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Number theory Difficulty 6.6 National Olympiad Prove it Thailand

Let p5p \ge 5 be a positive prime number. Show that there exists an integer t{1,2,...,p}t \in \{1, 2, ..., p\} such that the equation
x2=yp12+t x^2 = y^{\frac{p-1}{2}} + t
has no integer solutions.

Solution

We consider three cases depending on the value of pp.

Case 1. p1(mod4)p \equiv 1 \pmod 4.

Picking t=2t = 2 works. Since x2x^2 and yp12y^{\frac{p-1}{2}} are perfect squares, their difference cannot be 22.

Case 2. p3(mod4)p \equiv 3 \pmod 4 and p>7p > 7.

Note that yp121,0y^{\frac{p-1}{2}} \equiv -1, 0 or 1(modp)1 \pmod p. Thus, it suffices to show that there exists tt such that t1,t,t+1t-1, t, t+1 are quadratic nonresidues modulo pp. To this end, note that the squares 1,25,491, 25, 49 form an arithmetic progression with common difference 2424. Let cc be the inverse of 2424 modulo pp, then
c+1c(1+24)25c(modp),c+2c(1+48)49c(modp), c+1 \equiv c(1+24) \equiv 25c \pmod p, c+2 \equiv c(1+48) \equiv 49c \pmod p,
which implies (cp)=(c+1p)=(c+2p)\left(\frac{c}{p}\right) = \left(\frac{c+1}{p}\right) = \left(\frac{c+2}{p}\right). So when (cp)=1\left(\frac{c}{p}\right) = -1, picking tc+1(modp)t \equiv c+1 \pmod p works.
On the other hand, when (cp)=1\left(\frac{c}{p}\right) = 1, then since p3(mod4)p \equiv 3 \pmod 4 we have (1p)=1\left(\frac{-1}{p}\right) = -1, so picking tc1(modp)t \equiv -c-1 \pmod p works.

Case 3. p=7p=7. We will show that t=7t=7 works, i.e. that the equation
x2=y3+7 x^2 = y^3 + 7
has no integer solution. Suppose the contrary. If yy is even, then x23(mod4)x^2 \equiv 3 \pmod 4, which is impossible. Thus yy is odd. Write the equation as x2+1=(y+2)(y22y+4)x^2 + 1 = (y+2)(y^2 - 2y + 4), and note that y22y+4=(y1)2+33(mod4)y^2 - 2y + 4 = (y-1)^2 + 3 \equiv 3 \pmod 4. So there exists a prime q3(mod4)q \equiv 3 \pmod 4 such that qy22y+4q \mid y^2 - 2y + 4.
However, since qy22y+4q \mid y^2 - 2y + 4, so qx2+1q \mid x^2 + 1, and thus (1q)=1\left(\frac{-1}{q}\right) = 1, which contradicts with q3(mod4)q \equiv 3 \pmod 4. Therefore the equation has no integer solutions.

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