Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
A number nn is called bummed out if there is exactly one ordered pair of positive integers (x,y)(x, y) such that
x2/y+y2/x=n. \left\lfloor x^{2} / y\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor y^{2} / x\right\rfloor=n .
Find all bummed out numbers.

Solution

Solution:
Suppose nn is bummed out. If (a,b)(a, b) is one solution for (x,y)(x, y) to the given equation x2/y+y2/x=n\left\lfloor x^{2} / y\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor y^{2} / x\right\rfloor=n, then (b,a)(b, a) is another, so the unique solution (a,b)(a, b) better have the property that a=ba=b and n=2a2n=2 a \geq 2. In particular, nn is an even positive integer.

Now, if n=2a12n=2 a \geq 12, then setting x=a15,y=a+17x=a-1 \geq 5, y=a+1 \geq 7, we have
x2y+y2x=a3+4a+1+a+3+4a1=2a=n \left\lfloor\frac{x^{2}}{y}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{y^{2}}{x}\right\rfloor=\left\lfloor a-3+\frac{4}{a+1}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor a+3+\frac{4}{a-1}\right\rfloor=2 a=n
so nn cannot be bummed out.

Moreover, 12/2+22/1=4\left\lfloor 1^{2} / 2\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor 2^{2} / 1\right\rfloor=4, so 4 is not bummed out. The only possibilities left are 2,6,82,6,8, and 10.

To check these, note that
n=x2y+y2x>2+x22y+x22y+y2x2+3x43 n=\left\lfloor\frac{x^{2}}{y}\right\rfloor+\left\lfloor\frac{y^{2}}{x}\right\rfloor>-2+\frac{x^{2}}{2 y}+\frac{x^{2}}{2 y}+\frac{y^{2}}{x} \geq-2+\frac{3 x}{\sqrt[3]{4}}
so
x<433(n+2)<.53(n+2) x<\frac{\sqrt[3]{4}}{3}(n+2)<.53(n+2)
and similarly for yy. So we only have to check x,y.53(10+2)=6x, y \leq\lfloor .53(10+2)\rfloor=6:

x\yx \backslash y123456
1249162536
244591218
39567913
416978911
52512991011
6361813111112

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.