IMO 2005 · Problem 4

Determine all positive integers relatively prime to all the terms of the infinite sequence \[ a_n=2^n+3^n+6^n-1,\quad n\geq 1. \]

Official text of the problem. Official problem paper (PDF)

Answer

The only such positive integer is \(\boxed{1}\).

Solution

We show that every prime divides at least one term of the sequence.

First, \(2\mid a_1=10\) and \(3\mid a_2=48\).

Now let \(p>3\) be prime and choose \(n=p-2\), which is positive. Fermat’s little theorem gives \[ 2^{p-1}\equiv 3^{p-1}\equiv 6^{p-1}\equiv 1\pmod p. \] Consequently, \[ \begin{aligned} 6a_{p-2} &=6\cdot 2^{p-2}+6\cdot 3^{p-2}+6\cdot 6^{p-2}-6\\ &=3\cdot 2^{p-1}+2\cdot 3^{p-1}+6^{p-1}-6\\ &\equiv 3+2+1-6=0\pmod p. \end{aligned} \] Since \(p>3\), we have \(\gcd(p,6)=1\), so \(p\mid a_{p-2}\).

Thus, if a positive integer \(m>1\) is given, any prime divisor \(p\) of \(m\) also divides some term \(a_n\). For that term, \[ \gcd(m,a_n)\geq p>1. \] Hence no \(m>1\) satisfies the requirement. Since \(1\) is relatively prime to every integer, it is the unique answer.

The solution was checked against Evan Chen's published IMO solution notes.