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Nonnegative Exponent Evaluation Nuance (Posted on 2023-06-18) Difficulty: 4 of 5
Find the possible nonnegative integer values of X so that:
  • 5X + 3
corresponds to a nonnegative integer power of 2.

Prove that no other value of X conforms to the given conditions.

Note: Adapted from a problem appearing at Spanish Mathematical Olympiad in 1986.

See The Solution Submitted by K Sengupta    
Rating: 5.0000 (1 votes)

Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
Some Thoughts an observation | Comment 1 of 2
It looks like x = {0,1,3} equate to 2^{2,3,7}

We can show that the expression 5^x + 3 is always divisible by 4:
Since 5 = 4+1, expand (t+1)^x, where t is 4 ...
(4+1)^x will always be a series of terms with 4 as a factor and then one more term of 1, so this is always 1 mod 4.  Adding 3 makes it 0 mod 4.
Maybe playing with the Pascal's Triangle coefficients and the exponents might show a pattern

  Posted by Larry on 2023-06-18 10:05:15
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