Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Estonia

Find all integral solutions of the equation x3y3=3xy+1x^3 - y^3 = 3xy + 1.

Solution

First assume x>yx > y. Then 3xy+1=x3y3=(xy)(x2+xy+y2)(xy)3xy3xy + 1 = x^3 - y^3 = (x-y)(x^2 + xy + y^2) \ge (x-y) \cdot 3xy. Thus 3xy=x3y3111=03xy = x^3 - y^3 - 1 \ge 1 - 1 = 0 because x>yx > y. If 3xy>03xy > 0, then 3xy33xy \ge 3, hence the inequality 3xy+1(xy)3xy3xy + 1 \ge (x-y) \cdot 3xy derived above implies xy=1x-y = 1. If 3xy=03xy = 0, then either x=0x = 0 or y=0y = 0 and in both cases the only possibility is xy=1x-y = 1 again. An elementary check shows that all pairs (x,y)=(n+1,n)(x,y) = (n+1,n), where nn is an integer, satisfy the initial equation.

Now assume x=yx = y. Then the equation has no solutions, since the l.h.s. is 0 while the r.h.s. is positive.

Finally assume x<yx < y. Then the l.h.s. of the equation is negative, showing that xyxy is negative. Hence x<0x < 0 and y>0y > 0. Denoting x=z-x = z and multiplying the equation by (1)(-1) leads to new equation z3+y3=3zy1z^3 + y^3 = 3zy - 1. Then 3zy1=z3+y3=(z+y)(z2zy+y2)(z+y)zy3zy - 1 = z^3 + y^3 = (z+y)(z^2 - zy + y^2) \ge (z+y)zy. Hence z+y<3z+y < 3, giving z=y=1z = y = 1, i.e., x=1,y=1x = -1, y = 1, as the only possibility. It is easy to check that this satisfies the equation.

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