16.5k views
4 votes
Prove that 25^11-5^19 is divisible by 31

User Sabito
by
5.9k points

1 Answer

5 votes

First get everything to have the same base of 5

25^11 - 5^19

(5^2)^11 - 5^19

5^(2*11) - 5^19

5^22 - 5^19

Now factor out the GCF 5^19 to get

5^22 - 5^19

5^(19+3) - 5^(19+0)

5^19*5^3 - 5^19*5^0

5^19(5^3 - 5^0)

5^19(125 - 1)

5^19*(124)

At this point, we factor the 124 into 31*4 to end up with this full factorization: 5^19*31*4

Therefore, 25^11 - 5^19 is equivalent to 5^19*31*4

Since 31 is a factor of the original expression, this means the original expression is divisible by 31.

User MrMalith
by
5.6k points
Welcome to QAmmunity.org, where you can ask questions and receive answers from other members of our community.