Introduction to Cryptography: Practice Problems

September 28 2010

Divisibility
1. Prove that the product of k consecutive integers is divisible by k!.

2. Prove that n2 −n is divisible by 2 for every integer n; that n3 −n is divisible by 6; that n5 −n is divisible by 30.

3. Prove that 4 does not divide n2 + 2 for any integer n.

4. Prove that the square of any integer is of the form 3k or 3k + 1 but not of the form 3k + 2.

5. If x and y are prime to 3, prove that x2 + y 2 cannot be a perfect square. Hint: Use 4.

6. If x and y are odd, prove that x2 + y 2 cannot be a perfect square.

7. Prove that if n is odd, n2 − 1 is divisible by 8.

8. Prove that if x and y are odd, then x2 + y 2 is even but not divisible by 4.

9. How many integers x, y exist such that x, y satisfy x + y = 100 and (x, y) = 3?

10. How many integers x, y exist such that x, y satisfy x + y = 100 and (x, y) = 5?