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Number theory Difficulty 6.0 National olympiad Prove it Greece

Prove that there exists integer n1n \ge 1, such that the number of the pairs (a,b)(a, b) of positive integers satisfying the equation
1ab1a+1b=1n \frac{1}{a-b} - \frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} = \frac{1}{n}
is greater than 2024.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

We seek solutions (a,b)(a, b) with ab=kba - b = k b, that is a=(k+1)ba = (k+1) b for some integer k>0k > 0. Then the left part of the given equation is equal to
1kb1(k+1)b+1b=1b(1k1k+1+1)=1bk(k+1)+1k(k+1) \frac{1}{k b} - \frac{1}{(k+1) b} + \frac{1}{b} = \frac{1}{b} \left( \frac{1}{k} - \frac{1}{k+1} + 1 \right) = \frac{1}{b} \cdot \frac{k(k+1)+1}{k(k+1)}
and so we have
b=(k(k+1)+1)nk(k+1)=n+nk(k+1). b = \frac{(k(k + 1) + 1)n}{k(k + 1)} = n + \frac{n}{k(k + 1)}.
Therefore, it is enough to select as nn a positive integer with more than 2024 positive integers of the form k(k+1)k(k + 1). In fact, for example, if (pn)(p_n) is the sequence of primes with p1=2,p2=3,p_1=2, p_2=3, \dots, then the number
n=p1(p1+1)p2(p2+1)p2025(p2025+1), n = p_1(p_1+1) p_2(p_2+1) \cdots p_{2025}(p_{2025}+1),
satisfies the problem.

Solution 2

The equation is written in the form
a2ab+b2ab(ab)=1n. \frac{a^2 - ab + b^2}{ab(a - b)} = \frac{1}{n}.
We put d=(a,b)d = (a, b), and so a=dx,b=dya = d x, b = d y and the equation becomes:
xy(xy)x2xy+y2=nd \frac{x y (x - y)}{x^2 - x y + y^2} = \frac{n}{d}
If (n,d)=S(n, d) = S, then n=Sun = S u and d=Svd = S v. Therefore it follows
xy(xy)=u,x2xy+y2=v. x y (x - y) = u, \quad x^2 - x y + y^2 = v.
By putting xy=sx y = s and xy=tx - y = t, the two relations take the form st=us t = u and t23s=vt^2 - 3 s = v. Then x=syx = \frac{s}{y} and syy=ty2+yts=0\frac{s}{y} - y = t \Leftrightarrow y^2 + y t - s = 0.
The discriminant of the last equation is Δ=t2+4s\Delta = t^2 + 4 s. In order to integer solution, it is enough to choose s=k(t+k)s = k (t + k) for some positive integer kk. Then the equation has the solution y=ky = k.
This gives x=k+tx = k + t, which in turn gives u=st=kt(k+t)u = s t = k t (k + t) and v=t23k(t+k)v = t^2 - 3 k (t + k).
We should have v>0v > 0 (one way to achieve this is, k=1k = 1 and t4t \ge 4).
The construction now has as follows: We select a positive integer nn with 2024 positive integers of the form kt(k+t)k t (k + t). For each one of them is determined a triad (x,y,v)(x, y, v). From this triad is determined a pair (a,b)(a, b) satisfying the equation.

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