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Number theory Difficulty 4.8 AIME Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of nonnegative integers (a,b)(a, b) such that
a+2bb2=2a+a2+2a+12b a + 2b - b^{2} = \sqrt{2a + a^{2} + |2a + 1 - 2b|}

Solution

It is clear that 2a+12b2a + 1 - 2b is an odd integer, hence
2a+12b1 |2a + 1 - 2b| \geq 1
If (a,b)(a, b) is a pair of nonnegative integers satisfying
a+2bb2=2a+a2+2a+12b a + 2b - b^{2} = \sqrt{2a + a^{2} + |2a + 1 - 2b|}
then we get
a+2bb22a+a2+1=(a+1)2=a+1 a + 2b - b^{2} \geq \sqrt{2a + a^{2} + 1} = \sqrt{(a + 1)^{2}} = a + 1
Therefore 0(b1)20 \geq (b - 1)^{2}, that is b=1b = 1.

For b=1b = 1, the equation becomes
a+1=2a+a2+2a1(1) a + 1 = \sqrt{2a + a^{2} + |2a - 1|} \tag{1}
Equation (1) is equivalent to 2a1=1|2a - 1| = 1. We get a=0a = 0 or a=1a = 1.

The desired pairs are (a,b)=(0,1),(1,1)(a, b) = (0, 1), (1, 1).

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