Wednesday, September 10, 2025

2025/022) How do you prove that $a^5−a$ is divisible by 10 (a is a natural number)

 Both a and $a^5$ are even or odd so $a^5-a$

Now if a is multiple of 5 $a^5$ is multiple of 5. so $a^5-a$ is divisible by 5

If a is not multiple of 5 then as per FLT $a^5 \equiv a \pmod 5$ so  $a^5-a$ is divisible by 5

In both cases  $a^5−a$ is divisible by 10