Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /12 of 29

Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Silk Road Mathematics Competition

Determine all prime numbers pp for which there are integers mm and nn such that p=m2+n2p = m^2 + n^2 and pm3+n34p \mid m^3 + n^3 - 4.

Solution

Considering all integers m,n3|m|, |n| \le 3 we can get the solutions 2=12+122 = 1^2 + 1^2, 5=12+225 = 1^2 + 2^2 and 13=(3)2+(2)213 = (-3)^2 + (-2)^2. Now, let's prove that there is no other prime numbers satisfying the statement. We have
p=m2+n2p=(m+n)22mnmn=(m+n)2p2, p = m^2 + n^2 \Rightarrow p = (m + n)^2 - 2mn \Rightarrow mn = \frac{(m + n)^2 - p}{2},
m3+n34=(m+n)33mn(m+n)4=(m+n)3+3p(m+n)82, m^3 + n^3 - 4 = (m + n)^3 - 3mn(m + n) - 4 = \frac{-(m + n)^3 + 3p(m + n) - 8}{2},
pm3+n34p(m+n)3+8. p \mid m^3 + n^3 - 4 \Rightarrow p \mid (m + n)^3 + 8.
Hence, pm+n+2p \mid m+n+2 or p(m+n)22(m+n)+4p \mid (m+n)^2 - 2(m+n) + 4, and from last we conclude that pmnmn+2p \mid mn - m - n + 2, if we set p>2p > 2.
In a first case we have:
pm+n+2m2+n2m+n+2, p \mid m + n + 2 \Rightarrow m^2 + n^2 \le |m + n + 2|,
i.e.
m2+n2m+n+2(2m1)2+(2n1)2101m,n2. m^2 + n^2 \le m + n + 2 \Rightarrow (2m - 1)^2 + (2n - 1)^2 \le 10 \Rightarrow -1 \le m, n \le 2.
m2+n2(m+n+2)(2m+1)2+(2n+1)26, m^2 + n^2 \le -(m+n+2) \Rightarrow (2m+1)^2 + (2n+1)^2 \le -6,
which is a contradiction.
In a second case:
pmnmn+2m2+n2mnmn+2, p \mid mn - m - n + 2 \Rightarrow m^2 + n^2 \le |mn - m - n + 2|,
i.e.
m2+n2mnmn+2(2mn+1)2+3(n+1)2123m,n1. m^2 + n^2 \le mn - m - n + 2 \Rightarrow (2m - n + 1)^2 + 3(n + 1)^2 \le 12 \Rightarrow -3 \le m, n \le 1.
m2+n2(mnmn+2)(2m+n1)2+3(n1/3)220/3, m^2 + n^2 \le -(mn - m - n + 2) \Rightarrow (2m + n - 1)^2 + 3(n - 1/3)^2 \le -20/3,
which is a contradiction.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.