Problem

Source: 2019 Saudi Arabia January Camp Test 3.3

Tags: Perfect Square, Product, recurrence relation, number theory, Sequence



Define sequence of positive integers $(a_n)$ as $a_1 = a$ and $a_{n+1} = a^2_n + 1$ for $n \ge 1$. Prove that there is no index $n$ for which $$\prod_{k=1}^{n} \left(a^2_k + a_k + 1\right)$$is a perfect square.