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Number theory Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Find all positive integers xx and yy such that the number (x2+y)(y2+x)(x^2 + y)(y^2 + x) is the fifth power of a prime.

Solution

Let (x2+y)(y2+x)=p5(x^2 + y)(y^2 + x) = p^5, where pp is a prime. Then x2+y=psx^2 + y = p^s, y2+x=pty^2 + x = p^t, where {s,t}={1,4}\{s, t\} = \{1, 4\} or {2,3}\{2, 3\}. In the first case we can assume without loss of generality that x<yx < y, x2+y=px^2 + y = p and y2+x=p4y^2 + x = p^4. Then p2=(x2+y)2>x+y2=p4p^2 = (x^2 + y)^2 > x + y^2 = p^4, a contradiction.
Let x<yx < y, x2+y=p2x^2 + y = p^2 and y2+x=p3y^2 + x = p^3. Note that p>xp > x. We have p2(x2+y)(x2y)+(y2+x)=x4+x=x(x+1)(x2x+1)p^2|(x^2 + y)(x^2 - y) + (y^2 + x) = x^4 + x = x(x + 1)(x^2 - x + 1) and since p>xp > x we see that p2p^2 divides (x+1)(x2x+1)(x + 1)(x^2 - x + 1). We consider two cases.

*Case 1.* If px+1p|x+1 then p=x+1p = x+1 and we easily find the solution x=2,y=5x = 2, y = 5.

*Case 2.* If px+1p \nmid x+1 then p2x2x+1p^2|x^2-x+1 and now p2x2+y=(x2x+1)+(x+y1)p^2|x^2+y = (x^2-x+1)+(x+y-1) implies that p2p^2 divides x+y1x+y-1. Hence yp2x+1>p2py \ge p^2-x+1 > p^2-p and p3=y2+x>p2(p1)2p^3 = y^2+x > p^2(p-1)^2 which is impossible.

Finally, the solutions are (2, 5) and (5, 2).

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