Number Theory

Worksheet - 2/Random Quiz

MA1250

1. Recall that using Erdős’ ideas, we proved that if n > 1, then there is a prime p satisfying
n < p < 2n. Modifying these ideas and using a program, show that if n 8, then there is
a prime p satisfying n < p < 1.5n.

2. Give an expression for the highest power of 6 that divides n!.

3. The Prime Number Theorem (PNT) states that

⇡(X)
1) lim = 1.
X!1 X/ log X

This in turn implies that given any " > 0, there is a stage X" such that
X X
(1 ") < ⇡(X) < (1 + ") 8 X > X" .
log X log X
However, this is not an “explicit” form of PNT since it doesn’t give us any info on X" other
than the fact that it exists. The following are well-known versions of explicit PNT.
X 1.3X
2) < ⇡(X) < 8 X > 16.
log X log X
X X X 3X
3) + 2 < ⇡(X) < + 8 X > 1.
log X 2 log X log X 2 log2 X
X X
4) < ⇡(X) < 8 X > 67.
log X 0.5 log X 1.5
Making use of any of the above expressions 1) – 4), answer the following.
pn
(i) lim = 1.
n!1 n log n

(ii) Estimate an upper and a lower bound on the n-th prime pn (for sufficiently large
n).
(iii) Given an c > 0, there is an Xc such that the interval (X, (1 + c)X] contains a
prime for all X > Xc . Give an estimate for Xc in terms of c.

4. Using Eratosthenes’ ideas, design a primality test that takes a positive integer n as input
and outputs “Yes” if n is prime and “No” otherwise. Is your test good enough to test the
primality of 8753032643?

5. For real numbers x and y, show that bx + yc bxc byc 2 {0, 1}.

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MA1250

1. Prove that if a and b are both odd integers, then 16 divides (a4 + b4 2)
2. For every integer a, show that gcd(5a + 2, 7a + 3) = 1.
3. For positive integers a, b, and n, show that the relation an | bn implies a | b.
4. Show that the only prime of the form n3 1, where n is a positive integer, is 7.
5. If p > 3 is a prime number, then show that p2 + 2 is composite.
6. Determine all positive integers that can be expressed as a sum of two composites.
7. Determine all twin prime pairs (p, q) (q = p + 2) for which pq 2 is also prime.
8. If n > 1, then show that n! cannot be a perfect square.
9. Prove that no integer whose digits add up to 15 can be a perfect square or a cube.
10. If 792 divides the seven digit positive integer 13xy45z, then find the missing digits x,
y and z.
11. For any prime p > 3, prove that 13 divides 102p 10p + 1.
12. If gcd(a, 60) = 1, show that 60 divides a4 + 59.
13. Prove that if p is an odd prime and k is an integer satisfying 0 < k < p, then
✓ ◆
p 1
⌘ ( 1)k (mod p).
k

14. If p and q are distinct primes, prove that

pq 1
+ qp 1
⌘1 (mod pq).

15. Suppose the p-th Mersenne prime Mp = 2p 1 is composite where p is a prime. Show
that Mp is a pseudoprime.
16. Show that 18! ⌘ 1 (mod 437).
17. Find all integers x satisfying both the congruences
x2 ⌘ 1 (mod 5) and x ⌘ 2 (mod 3).

18. For integers

p a and b, show that if 3 | (a2 + b2 ), then 3 | a and 3 | b. Use this fact to
show that 2 is irrational.
19. Find the orders of the integers 2, 3, and 5 (a) (mod 17), (b) (mod 19) and (c)
(mod 23).
20. Given that the integer a has order 3 modulo p where p is a prime, show that a + 1 has
order 6 modulo p.
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21. Suppose n is a positive integer. Show that any odd prime divisor of n2 + 1 must be of
the form 4k + 1.
22. Determine all the primitive roots of 10.
23. Determine a primitive root of 11. Make a table of indices for various elements of Z⇥
11
with respect to the primitive root from the previous part.
24. Using the table from the previous problem., solve the following congruences:
(a) 7x3 ⌘ 3 (mod 11).
(b) 3x4 ⌘ 5 (mod 11).
(c) x8 ⌘ 10 (mod 11).
25. Determine integers a such that the congruence x4 ⌘ a (mod 11) has a solution.
26. Show that congruence x3 ⌘ 3 (mod 19) has no solutions, whereas x3 ⌘ 11 (mod 19)
has three incongruent solutions.
27. For an odd prime p, consider the exponential congruence ax ⌘ b (mod p). Let r
be a primitive root modulo p. Show that the last congruence has a solution if and only if
d | indr b where d = gcd(indr a, p 1). Furthermore, in that event, there are d incongruent
solutions modulo p 1.
28. Solve the exponential congruence 4x ⌘ 13 (mod 17).
29. For which values of b is the exponential congruence 9x ⌘ b (mod 13) solvable?
30. (Olympiad problem) Find all odd n such that n divides 3n + 1.
31. For an odd n, show that n divides 2n! 1.
32. If 9 divides a3 + b3 + c3 , then prove that 3 | abc.
33. Is there an arithmetic progression a, a+d, . . ., a+kd, . . . comprising of prime numbers
only?
n
34. For all n 1, prove that 8 · 22 + 1 is composite.
35. Find the remainder when 70!/18 is divided by 71.
36. Find all integers n satisfying (n 1)3 + n3 + (n + 1)2 = (n + 2)2 .
37. For positive integers m and n, show that 3m + 3n + 1 is never a perfect square.
38. Show that 7 divides infinitely many numbers of the form 10n + 3.
39. Show that 7 does not divide any number of the form 2n + 1.
40. How many zeros are there at the end of 1000!?
41. (Putnam problem) Let f (x) be an integer polynomial. Show that it is not possible to
have f (1) = 2, f (2) = 3 and f (3) = 5.
42. Show that gcd(2a 1, 2b 1) = 2gcd(a,b) 1 for positive integers a and b.
43. (Putnam problem) Note that for every positive integer n there is a unique positive
integer m such that m2  n < (m + 1)2 . Define f (n) = n m2 . For example,
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f (1) = 1 1 = 0, f (5) = 5 4 = 1 etc. Let u0 be a positive integer. Consider the

sequence u0 , u1 , . . ., where uk+1 = uk + f (uk ). For what values of u0 , is the sequence
{uk } eventually constant (i.e., uj = uj+l for all sufficiently large j and any nonnegative
k). (Hint: f (b2 ) = 0, why?)
44. (Putnam problem) Find all positive integer solutions x, y, m and n with gcd(m, n) = 1
to the equation (a2 + b2 )m = (ab)n .
45. Let p and q are odd primes satisfying p = 2q + 1. Let a 2 {2, . . . , p 2}, and let
b ⌘ a2 (mod p). Show that b is a primitive root of p.
46. Let p be a prime and a 2 {1, 2, . . . , p 1}. Show that the polynomial congruence
x3 ⌘ a (mod p) has a unique solution if 3 - p 1 while, if 3 | p 1, then the congruence
either has three or no solutions according as a(p 1)/3 ⌘ 1 (mod p).
47. Using primitive roots to solve Diophantine equations. Show that there are no integral
solutions to the equation x4 29y 4 = 5 by answering the following questions.
(a) Show that 2 is a primitive root of 29.
(b) Show that any nonzero 4th power mod 19 (i.e., any 0 6⌘ a ⌘ b4 (mod 29)) is
in the set S = {24` (mod 29) : 1  `  7}.
(c) Compute the elements of S.
(d) Use (c) to deduce that x4 29y 4 = 5 has no integral solutions.

48. Let n > 0 be an integer and d a positive odd divisor of 5n2 + 1. Show that the tens
digit of d is even.
49. (Olympiad problem) Determine all natural numbers n such that there is a natural
number m having the property that m is divisible by 1, 2, . . ., n but not divisible by each
of n + 1, n + 2 and n + 3.
50. Suppose p is an odd prime and that
1 1 a
1 + + ··· + = ; gcd(a, b) = 1.
2 p 1 b
Show that p | a. If p > 3, then prove that p2 | a.