On the number of divisors of \(x^2 + x + A\) (Q1214453): Difference between revisions

Let \(A\in \{3,5,11,17,41\}\). It is shown that the number of non-trivial positive integer divisors of \(x^2 + x + A\) where \(x\) is a positive integer, is equal to the number of distinct solutions in integers \(m\ne 0\), \(n\ne 0\) of \[ n^2 = 4mx - 4Am^2 + (m + 1)^2. \tag{1} \] For instance, if \(0\le x <A - 1\) then (1) clearly has no solution other than \(m = 0\), \(n^2 = 1\), hence \(x^2 + x + A\) is prime. Corollary: \(x^2 + x + A\) is composite it and only if \(x\) can be represented in the form \(x= as - ar + Arb\) where \(ar - bs = 1\), \(br \ne 0\) \((a,b,r,s\) integers). A similar result holds for \(x^2 + x + A\), \(A >0\) provided that the class number of the field of \(\sqrt{4A+1}\) is 1. The integers \(a, b, r, \)s must then satisfy certain auxiliary conditions.