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Prove that there is no integer $n \geq 2$ for which $$\frac{3^n - 2^n}{n}$$ is an integer

I really don't know how to start with it except with the parity of n (n being even clearly doesn't make the fraction an integer)

Edit: If I take n=pk for a prime p then all i get is to disprove the congruence 3^k=2^k (mod p) which I don't know how to proceed with

SuperMage1
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    Hi and welcome to the forums! It will always be helpful to others, trying to help you, if you could be more specific. Explain what you have trouble understanding, and what you have tried yourself. This will aid others in helping you, both by narrowing things down, and by letting people understand what level you are on. Otherwise this question risks being down-voted, which is just unnecessary and not helpful to anyone. – Christopher.L Jun 08 '17 at 14:09
  • Try mod n's prime divisor – Mudream Jun 08 '17 at 14:38
  • If I take n=pk for a prime p then all i get is the congruence

    3^k=2^k (mod p) which I don't know how to proceed with

    – SuperMage1 Jun 08 '17 at 14:39

2 Answers2

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Hint : try to pick Prime $p>3$ s.t. $n = pk$ and $\gcd(p-1, n) = 1$

The existence is below

pick the smallest prime divisor $p$ of n, since $2, 3 \nmid 3^n - 2^n$, so $p>3$

More steps and why pick $\gcd(p-1, n) = 1$ :

Let $a = 2^{-1}3 \pmod{p}$, by $a^{p-1} = 1 \pmod{p}$, $a^n = 1 \pmod{p}$, we can obtain $a = a^{\gcd(p-1, n)} = 1 \pmod{p}$, but $2^{-1}3 \neq 1 \pmod{p}$.

Mudream
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Suppose prime $\,\color{#0a0}{p\mid n\mid 3^n\!-2^n}.\,$ Then $p$ is odd so $\bmod p\!:\ 2$ is invertible so $\,3/2\,$ exists so

$$ \bmod p\!:\ \ (3/2)^{\large p-1}\!\equiv \color{#0a0}{1\equiv (3/2)^{\large n}}\Rightarrow\, (3/2)^{\large \color{#c00}{(p-1,n)}}\equiv 1$$

However if $\,p\,$ is the least prime factor of $\,n\,$ then $\,\color{#c00}{(p-1,n) = 1}\ $ therefore

$$ 1 \equiv (3/2)^{\large \color{#c00}{(p-1,n)}}\!\equiv 3/2\,\Rightarrow\,2\equiv 3\,\Rightarrow\,p\mid 1\Rightarrow\!\Leftarrow$$

Remark $\ $ The key idea is: $ $ if $\, a^n\! = 1,\ a\neq 1\,$ then $\:a\:$ has order $\,\ge\,$ the least prime factor $\,p\mid n.\,$ In particular this implies that $\rm\ a^{p-1}\!\ne 1,\, $ as above.

This is a slight variant of the proof I gave in this answer. See there for generalizations.

Bill Dubuque
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