Find all of the solutions of the following equation in natural numbers:
Solution
We start with a lemma.
Lemma 1. Let be a positive integer and some positive rational numbers. If , then is itself an integer.
Proof. Suppose and where . We have
□
Now for the main problem, note that if , then and this is a solution for the equation. So we may assume that . Let , (). We have
Since , we must have
On the other hand, since , we get or . According to the lemma and playing the role of and , respectively, we get is an integer. Now if , then , which is impossible. And if , then which is again impossible.
So we must have . Hence, . This contradicts with the assumption and consequently, the only solution is .
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.