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Number theory Difficulty 6.4 National olympiad Prove it Romania

Determine the four-digit natural numbers abcd\overline{abcd}, for which there exists a prime number pp, such that cdab=p+2\overline{cd} - \overline{ab} = p + 2 and ab4+cd=p2\sqrt{\overline{ab} - 4} + \sqrt{\overline{cd}} = p^2.

Solution

Since ab4+cd<10+10=20\sqrt{\overline{ab} - 4} + \sqrt{\overline{cd}} < 10 + 10 = 20, we obtain p=2p = 2 or p=3p = 3.
If p=2p = 2, then cd=ab+4\overline{cd} = \overline{ab} + 4 and ab4+ab+4=4\sqrt{\overline{ab} - 4} + \sqrt{\overline{ab} + 4} = 4, therefore ab=5\overline{ab} = 5, false.
If p=3p = 3, then cd=ab+5\overline{cd} = \overline{ab} + 5 and ab4+ab+5=9\sqrt{\overline{ab} - 4} + \sqrt{\overline{ab} + 5} = 9. We obtain the unique solution ab=20\overline{ab} = 20, thus abcd=2025\overline{abcd} = 2025.

Alternative solution:
Since ab4\overline{ab}-4, cd\overline{cd} and ab4+cd\sqrt{\overline{ab}-4}+\sqrt{\overline{cd}} are integers, the natural numbers k,nk, n exist, such that ab4=k2\overline{ab}-4 = k^2 and cd=n2\overline{cd} = n^2, hence k+n=p2k+n = p^2. (1)
We obtain p+6=cdab+4=n2k2=(nk)(n+k)p+6 = \overline{cd} - \overline{ab} + 4 = n^2 - k^2 = (n-k)(n+k). Using (1), we deduce that p+6=(nk)p2p+6 = (n-k) \cdot p^2, therefore p(p+6)p \mid (p+6), so p{2,3}p \in \{2, 3\}.
If p=2p = 2, we obtain k=1k = 1 and n=3n = 3, therefore ab=5\overline{ab} = 5, which is false. If p=3p = 3, we obtain k=4k = 4 and n=5n = 5, so ab=20\overline{ab} = 20 and cd=25\overline{cd} = 25, which satisfies the hypothesis. Therefore, the solution is 2025.

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