Odd Divisibility

n ( 3 n 2 n ) \large n \mid (3^n - 2^n)

Find the sum of all positive integers n n that satisfy the above divisibility.


The answer is 1.

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1 solution

Kushal Bose
Jan 11, 2017

Case(1) If n 1 n \leq 1

n = 0 n=0 will not satisfy so it is not our solution.

n = 1 n=1 is satisfied 1 3 1 2 1 = 1 1 |3^1-2^1=1 .So. n = 1 n=1 is our first solution.

Case(2): if n > 1 n >1

3 n 2 n = ( 1 + 2 ) n 2 n = 1 + ( n 1 ) 2 + ( n 2 ) 2 2 + ( n 3 ) 2 3 + + ( n n ) 2 n 2 n = 1 + ( n 1 ) 2 + ( n 2 ) 2 2 + ( n 3 ) 2 3 + + 2 n 2 n = 1 + ( n 1 ) 2 + ( n 2 ) 2 2 + ( n 3 ) 2 3 + + ( n n 1 ) 2 n 1 3^n-2^n \\ =(1+2)^n-2^n\\ =1 +{n \choose 1}2+{n \choose 2} 2^2 + {n \choose 3}2^3 + \cdots + {n \choose n}2^n -2^n \\ =1 +{n \choose 1}2+{n \choose 2} 2^2 + {n \choose 3}2^3 + \cdots +2^n-2^n \\=1 +{n \choose 1}2+{n \choose 2} 2^2 + {n \choose 3}2^3 + \cdots +{n \choose {n-1}}2^{n-1}

As 3 n 2 n 3^n-2^n is an odd integer then it should not be divisible by even so, n n will be odd.

If n n is a odd prime then each ( n r ) {n \choose r} terms will contain n n because it will not cancel out as it is prime.The expression will become n k + 1 nk+1 which is never divisible by n n

If n n is an odd composite number.First of all consider t r = ( n r ) 2 r = n ! r ! ( n r ) ! 2 r = n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( n r + 1 ) r ! 2 r = n ( n 1 ) ( n 2 ) . . . ( n r + 1 ) 1.2.3.4.... ( r 1 ) . r 2 r t_r={n \choose r} 2^r =\dfrac{n!}{r!(n-r)!} 2^r \\ =\dfrac{n(n-1)(n-2)...(n-r+1)}{r!} 2^r \\ =n \dfrac{(n-1)(n-2)...(n-r+1)}{1.2.3.4....(r-1).r} 2^r .If r > n / 2 r >n/2 then we will cancel out r ! r! and will keep ( n r ) ! (n-r)! else we will keep r ! r! .In the denominator there are r r consecutive terms and in the numerator there are also r r consecutive terms.If we separate n n and keep ( r 1 ) (r-1) terms.In the denominator we can keep such ( r 1 ) (r-1) which will cancels out by the ( r 1 ) ) (r-1)) terms of numerator.So, one will term will left .If the term will prime then there will be at least one factor in the numerator because we select r n / 2 r \leq n/2 .If it is odd composite then there will be enough factors are there in the numerator.So , each ( n r ) 2 r {n \choose r} 2^r will be divisible by n n .

So, again the expression will become n k + 1 nk+1 which will never divisible by n . n.

Therefore , only solution is n = 1 n=1

Note This method is not perfect but I want to show how I approached.

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