Or search by topic
If g(n)=(1+8^n-3^n) is divisible by 6, then (1+8^n-3^n-6^n) is also divisble by 6. It can be verified that
g(n)-73g(n-2)+576g(n-4)=504
for all positive integers n> 3. Since g(1) and g(3) are divisible by 6, it follows that g(5) is also. By induction, it can be shown that for all odd n, g(n) is divisible by 6. Since g(2) and g(4) are not divisible by 6, this is not the case for even n.
An alternative approach is to use the facts that powers of odd numbers are always odd; powers of even numbers are always even; also the difference of two odd numbers is even. Hence N=1^n+8^n-3^n-6^n is even (odd + even - odd - even).
It remains to decide whether or not N is divisible by 3.
N \equiv 1 + (-1)^n - 0 - 0 (mod 3)
This shows that N \equiv 0 (mod 3) if n is odd and hence N will be divisible by 6 for all odd values of n. However, N \equiv 2 (mod 3) if n is even and so N cannot be divisible by 6 for even values of n.
In turn 4 people throw away three nuts from a pile and hide a quarter of the remainder finally leaving a multiple of 4 nuts. How many nuts were at the start?