Find the least positive integer n such that for every prime number p , p 2 + n is never prime.
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Let q ( p , n ) = p 2 + n . Let us start with the smallest n = 1 , then q ( 2 , 1 ) = 2 2 + 1 = 5 , which is a prime. Therefore, n = 1 . We note that q ( 3 , 2 ) = 3 2 + 2 = 1 1 , a prime, then n = 2 . q ( 2 , 3 ) = 7 , a prime, n = 3 . q ( 3 , 4 ) = 1 3 , a prime, n = 4 , When n = 5 , q ( 2 , 5 ) = 9 , not a prime, and for p > 2 , p is odd, so is p 2 and q ( p , 5 ) = p 2 + 5 is even and larger than 2 and hence not a prime. Therefore, the smallest n is 5 for all p 2 + n to be never a prime.
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What was not shown here (yet), is that n≠2 and n≠4. Good counterexamples would be e.g. (p = 3, n = 2) and (p = 3, n = 4), which would give us primes (11 and 13, respectively).
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If n is odd and p^2 odd prime then,p^2+n will never be a prime.Hence,we just need 4+n not to be a prime with odd n which gives n=5. Now,for smaller even numbers 2 and 4 we have 7 2 + 2 = 5 1 = 3 ∗ 1 7 and 1 1 2 + 4 = 1 2 5 = 5 3 .
Hence,the answer is 5