Congruences & Divisibility

  1. Lerma

    Prove that among any five distinct integers there are always three with sum divisible by three.
  2. Suppose that \(a\) and \(b\) are integers. Prove that each of these expressions is never zero: \( a^2-4b-2 \) and \(a^2-4b-3. \)
  3. Moscow Mathematical Olympiad (1995–1996)

    Prove that in the product \(1!\,2!\,3!\,\dotsb\,100!,\) one of the factors can be erased so that the remaining product is a perfect square.
  4. Prove that the equation \(x^2 + y^2 - 3 = 0\) has no solutions \((x,y)\) such that \(x\) and \(y\) are simultaneously rational numbers.
  5. Putnam & Beyond

    Show that the number \(2002^{2002}\) can be written as the sum of four perfect cubes, but not as the sum of three perfect cubes.
  6. Russian Mathematical Olympiad (1999)

    Show that each positive integer can be written as the difference of two positive integers having the same number of prime factors.
  7. MIT

    Prove: among any ten consecutive integers, at least one is relatively prime to each of the others.
  8. Putnam 2024 A1

    Determine all positive integers \(n\) for which there exist positive integers \(a,\) \(b,\) and \(c\) satisfying \(2a^n+3b^n = 4c^n.\)
  9. Putnam 2009 B1

    Show that every positive rational number can be written as a quotient of products of factorials of (not necessarily distinct) primes. E.g. \[ \frac{10}{9} = \frac{2!\cdot 5!}{3!\cdot 3! \cdot 3!}. \]
  10. Putnam 2018 A1

    Find all ordered pairs \((a,b)\) or positive integers for which \[\frac 1 a + \frac 1 b = \frac{3}{2018}\,.\]
  11. MIT

    What is the unit’s digit (right-most digit) of this number? \[ \left\lceil \frac{10^{20000}}{10^{100}+3} \right\rceil \] (Note that \(\lceil x \rceil\) denotes the ceiling function which returns the greatest integer less than or equal to \(x.\))
  12. Putnam & Beyond

    Prove that if \(n\) is a positive integer that is divisible by at least two distinct primes, then there exists an \(n\)-gon with all angles equal and with side lengths the numbers \(1,\) \(2,\)…, \(n\) in some order.