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AMC 10 A

Number theory Difficulty 3.7 AMC 10/12 Find the answer United States

How many ordered pairs of integers (m,n)(m, n) satisfy n2−49=m\sqrt{n^2 - 49} = m?

Pick one

Solution

Notice that m≥0m \ge 0, and if (m,n)(m, n) is a solution, then so is (m,−n)(m, -n). Assume n≥0n \ge 0. Squaring both sides of the given equation gives n2−49=m2n^2 - 49 = m^2, so n2−m2=(n−m)(n+m)=49n^2 - m^2 = (n - m)(n + m) = 49. Because n−mn - m and n+mn + m are positive integers, either n−m=n+m=7n - m = n + m = 7, or n−m=1n - m = 1 and n+m=49n + m = 49. The first case gives (0,7)(0, 7) as a solution, and the second case gives (24,25)(24, 25) as a solution. Because nn is squared in the given equation, the corresponding negative values for nn also give solutions: (0,−7)(0, -7) and (24,−25)(24, -25). There are 4 solutions in all.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.