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Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all positive integers a,b,ca, b, c and prime number pp such that
73p2+6=9a2+17b2+17c2. 73p^2 + 6 = 9a^2 + 17b^2 + 17c^2.

Solution

Suppose that bcb \le c, we distinguish two cases regarding the value of pp

1. if p2p \ne 2 implies pp is odd, so p21(mod8)p^2 \equiv 1 \pmod 8. It follows that
a2+b2+c29a2+17b2+17c273p2+67(mod8).(2) a^2 + b^2 + c^2 \equiv 9a^2 + 17b^2 + 17c^2 \equiv 73p^2 + 6 \equiv 7 \pmod 8. \quad (2)
Otherwise, a2+b2+c20,1,2,3,4,5,6(mod8)a^2 + b^2 + c^2 \equiv 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 \pmod 8, which is contracts (2).

2. if p=2p = 2 then 9a2+17b2+17c2=73p2+6=2989a^2 + 17b^2 + 17c^2 = 73p^2 + 6 = 298. Since a,b,c1a, b, c \ge 1, we have
298=9a2+17b2+17c226+17c2 298 = 9a^2 + 17b^2 + 17c^2 \ge 26 + 17c^2
, which means c4c \le 4. We investigate two cases
* if bc=4b \le c = 4 then 9a2+17b2=269a^2 + 17b^2 = 26, which means a=b=1a = b = 1.
* if bc3b \le c \le 3 then it is easy to check that there is no solutions satisfied.
Hence, the only solution satisfied (1) is (a,b,c,p)=(1,1,2,2)(a, b, c, p) = (1, 1, 2, 2). \square

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