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Topic: Factors of 7^(7^n) + 1 (Read 1513 times) |
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Johan_Gunardi
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Prove that for every nonnegative integer n, the number 7^(7^n) + 1 is the product of at least
2n + 3 (not necessarily distinct) primes.
//Title changed by Eigenray
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| « Last Edit: Feb 21st, 2008, 7:36am by Eigenray » |
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iyerkri
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Re: Hard Problem!
« Reply #1 on: Jun 16th, 2007, 6:34pm » |
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By induction. For n=0, 7^(7^n) + 1 = 8 = 2*2*2.
Assume for n. Let 7^(7^n) = a. Then,
7^(7^(n+1)) + 1
= a^7 + 1
= (a+1)(a^6 - a^5 + a^4 - a^3 + a^2 - a +1)
first term is product of 2n+3 prime terms. Second term is even, hence (power of 2)*(odd number). Clearly for n >0, the second term is greater than 4. Thus a^7 is a product of atleast 2n +3 + 2 = 2(n+1) + 3 primes (not necessarily distinct).
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Barukh
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Re: Hard Problem!
« Reply #2 on: Jun 17th, 2007, 5:54am » |
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iyerkri, unfortunately, your solution doesn't work: the second term is odd, not even, so it remains to be shown it's not a prime number.
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iyerkri
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Re: Hard Problem!
« Reply #3 on: Jun 17th, 2007, 1:28pm » |
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yes!, I should go back to school to learn division by two. 
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Eigenray
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Re: Hard Problem!
« Reply #4 on: Jul 29th, 2007, 5:35pm » |
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This is sort of cheating, but since a=77^n is 7 times a perfect square, we can do*
>Factor[(a^7 + 1)/(a + 1) /. a -> 7x^2]
(1-7x+21x^2-49x^3+147x^4-343x^5+343x^6) (1+7x+21x^2+49x^3+147x^4+343x^5+343x^6)
[How to discover this by hand, I'm not sure, but it follows from
1-a+a2-a3+a4-a5+a6 = (1+a)6 - 7a(1+a+a2)2]
Now, it's easily seen that both factors above are > 1, so the ratio (a7+1)/(a+1) is divisible by at least 2 primes, proving the result.
Followup: Show that (a7+1)/(a+1) is divisible by at least 2 distinct primes, which are different from all previous primes, and conclude that 77^n+1 is divisible by at least 2n+1 distinct primes.
*More generally, for p an odd prime, and a=p*x2, the polynomial (ap+1)/(a+1) factors over Z iff p=3 mod 4, and (ap-1)/(a-1) factors iff p=1 mod 4. Why? (Hint: this is actually related to this problem.)
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| « Last Edit: Jul 29th, 2007, 7:25pm by Eigenray » |
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Eigenray
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Re: Hard Problem!
« Reply #5 on: Feb 21st, 2008, 7:45am » |
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on Jul 29th, 2007, 5:35pm, Eigenray wrote:Followup: Show that (a7+1)/(a+1) is divisible by at least 2 distinct primes, which are different from all previous primes, and conclude that 77^n+1 is divisible by at least 2n+1 distinct primes.
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For p an odd prime, and a=p*x2, the polynomial (ap+1)/(a+1) factors over Z iff p=3 mod 4, and (ap-1)/(a-1) factors iff p=1 mod 4. Why? |
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Anybody want to try these? E.g.,
f(x) = 1 + px2 + p2x4 + ... + pp-1x2p-2
is irreducible iff p=2 or p=3 mod 4 is prime. (Hint: what (and more importantly, where) are the roots?)
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