Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Find all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of positive integers such that
11aba3b312ab 11 a b \leq a^{3}-b^{3} \leq 12 a b

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Solution:
Let ab=ta-b=t. Due to a3b311aba^{3}-b^{3} \geq 11 a b we conclude that a>ba>b so tt is a positive integer and the condition can be written as
11b(b+t)t[b2+b(b+t)+(b+t)2]12b(b+t) 11 b(b+t) \leq t\left[b^{2}+b(b+t)+(b+t)^{2}\right] \leq 12 b(b+t)
Since
t[b2+b(b+t)+(b+t)2]=t(b2+b2+bt+b2+2bt+t2)=3tb(b+t)+t3 t\left[b^{2}+b(b+t)+(b+t)^{2}\right]=t\left(b^{2}+b^{2}+b t+b^{2}+2 b t+t^{2}\right)=3 t b(b+t)+t^{3}
the condition can be rewritten as
(113t)b(b+t)t3(123t)b(b+t) (11-3 t) b(b+t) \leq t^{3} \leq(12-3 t) b(b+t)
We can not have t4t \geq 4 since in that case t3(123t)b(b+t)t^{3} \leq(12-3 t) b(b+t) is not satisfied as the right hand side is not positive. Therefore it remains to check the cases when t{1,2,3}t \in\{1,2,3\}. If t=3t=3, the above condition becomes
2b(b+3)273b(b+3) 2 b(b+3) \leq 27 \leq 3 b(b+3)
If b3b \geq 3, the left hand side is greater than 27 and if b=1b=1 the right hand side is smaller than 27 so there are no solutions in these cases. If b=2b=2, we get a solution (a,b)=(5,2)(a, b)=(5,2).
If t2t \leq 2, we have
(113t)b(b+t)(116)1(1+1)=10>t3 (11-3 t) b(b+t) \geq(11-6) \cdot 1 \cdot(1+1)=10>t^{3}
so there are no solutions in this case.
In summary, the only solution is (a,b)=(5,2)(a, b)=(5,2).

Solution 2

Solution:
First, from a3b311ab>0a^{3}-b^{3} \geq 11 a b>0 it follows that a>ba>b, implying that ab1a-b \geq 1. Note that
a3b3=(ab)(a2+ab+b2)=(ab)[(ab)2+3ab](ab)(1+3ab)>3ab(ab) a^{3}-b^{3}=(a-b)\left(a^{2}+a b+b^{2}\right)=(a-b)\left[(a-b)^{2}+3 a b\right] \geq(a-b)(1+3 a b)>3 a b(a-b)
Therefore 12aba3b3>3ab(ab)12 a b \geq a^{3}-b^{3}>3 a b(a-b), which implies that ab<4a-b<4 so ab{1,2,3}a-b \in\{1,2,3\}. We discuss three possible cases:
- ab=1a-b=1

After replacing a=b+1a=b+1, the condition a3b311aba^{3}-b^{3} \geq 11 a b reduces to 18b2+8b1 \geq 8 b^{2}+8 b, which is not satisfied for any positive integer bb.

- ab=2a-b=2

After replacing a=b+2a=b+2, the condition a3b311aba^{3}-b^{3} \geq 11 a b reduces to 85b2+10b8 \geq 5 b^{2}+10 b, which is also not satisfied for any positive integer bb.

- ab=3a-b=3

After replacing a=b+3a=b+3, the condition a3b311aba^{3}-b^{3} \geq 11 a b reduces to 272b2+6b27 \geq 2 b^{2}+6 b. The last inequality holds true only for b=1b=1 and b=2b=2. For b=1b=1 we get a=4a=4 and for b=2b=2 we get a=5a=5. Direct verification shows that a3b312aba^{3}-b^{3} \leq 12 a b is satisfied only for (a,b)=(5,2)(a, b)=(5,2).

In summary, (a,b)=(5,2)(a, b)=(5,2) is the only pair of positive integers satisfying all conditions of the problem.

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