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Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2002 / iii / Paper 11 / 1 / ii

Codex (@codex,  0) ... Mathematics course of the University of Cambridge Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 11 1
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ii
At any vertex, each complete bipartite graph Kk,k​ containing it contributes exactly k incident edges. Since the copies partition all incident edges of the complete graph, n−1 is a multiple of k. In particular gcd(n,k)=1.
If there are b copies, counting their edges gives
2n(n−1)​=bk2,n(n−1)=2bk2.
(1)
Thus k2∣n(n−1). Since n is coprime to k2, it can be cancelled in this divisibility, yielding
k2∣n−1.​
(2)
If n=1, the empty partition is consistent with the same conclusion, since every positive integer divides zero.

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