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Number theory Difficulty 7.3 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Asia Pacific Mathematics Olympiad (APMO)

Find all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of positive integers such that a3a^{3} is a multiple of b2b^{2} and b1b-1 is a multiple of a1a-1. Note: An integer nn is said to be a multiple of an integer mm if there is an integer kk such that n=kmn=k m.

Solutions — 3

Solution 1

By inspection, we see that the pairs (a,b)(a, b) with a=ba = b are solutions, and so too are the pairs (a,1)(a, 1). We will see that these are the only solutions.

- Case 1. Consider the case b<ab < a. Since b1b-1 is a multiple of a1a-1, it follows that b=1b = 1. This yields the second set of solutions described above.

- Case 2. This leaves the case bab \geq a. Since the positive integer a3a^{3} is a multiple of b2b^{2}, there is a positive integer cc such that a3=b2ca^{3} = b^{2} c.

Note that ab1a \equiv b \equiv 1 modulo a1a-1. So we have
1a3=b2cc(moda1) 1 \equiv a^{3} = b^{2} c \equiv c \quad (\bmod a-1)
If c<ac < a, then we must have c=1c = 1, hence, a3=b2a^{3} = b^{2}. So there is a positive integer dd such that a=d2a = d^{2} and b=d3b = d^{3}. Now a1b1a-1 \mid b-1 yields d21d31d^{2}-1 \mid d^{3}-1. This implies that d+1d(d+1)+1d+1 \mid d(d+1)+1, which is impossible.

If cac \geq a, then b2cb2aa3=b2cb^{2} c \geq b^{2} a \geq a^{3} = b^{2} c. So there's equality throughout, implying a=c=ba = c = b. This yields the first set of solutions described above.

Therefore, the solutions described above are the only solutions.

Solution 2

We will start by showing that there are positive integers x,c,dx, c, d such that a=x2cda = x^{2} c d and b=x3cb = x^{3} c. Let g=gcd(a,b)g = \operatorname{gcd}(a, b) so that a=gda = g d and b=gxb = g x for some coprime dd and xx. Then, b2a3b^{2} \mid a^{3} is equivalent to g2x2g3d3g^{2} x^{2} \mid g^{3} d^{3}, which is equivalent to x2gd3x^{2} \mid g d^{3}. Since xx and dd are coprime, this implies x2gx^{2} \mid g. Hence, g=x2cg = x^{2} c for some cc, giving a=x2cda = x^{2} c d and b=x3cb = x^{3} c as required.

Now, it remains to find all positive integers x,c,dx, c, d satisfying
x2cd1x3c1 x^{2} c d - 1 \mid x^{3} c - 1
That is, x3c1(modx2cd1)x^{3} c \equiv 1 \left(\bmod x^{2} c d - 1\right). Assuming that this congruence holds, it follows that dx3cdx(modx2cd1)d \equiv x^{3} c d \equiv x \left(\bmod x^{2} c d - 1\right). Then, either x=dx = d or xdx2cd1x - d \geq x^{2} c d - 1 or dxx2cd1d - x \geq x^{2} c d - 1.

- If x=dx = d then b=ab = a.
- If xdx2cd1x - d \geq x^{2} c d - 1, then xdx2cd1x1xdx - d \geq x^{2} c d - 1 \geq x - 1 \geq x - d. Hence, each of these inequalities must in fact be an equality. This implies that x=c=d=1x = c = d = 1, which implies that a=b=1a = b = 1.
- If dxx2cd1d - x \geq x^{2} c d - 1, then dxx2cd1d1dxd - x \geq x^{2} c d - 1 \geq d - 1 \geq d - x. Hence, each of these inequalities must in fact be an equality. This implies that x=c=1x = c = 1, which implies that b=1b = 1.

Hence the only solutions are the pairs (a,b)(a, b) such that a=ba = b or b=1b = 1. These pairs can be checked to satisfy the given conditions. \square

Solution 3

All answers are (n,n)(n, n) and (n,1)(n, 1) where nn is any positive integer. They all clearly work.

To show that these are all solutions, note that we can easily eliminate the case a=1a = 1 or b=1b = 1. Thus, assume that a,b1a, b \neq 1 and aba \neq b. By the second divisibility, we see that a1baa-1 \mid b-a. However, gcd(a,b)ba\operatorname{gcd}(a, b) \mid b-a and a1a-1 is relatively prime to gcd(a,b)\operatorname{gcd}(a, b). This implies that (a1)gcd(a,b)ba(a-1) \operatorname{gcd}(a, b) \mid b-a, which implies gcd(a,b)b1a11\operatorname{gcd}(a, b) \left\lvert\, \frac{b-1}{a-1} - 1\right..

The last relation implies that gcd(a,b)<b1a1\operatorname{gcd}(a, b) < \frac{b-1}{a-1}, since the right-hand side are positive. However, due to the first divisibility,
gcd(a,b)3=gcd(a3,b3)gcd(b2,b3)=b2. \operatorname{gcd}(a, b)^{3} = \operatorname{gcd}\left(a^{3}, b^{3}\right) \geq \operatorname{gcd}\left(b^{2}, b^{3}\right) = b^{2} .
Combining these two inequalities, we get that
b23<b1a1<2ba. b^{\frac{2}{3}} < \frac{b-1}{a-1} < 2 \frac{b}{a} .
This implies a<2b13a < 2 b^{\frac{1}{3}}. However, b2a3b^{2} \mid a^{3} gives ba32b \leq a^{\frac{3}{2}}. This forces
a<2(a32)13=2aa<4. a < 2\left(a^{\frac{3}{2}}\right)^{\frac{1}{3}} = 2 \sqrt{a} \Longrightarrow a < 4 .
Extracting a=2,3a = 2, 3 by hand yields no additional solution. \square

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