-digit integers are there whose first digit is a prime
factor of the integer composed of the last two digits?

Problem 4.4 (Secondary 2019 P7). M and N are two positive integers where M is not equal to N.LCM of (M
and N ) = M 2 − N 2 + M N. Show that M N is a perfect cubic number.

Problem 4.5 (Junior 2019 P4). n is a positive integer such that 2019 + n! is a square number. Find all such
B

values of n. Here, n! = n × (n − 1) × (n − 2) × . . . × 2 × 1. For example, 4! = 4 × 3 × 2 × 1 = 24

Problem 4.6 (Secondary 2017 P10). Let p be an odd prime. The integer k is in the range 1 ≤ k ≤ p − 1. Let
ak be the number of divisors of kp + 1 that are greater than or equal to k and less than p. Find and prove the
value of a1 + a2 + · · · + ap−1

Problem 4.7 (Junior 2018 P4). The squares of three positve numbers add up to 2018. The biggest of these
three numbers is the sum of the smaller two. If the difference between the smaller two numbers is 2. What is
the difference between the cubes of the smaller two numbers?

3
Problem 4.8. Find all pairs of integers (x, y) with

1 + 2x + 22x+1 = y 2

Problem 4.9. Determine all positive integers x, y satisfying

xy 2 + y + 7 | x2 y + x + y

5 Hard Problems

se
Problem 5.1. Let m and n be positive integers such that

lcm(m, n) + gcd(m, n) = m + n

r
Prove that one of the two numbers is divisible by the other

ou
Problem 5.2. Let x, y, z be positive integers such that
1 1 1
− =

C
x y z

Let h be the greatest common divisor of x, y, z. Prove that hxyz and h(y − x) are perfect squares.

Problem 5.3. Find all positive integers n for which n! + 5 is a perfect cube.
sh
Problem 5.4. Find all primes p such that the number p2 + 11 has exactly six different divisors (including 1 and
the number itself).

Problem 5.5 (IMO Shortlist 2007 N1). Find all positive integers (a, b) such that, 7a − 3b divides a4 + b2 .
ra

Problem 5.6. Prove that for all integers a1 , a2 . . . an and odd integer k , we have

a1 + a2 + . . . an |ak1 + ak2 + . . . akn

C

Problem 5.7. Find all positive integers (a, b) so that 7a + 11b is a perfect square.
O

6 Challenge Problems
dM

Problem 6.1 (APMO 1997 P2). Find a positive integer n with 100 ≤ n ≤ 1997 such that

n | 2n + 2

Problem 6.2. Find all positive integers a, b, n with n odd and prime p such that

ak + bk = pn
B