Number theoryDifficulty 5.7AIME, harderProve itEstonia
Find all triples of natural numbers (x,y,z) satisfying the system of equations {x+y−z=23,x2+y2−z2=23.
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Substituting z=x+y−23 from the first equation into the second yields x2+y2−(x+y−23)2=23 which simplifies to xy−23x−23y=−23⋅12. Adding 23⋅23 to both sides and factoring yields (x−23)(y−23)=23⋅11. As 23 and 11 are primes, the only factors on the right hand side are 1, 11, 23 and 11⋅23. Thus x=23+1=24, x=23+11=34, x=23+23=46 or x=12⋅23=276; The corresponding values of y are 276, 46, 34, 24 and the values of z are 277, 57, 57, 277. The negative factors of 23⋅11 don't yield solutions, as z would be negative.
Solution 2
Substituting z=x+y−23 from the first equation into the second and simplifying like in Solution 1 yields xy=23x+23y−23⋅12.(1) The right hand side of (1) is divisible by 23, so the left side must be as well. Thus x or y is divisible by 23. Let x=23k (in the other case we may swap x and y due to symmetry). Substituting it into (1) and dividing the sides by 23 yields ky=23k+y−12, from which k=y−23y−12=1+y−2311. For k to be a positive integer, there are two possibilities: * if y−23=11, then k−1=1, which yields y=34, x=46, z=57; * if y−23=1, then k−1=11, which yields y=24, x=276, z=277. In addition to those, we get the solutions with x and y swapped.
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