Given that x is a positive integer, prove that f(x)=x2+x+1 will never be divisible by 5.
I've tried a contrapostive proof so far:
Assume f(x) is divisible by 5. Then, x2+x+1=5p for some integer p.
x(x+1)+1=5p
Since x(x+1) has to be even because an even number times an odd number if even, x(x+1) is odd. Thus, p is odd (the product of 5 and an odd number is an odd number). Thus:
x(x+1)+1=5(2n+1) for some integer n.
x2+x−(10n+4)=0.
I need to show that x is NOT an integer, but I'm not sure how to proceed from here. Help?
No comments:
Post a Comment