Use induction

For all positive integers n n , is 2 3 n + 1 2^{3^n}+1 always divisible by 3 n + 1 3^{n+1}

No Yes

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3 solutions

Chew-Seong Cheong
Jun 18, 2017

2 3 n + 1 = ( 3 1 ) 3 n + 1 = k = 0 3 n ( 1 ) k ( 3 n k ) 3 3 n k + 1 = k = 0 3 n 1 ( 1 ) k ( 3 n k ) 3 3 n k 1 + 1 = k = 0 3 n 1 ( 1 ) k ( 3 n k ) 3 3 n k \begin{aligned} 2^{3^n}+1&= (3-1)^{3^n}+1 \\ &= \sum_{k=0}^{\color{#3D99F6}3^n} (-1)^k {3^n \choose k} 3^{3^n-k} +1 \\ &= \sum_{k=0}^{\color{#D61F06}3^n-1} (-1)^k {3^n \choose k} 3^{3^n-k} {\color{#D61F06}-1}+1 \\ &= \sum_{k=0}^{\color{#D61F06}3^n-1} (-1)^k {3^n \choose k} 3^{3^n-k} \end{aligned}

Sándor Daróczi
Jun 17, 2017

We are going to apply induction on n. For n = 0 n = 0 the statement is obvious. Assuming that the claim is true for n consider the following:

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

From 2 3 n + 1 0 ( m o d 3 n + 1 ) 2^{3^{n}} + 1 \equiv 0 \pmod{3^{n+1}} and 2 2 3 n 2 3 n + 1 1 2 + 1 0 ( m o d 3 ) 2^{2 \cdot 3^{n}} - 2^{3^{n}} + 1 \equiv 1 - 2 + 1 \equiv 0 \pmod{3} (since 2 e v e n 1 2^{even} \equiv 1 and 2 o d d 1 ( m o d 3 ) 2^{odd} \equiv -1 \pmod{3} ) we conclude that 2 3 n + 1 + 1 0 ( m o d 3 n + 2 ) 2^{3^{n+1}} + 1 \equiv 0 \pmod{3^{n+2}} . Hence our induction is complete.

Raphael Million
Jun 17, 2017

For simplicity, we'll set 2 3 n + 1 = a n 2^{3^{n}}+1=a_n

Start of Induction: When n = 0 n=0 : 2 1 + 1 2^1+1 is divisible by 3 1 3^1

Inductive step: Since we have proven the statement for one n n , we have to prove it for n + 1 n+1 , a n + 1 a_{n+1} should be divisible by one more factor of 3 a n + 1 = 2 3 n + 1 + 1 = 2 3 3 n + 1 = ( 2 3 n ) 3 + 1 = ( 2 3 n ) 3 + 1 = ( 2 3 n + 1 1 ) 3 + 1 = ( a n 1 ) 3 + 1 = a n 3 3 a n 2 + 3 a n 1 + 1 = a n 3 3 a n 2 + 3 a n a_{n+1}=2^{3^{n+1}}+1=2^{3\cdot3^{n}}+1=(2^{3^{n}})^3+1=(2^{3^{n}})^3+1=(2^{3^{n}}+1-1)^3+1=(a_n-1)^3+1=a_n^3-3a_n^2+3a_n-1+1=a_n^3-3a_n^2+3a_n Since every part has at least one more factor of 3 than a n a_n the whole sum has also one more factor of 3, making it divisible by 3 n + 2 3^{n+2} \Box

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