Find n n .

Find n n such that n 3 2 n 2 + 2 n 4 n^{3} - 2n^2 + 2n - 4 is a prime number.

1 3 4 2 5

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2 solutions

We have A = n 3 2 n 2 + 2 n 4 = ( n 2 ) ( n 2 + 2 ) A=n^3-2n^2+2n-4=(n-2)(n^2+2) . Since for all n , n 2 < n 2 + 2 n, n-2<n^2+2 , therefore for A A to be prime, n 2 n-2 must be 1 1 . For n 2 = 1 n-2=1 or n = 3 , n 2 + 2 = 11 n=3, n^2+2=11 , a prime number. Hence the only possible value of n n is 3 \boxed 3 .

Chris Lewis
Mar 20, 2020

If f ( n ) = n 3 2 n 2 + 2 n 4 f(n)=n^3-2n^2+2n-4 , then f ( 3 ) = 11 f(3)=11 , which is prime.

Also, since f ( n ) = ( n 2 ) ( n 2 + 2 ) f(n)=(n-2)(n^2+2) , f ( n ) f(n) is composite for all n > 3 n>3 (and it's easily verified that f ( n ) f(n) is not positive for n < 3 n<3 ) so n = 3 n=3 is in fact the only integer that makes f ( n ) f(n) prime.

Even without a list of possible answers, for a product of two numbers to be prime, the smaller one must be equal to 1. Thus n 2 = 1 n-2=1 .

Richard Costen - 1 year, 2 months ago

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