1999 AIME Problem 1

Attempt Problem 1 of the 1999 AIME below, then check your answer against the professionally curated solution from LIVE by Po-Shen Loh. You can also try the full timed exam, view all 1999 AIME solutions, or check the answer key.

All problems are used with official legal permission of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA).

1.

Find the smallest prime that is the fifth term of an increasing arithmetic sequence, all four preceding terms also being prime.
Answer: 29
Concepts:primearithmetic sequencedivisibility
Small hint:
If the common difference is not a multiple of 3,3, one of the first three terms is divisible by 33
Big hint:
The difference must be a multiple of 6,6, so try five-term progressions with difference 66 starting from small primes
Solution:
Let the terms be p,p, p+d,p + d, …,\ldots, p+4d.p + 4d. The even prime cannot be the first term: an even difference makes the second term even, while an odd difference makes the third term even. If dd were odd, consecutive terms would have opposite parity, so some term other than the first would be even and greater than 22 — impossible. If dd were not a multiple of 3,3, then p,p, p+d,p + d, p+2dp + 2d would cover all residues mod 3,3, so some term would be divisible by 3;3; that term would have to be 33 itself, forcing p=3,p = 3, but then p+3d=3(1+d)p + 3d = 3(1 + d) is composite. Hence dd is divisible by 6.6.
With d≥6d \ge 6 the fifth term is at least p+24.p + 24. Trying p=5p = 5 and d=6d = 6 gives 5,11,17,23,29,5, 11, 17, 23, 29, all prime, and no smaller fifth term is possible since p≥5p \ge 5 (the starts p=2p = 2 and p=3p = 3 fail as above). The answer is 29.29.
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