Show that $x^2+9x+20$ is divisible by 2 for all $x \in \mathbb{Z}$

divisibilityelementary-number-theoryfactoringinductionquadratics

I'm having extremely hard time getting how proof by induction should work for this case.

This is my attempt so far:

(1) When $x = 1$

$1^2 + 9 + 20 = 30$ which is divisible by 2.

(2) Now assume that it is true when $x = k$

$k^2 + 9k + 20$ is divisible by 2

(3) Then $x = k + 1$

$(k + 1)^2 + 9(k + 1) + 20 = k^2 + 2k + 1 + 9k + 9 + 20 = k^2 + 11k + 30$

And now I'm stuck. I could continue it with $k(k + 11) + 30$ but I don't understand how would that bring me closer to the solution. Maybe my approach is wrong? Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Best Answer

We have $$x^2+9x+20$$ We can factorise this to $$(x+4)(x+5)$$ Take $r=x+4$. We now have $$r(r+1)$$For some integer input $x$, and as a result, a integer input $r$, we have an expression for the product of two consecutive integers. One of these must be odd and the other must be even. We know that an even integer multiplied by an odd integer must be even, and so the output of your expression must be even too.

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