Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Find all rational numbers rr and all integers kk, such that the equation r(5k7r)=3r(5k - 7r) = 3 is satisfied.

Solution

Obviously, r0r \ne 0. Let us write rr as a reduced fraction r=mnr = \frac{m}{n} and let us assume that nn is a positive integer. Then mn(5k7m)=3\frac{m}{n}(5k - 7m) = 3 or, equivalently, m(5kn7m)=3n2m(5kn - 7m) = 3n^2. Hence, mm divides 3n23n^2. Since mm and nn are coprime, we conclude that mm divides 33. Let us consider four cases.

If m=1m = 1 we have 5kn7=3n25kn - 7 = 3n^2 or n(5k3n)=7n(5k - 3n) = 7, which implies that nn divides 77. Since nn is a positive integer, it equals either 11 or 77. When n=1n=1 we get k=2k=2 and r=1r=1. When n=7n=7 the equation 5k=225k=22 gives us no integer solutions.

If m=3m=3 we have n(5kn)=21n(5k-n) = 21. We see that nn divides 2121. Again, mm and nn are coprime, so nn divides 77. Once more we have either n=1n=1 or n=7n=7. This time we obtain the solution only in the second case: k=2k=2, r=37r=\frac{3}{7}.

If m=1m=-1 we have n(5k+3n)=7n(5k+3n) = -7, so nn divides 77. When n=1n=1 the solution is k=2k=-2, r=1r=-1. When n=7n=7 there are no solutions.

If m=3m=-3 we have n(5k+n)=21n(5k+n) = -21. As mm and nn are coprime, nn divides 77. We find one last solution, k=2k=-2, r=37r=-\frac{3}{7}.

All possible pairs (k,r)(k, r) are (2,1)(2, 1), (2,1)(-2, -1), (2,37)(2, \frac{3}{7}) and (2,37)(-2, -\frac{3}{7}).

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