Squares of Primes

"If p p is a prime number greater than 3, then p 2 1 p^2 - 1 is always divisible by 6 and 8."

Is that statement True or False?

True False

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1 solution

Naren Bhandari
Jul 28, 2018

Prime numbers ( p > 3 ) (p>3) can be obtained by 6 k ± 1 6k\pm 1 where k N k\in\mathbb N . Now p 2 1 = ( 6 k ± 1 ) 2 1 = ( 36 k 2 ± 12 k + 1 ) 1 = 12 k ( 3 k ± 1 ) p^2-1 = \,(6k\pm 1)^2-1 = \,(36k^2 \pm 12k +1 )-1 = 12k(3k \pm 1) Notice that gcd ( k , 3 k ± 1 ) = 1 \text{gcd}\,(k,3k\pm 1) =1 which implies that k ( 3 k ± 1 ) = 2 m k(3k\pm 1) = 2m for some positive integer m m . Plugging back we have p 2 1 = 12 2 m = 24 m p^2-1 = 12\cdot 2m = 24m which is always divisible by 8 8 and 6 6 . Thus the answer is True .

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