Number theoryDifficulty 6.4National OlympiadProve itBulgaria
Problem: Find all triples (x,y,z) of positive integers such that x+y2005+x+z2005+y+z2005 is a positive integer.
Solution
Solution: 1. We first prove the following lemma.
LEMMA. If p,q,r and p+q+r are rational numbers then p, q and r are also rational numbers.
Proof of the lemma. Let p+q+r=s, where pqr=0 and s is a rational number. Then p+q=s−r and we get by squaring that p+q+2pq=s2+r−2sr⟺2pq=s2+r−p−q−2sr Squaring the last identity gives 4pq=M2+4s2r−4Msr, where M=s2+r−p−q>0. Therefore r is rational and we see in the same way that p and q are rational. This completes the proof of the lemma.
Let the positive integers x,y and z have the required property. Then the lemma implies that x+y2005, x+z2005 and y+z2005 are rational numbers. Set x+y2005=ba, where a and b are coprime positive integers. Then 2005b2=(x+y)a2 and it follows that a2 divides 2005. Hence a=1 and therefore x+y=2005b2. In the same way we obtain x+z=2005c2 and y+z=2005d2, where c and d are positive integers. Then x+y2005+x+z2005+y+z2005=b1+c1+d1 is a positive integer. Since b,c and d are positive integers, we have 1≤b1+c1+d1≤3 If b1+c1+d1=3, then b=c=d=1 and the system x+y=x+z=y+z=2005 has no solutions in positive integers.
If b1+c1+d1=2, then one of the numbers b,c and d is equal to 1 and the other two are equal to 2. Again, the system for x,y and z has no solutions in positive integers.
It remains to consider the case b1+c1+d1=1. Suppose that b≥c≥d>1. Then d3≥1 and therefore d=2 or d=3. If d=3 we get b=c=3, and if d=2 we have b1+c1=21. This equation has two solutions: b=3,c=6 and b=c=4.
The inspection shows that the system for x,y and z has a solution in positive integers only when d=2,b=c=4 and in this case x=14⋅2005, y=z=2⋅2005. Therefore the solutions of the problem are all triples (x,y,z) in which two numbers are equal to 2⋅2005 and the third one is equal to 14⋅2005.
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