Is Any Carmichael Number Divisible by a Perfect Square Greater Than 1?

  • Thread starter Thread starter CornMuffin
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Square
Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
1 reply · 3K views
CornMuffin
Messages
51
Reaction score
5

Homework Statement


Prove or disprove (and salvage if possible):
No Carmichael Number is divisible by a perfect square > 1


Homework Equations


A composite number n is called a Carmichael number if and only if [tex]a^{n-1} \equiv 1 (mod \ n)[/tex] for all [tex]2\leq a \leq n-1[/tex] such that gcd(a,n) = 1

Carmichael numbers comes from fermat's little theorem that states that all prime numbers have this property. Carmichael numbers are numbers that have this property but are composite.


The Attempt at a Solution


I have been trying to figure out a way to do this problem for awhile, but no luck
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What if there exists a prime p such that p2 divides a?

You might want to draw some inspiration from the simplest case (what if a=p2)