CONGRUENCES AND DIVISIBILITY

1. Let n1 , n2 , . . . , ns be distinct integers such that

(n1 + k)(n2 + k) · · · (ns + k)

is an integral multiple of n1 n2 · · · ns for every integer k. For each of the following assertions,
give a proof or a counterexample:

• |ni | = 1 for some i.

• If further all ni are positive, then

{n1 , n2 , . . . , ns } = {1, 2, . . . , s}.

2. How many coefficients of the polynomial

Y
Pn (x1 , . . . , xn ) = (xi + xj )
1≤i<j≤n

are odd?

3. If p is a prime number greater than 3 and k = ⌊2p/3⌋, prove that the sum
     
p p p
+ + ··· +
1 2 k

of binomial coefficients is divisible by p2 .

4. Do there exist positive integers a and b with b − a > 1 such for every a < k < b, either
gcd(a, k) > 1 or gcd(b, k) > 1?

5. Suppose that f (x) and g(x) are polynomials (with f (x) not identically 0) taking integers to
integers such that for all n ∈ Z, either f (n) = 0 or f (n)|g(n). Show that f (x)|g(x), i.e., there
is a polynomial h(x) with rational coefficients such that g(x) = f (x)h(x).

6. Let q be an odd positive integer, and let Nq denote the number of integers a such that
0 < a < q/4 and gcd(a, q) = 1. Show that Nq is odd if and only if q is of the form pk with k
a positive integer and p a prime congruent to 5 or 7 modulo 8.

7. Let p be in the set {3, 5, 7, 11, . . . } of odd primes, and let

F (n) = 1 + 2n + 3n2 + · · · + (p − 1)np−2 .

Prove that if a and b are distinct integers in {0, 1, 2, . . . , p − 1} then F (a) and F (b) are not
congruent modulo p, that is, F (a) − F (b) is not exactly divisible by p.

8. Do there exist 1,000,000 consecutive integers each of which contains a repeated prime factor?

♡ 9. A positive integer n is powerful if for every prime p dividing n, we have that p2 divides n.
Show that for any k ≥ 1 there exist k consecutive integers, none of which is powerful.

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10. Show that for any k ≥ 1 there exist k consecutive positive integers, none of which is a sum of
two squares. (You may use the fact that a positive integer n is a sum of two squares if and
only if for every prime p ≡ 3 (mod 4), the largest power of p dividing n is an even power of
p.)

11. Prove that every positive integer has a multiple whose decimal representation involves all ten
digits.

12. Prove that among any ten consecutive integers at least one is relatively prime to each of the
others.

13. Find the length of the longest sequence of equal nonzero digits in which an integral square
can terminate (in base 10), and find the smallest square which terminates in such a sequence.

14. Show that if n is an odd integer greater than 1, then n does not divide 2n + 2.

15. * For positive integer a, we define the series

X
fa (q) = qk .
k≥0,ak+1 is a square

Find all positive integer triples (a, b, c) such that

fa (q) ≡ fb (q)fc (q) mod 2

which means that the corresponding coefficients match modulo 2. (Hint: Use a computer to
find a few triple, then look for patterns.)

16. Define a sequence {ai } by a1 = 3 and ai+1 = 3ai for i ≥ 1. Which integers between 00 and
99 inclusive occur as the last two digits in the decimal expansion of infinitely many ai ?

17. What is the units (i.e., rightmost) digit of

1020000
 
?
10100 + 3

Here [x] is the greatest integer ≤ x.

18. Suppose p is an odd prime. Prove that

p   
X p p+j
≡ 2p + 1 (mod p2 ).
j j
j=0

19. Prove that for n ≥ 2,

n terms n−1 terms
z}|{ z}|{
···2 ···2
22 ≡ 22 (mod n).

20. The sequence (an )n≥1 is defined by a1 = 1, a2 = 2, a3 = 24, and, for n ≥ 4,

6a2n−1 an−3 − 8an−1 a2n−2

an = .
an−2 an−3
Show that, for all n, an is an integer multiple of n.

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♡ 21. Prove that the expression
 
gcd(m, n) n
n m
is an integer for all pairs of integers n ≥ m ≥ 1.

22. Show that for each positive integer n,

n
Y
n! = lcm{1, 2, . . . , ⌊n/i⌋}.
i=1

(Here lcm denotes the least common multiple, and ⌊x⌋ denotes the greatest integer ≤ x.)

23. Define a sequence {un }∞

n=0 by u0 = u1 = u2 = 1, and thereafter by the condition that
 
un un+1
det = n!
un+2 un+3

for all n ≥ 0. Show that un is an integer for all n. (By convention, 0! = 1.)

♡ 24. Let p be a prime number. Let h(x) be a polynomial with integer coefficients such that
h(0), h(1), . . . , h(p2 −1) are distinct modulo p2 . Show that h(0), h(1), . . . , h(p3 −1) are distinct
modulo p3 .

25. Let f (x) = a0 + a1 x + · · · be a power series with integer coefficients, with a0 ̸= 0. Suppose
that the power series expansion of f ′ (x)/f (x) at x = 0 also has integer coefficients. Prove or
disprove that a0 |an for all n ≥ 0.

26. Let S be a set of rational numbers such that

(a) 0 ∈ S;
(b) If x ∈ S then x + 1 ∈ S and x − 1 ∈ S; and
(c) If x ∈ S and x ̸∈ {0, 1}, then 1/(x(x − 1)) ∈ S.

Must S contain all rational numbers?

10n n
♡ 27. Prove that for each positive integer n, the number 1010 + 1010 + 10n − 1 is not prime.

Let p be an odd prime. Show that for at least (p + 1)/2 values of n in {0, 1, 2, . . . , p − 1},
28. P
p−1 k
k=0 k!n is not divisible by p.

29. Let a and b be distinct rational numbers such that an −bn is an integer for all positive integers
n. Prove or disprove that a and b must themselves be integers.

30. Find the smallest integer n ≥ 2 for which there exists an integer m with the following
property: for each i ∈ {1, . . . , n}, there exists j ∈ {1, . . . , n} different from i such that
gcd(m + i, m + j) > 1.

31. Let p be an odd prime number such that p ≡ 2 (mod 3). Define a permutation π of the
residue classes modulo p by π(x) ≡ x3 (mod p). Show that π is an even permutation if and
only if p ≡ 3 (mod 4).

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 32. Suppose that a positive integer N can be expressed as the sum of k consecutive positive
integers
N = a + (a + 1) + (a + 2) + · · · + (a + k − 1)
for k = 2017 but for no other values of k > 1. Considering all positive integers N with this
property, what is the smallest positive integer a that occurs in any of these expressions?
33. Let n be a positive integers. Prove that
n
X √
(−1)⌊k( 2−1)⌋ ≥ 0.
k=1

34. How many positive integers N satisfy all of the following three conditions? (i) N is divisible
by 2020. (ii) N has at most 2020 decimal digits. (iii) The decimal digits of N are a string of
consecutive ones followed by a string of consecutive zeros.
35. Find all positive integers n < 10100 for which simultaneously n divides 2n , n−1 divides 2n −1,
and n − 2 divides 2n − 2.
36. Define the Fibonacci numbers by F1 = F2 = 1 and Fn = Fn−1 + Fn−2 for n ≥ 3. Let k be a
positive integer. Suppose that for every positive integer m there exists a positive integer n
such that m | Fn − k. Must k be a Fibonacci number?
37. Suppose that
∞
X
f (x) = ci xi
i=0
is a power series for which each coefficient ci is 0 or 1. Show that if f (2/3) = 3/2, then f (1/2)
must be irrational.
38. Let P (x) be a polynomial with integer coefficients such that n divides P (2n ) for all positive
integers n. Prove that P is the zero polynomial.
♡ 39. Let a1 , a2 , . . . , an be positive integers with product P, where n is an odd positive integer.
Prove that
gcd(an1 + P, an2 + P, . . . , ann + P ) ≤ 2 gcd(a1 , . . . , an )n .

40. Let N denote the set of positive integers. Find all functions f : N → N such that
n + f (m) | f (n) + nf (m)
for all m, n ∈ N.
41. Determine all positive integers M such that the sequence a0 , a1 , a2 , · · · defined by
1
a0 = M + and ak+1 = ak ⌊ak ⌋ for k = 0, 1, 2, · · ·
2
contains at least one integer term.
42. Find all positive integers n > 2 such that
Y
n! | (p + q).
p<q≤n,p,q primes

43. Let a0 = 1, a1 = 2, and an = 4an−1 − an−2 for n ≥ 2. Find an odd prime factor of a2015 .