IMO 2024 Q2 #
Determine all pairs $(a,b)$ of positive integers for which there exist positive integers $g$ and $N$ such that [ \gcd(a^n + b, b^n + a) = g ] holds for all integers $n \ge N$.
We consider the sequence modulo ab+1; if the exponent is -1 modulo φ(ab+1), the terms
are zero modulo ab+1, so ab+1 divides g, and all sufficiently large terms, so all terms,
from which we conclude that a=b=1.