Le Monde puzzle [#1063]

A simple (summertime?!) arithmetic Le Monde mathematical puzzle

1. A “powerful integer” is such that all its prime divisors are at least with multiplicity 2. Are there two powerful integers in a row, i.e. such that both n and n+1 are powerful?
   
2.  Are there odd integers n such that n² – 1 is a powerful integer ?

The first question can be solved by brute force.  Here is a R code that leads to the solution:

isperfz <- function(n){ 
  divz=primeFactors(n) 
  facz=unique(divz) 
  ordz=rep(0,length(facz)) 
  for (i in 1:length(facz)) 
    ordz[i]=sum(divz==facz[i]) 
  return(min(ordz)>1)}

lesperf=NULL
for (t in 4:1e5)
if (isperfz(t)) lesperf=c(lesperf,t)
twinz=lesperf[diff(lesperf)==1]

with solutions 8, 288, 675, 9800, 12167.

The second puzzle means rerunning the code only on integers n²-1…

[1] 8
[1] 288
[1] 675
[1] 9800
[1] 235224
[1] 332928
[1] 1825200
[1] 11309768

except that I cannot exceed n²=10⁸. (The Le Monde puzzles will now stop for a month, just like about everything in France!, and then a new challenge will take place. Stay tuned.)