Does the formula $\sqrt{ 1 + 24n }$ always yield prime?

I did some experiments, using C++, investigating the values of $\sqrt{1+24n}$.

 n: 1 -> 5
 n: 2 -> 7
 n: 5 -> 11
 n: 7 -> 13
 n: 12 -> 17
 n: 15 -> 19
 n: 22 -> 23
 n: 35 -> 29
 n: 40 -> 31
 n: 57 -> 37
 n: 70 -> 41
 n: 77 -> 43
 n: 92 -> 47

I wonder, if $$\sqrt{1+24n}$$ is an integer, will it also be a prime?

Is there any interesting theory about this formula?

Thanks,
Chan

Solution 1:

How about $n=26$?

In general, take a composite number of the form $12k+1$ and take $n = k + 6k^2$ to arrive at a contradiction for your statement.

For instance,

$k=2 \Rightarrow n=26 \Rightarrow \sqrt{1+24n} = 25$

$k=4 \Rightarrow n=100 \Rightarrow \sqrt{1+24n} = 49$

$k=7 \Rightarrow n=301 \Rightarrow \sqrt{1+24n} = 85$

and so on.

There are infinite composite numbers of the form $(12k+1)$ which gives infinite counterexamples to your claim.

Your observation though is a nice one, since $24 | (p^2-1)$, $\forall \text{ primes } p > 3$. So you will find that all the primes $>3$ can be written as $\sqrt{1+24n}$.

Solution 2:

HINT $\rm\: \mod\ 24\::\ \ x^2 \equiv 1\ \Rightarrow\ (5x)^2 \equiv 1\:,\ $ but $\rm\:5\:x\:$ is prime iff $\rm\: x= \pm1$

Note that this yields a general structural reason explaining why such integers can't all be primes. Namely, the integers you describe are simply those integers that, when reduced modulo $24\:,$ yield square roots of $1\:.\:$ But such roots are closed under multiplication: $\rm\ x^2\equiv 1,\ y^2\equiv 1\ \Rightarrow\ (xy)^2\equiv 1\:.\:$ But primes are not closed under multiplication. For example, one can take any of your prime solutions and multiply them to obtain a composite solution, e.g. $\rm\ 5^2 = 25,\: \ 5\cdot 7 = 35\:,\:$ etc.

Notice that there are precisely $8\:$ square-roots of $\rm 1\ (mod\ 24)\ $ viz. $\rm \pm 1,\:\pm 5,\:\pm 7,\: \pm 11\:,\:$ corresponding (by $\rm CRT$) to the product of the two roots $\rm\ \pm 1\ (mod\ 3)\ $ times the four roots $\rm\ \pm 1,\: \pm 3\ (mod\ 8)\:.\:$ Note that these are precisely the congruence classes of all the integers coprime to $\:3\:$ and $\rm\:2\:,\:$ which includes all primes $> 3$. This explains your empirical observations above. The key observation, that $\rm\ x^2\equiv 1\ (mod\ 24)\ \iff\ x\:$ is coprime to $\:6\:,\:$ is nothing but a very special case computation of Carmichael's generalization of Euler's phi-function - see my post here for details.