Homepage Solution manuals Ivan Niven An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers Exercise 2.1.37 (There exist infinitely many $n$ such that $n!+1$ is divisible by at least two distinct primes)

Exercise 2.1.37 (There exist infinitely many $n$ such that $n!+1$ is divisible by at least two distinct primes)

Show that there exist infinitely many n such that n ! + 1 is divisible by at least two distinct primes.

Answers

Take n = p 1 , where p > 5 is a prime number (there are infinitely many such integers n ). By Wilson’s theorem, p n ! + 1 = ( p 1 ) ! + 1 , and by exercise 36, n ! + 1 = ( p 1 ) ! + 1 > 1 is not a power of p . Therefore n ! + 1 has two prime factors p and another prime factor, otherwise n ! + 1 = p k is a power of p .

There exist infinitely many n such that n ! + 1 is divisible by at least two distinct primes.

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2024-07-31 16:56
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