Browse · MathNet
PrintChinese Mathematical Olympiad
China number theory
Problem
Find all pairs of prime numbers such that . (Posed by Fu Yunhao)
Solution
If , we suppose that without loss of generality, and then . By Fermat's theorem we have , so , where and are solutions [(2, 2) does not fit]. If , we suppose that without loss of generality and then . By Fermat's theorem we have , so , where and are solutions. Otherwise, we have , and so By Fermat's theorem, , and because of the above, . Denote by , , where are positive integers. If , because of the previous congruences we get a contradiction of . So . But we have by a similar argument — a contradiction. Therefore, all possible pairs of primes are , , , , , and .
Final answer
[[2, 3], [3, 2], [2, 5], [5, 2], [5, 5], [5, 313], [313, 5]]
Techniques
Fermat / Euler / Wilson theoremsPrime numbersMultiplicative orderTechniques: modulo, size analysis, order analysis, inequalities