18 Chapter 2

Practice

129 Problem Shew that 100 divides 1110 − 1. 136 Problem Shew that for any natural number n, there is another natural number x
such that each term of the sequence

130 Problem Shew that 271958 − 108878 + 101528 is divisible by 26460. x

x + 1, xx + 1, xx + 1, . . .

is divisible by n.
131 Problem Shew that 7 divides

22225555 + 55552222 . 137 Problem Shew that 1492n − 1770n − 1863n + 2141n is divisible by 1946 for all
positive integers n.

132 Problem Shew that if k is an odd positive integer

138 Problem Decompose 1 + x + x2 + x3 + · · · + x624 into factors.
1k + 2k + · · · + nk
139 Problem Shew that if 2n − 1 is prime, then n must be prime. Primes of this form
is divisible by are called Mersenne primes.
1 + 2 + · · · + n.

140 Problem Shew that if 2n + 1 is a prime, then n must be a power of 2. Primes of this
133 Problem Shew that form are called Fermat primes.

(x + y)5 − x5 − y5 = 5xy(x + y)(x2 + xy + y2 ). 141 Problem Let n be a positive integer and x > y. Prove that

xn − yn
134 Problem Shew that > nyn−1 .
x−y

(x + a)7 − x7 − a7 = 7xa(x + a)(x2 + xa + a2 )2 . By choosing suitable values of x and y, further prove than

€ 1
Šn € 1
Šn+1
135 Problem Shew that 1+ < 1+
n n+1

A = x9999 + x8888 + x7777 + · · · + x1111 + 1 and € 1

Šn+1 € 1
Šn+2
9 8 7 2 1+ > 1+
is divisible by B = x + x + x + · · · + x + x + 1. n n+1

2.5 Logarithms
142 Definition Let a > 0, a 6= 1 be a real number. A number x is called the logarithm of a number N to the base a if ax = N. In
this case we write x = loga N.

We enumerate some useful properties of logarithms. We assume that a > 0, a 6= 1, M > 0, N > 0.

aloga N = N (2.23)
loga MN = loga M + loga N (2.24)
M
loga = loga M − loga N (2.25)
N
loga N α = α loga N, α any real number (2.26)
1
logaβ N = loga N, β 6= 0 a real number (2.27)
β
(loga b)(logb a) = 1, b > 0, b 6= 1. (2.28)

143 Example Given that log8√2 1024 is a rational number, find it.

Solution: We have
2 20
log8√2 1024 = log27/2 1024 = log2 210 =
7 7