Find all positive integers such that the equation has positive integer solutions. Be sure to give a proof.
Solution
can be or .
WLOG assume . Then we have
which gives .
Next, we rewrite the equation as . Since the left-hand side is positive, we have . Thus,
This yields . There is no positive integer solution when . When , we must have . The given equation becomes . This shows , and hence . But this is not a solution.
For , we can take .
For , we have . So and . Note that .
As , can only be , . It is routine to check that none of these is a solution to .
For , we can take .
Thus, can only be or .
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