Problem

Source: 2024 IRN-SGP-TWN Friendly Math Competition P4

Tags: function, number theory



Consider the function $f_k:\mathbb{Z}^{+}\rightarrow\mathbb{Z}^{+}$ satisfying \[f_k(x)=x+k\varphi(x)\]where $\varphi(x)$ is Euler's totient function, that is, the number of positive integers up to $x$ coprime to $x$. We define a sequence $a_1,a_2,...,a_{10}$ with $a_1=c$, and $a_n=f_k(a_{n-1}) \text{ }\forall \text{ } 2\le n\le 10$ Is it possible to choose the initial value $c\ne 1$ such that each term is a multiple of the previous, if (a) $k=2025$ ? (b) $k=2065$ ? Proposed by chorn