Problem:
Find all pairs of positive integers such that
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Solution:
Let . Due to we conclude that so is a positive integer and the condition can be written as
Since
the condition can be rewritten as
We can not have since in that case is not satisfied as the right hand side is not positive. Therefore it remains to check the cases when . If , the above condition becomes
If , the left hand side is greater than 27 and if the right hand side is smaller than 27 so there are no solutions in these cases. If , we get a solution .
If , we have
so there are no solutions in this case.
In summary, the only solution is .
Solution 2
Solution:
First, from it follows that , implying that . Note that
Therefore , which implies that so . We discuss three possible cases:
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After replacing , the condition reduces to , which is not satisfied for any positive integer .
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After replacing , the condition reduces to , which is also not satisfied for any positive integer .
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After replacing , the condition reduces to . The last inequality holds true only for and . For we get and for we get . Direct verification shows that is satisfied only for .
In summary, is the only pair of positive integers satisfying all conditions of the problem.