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Number theory Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Find all three prime numbers pp, qq, rr that satisfy
qp1+rp+1=q+r+1p. \frac{q}{p-1} + \frac{r}{p+1} = \frac{q+r+1}{p}.

Solution

Let's rewrite the given equality as follows:
qp1qp=rprp+1+1pqp(p1)=rp(p+1)+1pqp1=rp+1+1q=(p1)rp+1+p1q=p+r12rp+1(1) \frac{q}{p-1} - \frac{q}{p} = \frac{r}{p} - \frac{r}{p+1} + \frac{1}{p} \Leftrightarrow \frac{q}{p(p-1)} = \frac{r}{p(p+1)} + \frac{1}{p} \Leftrightarrow \frac{q}{p-1} = \frac{r}{p+1} + 1 \Leftrightarrow q = \frac{(p-1)r}{p+1} + p-1 \Leftrightarrow q = p + r - 1 - \frac{2r}{p+1} \quad (1)

Since pp, qq, rr are prime, then the number 2rp+1\frac{2r}{p+1} is a positive integer. The number 2r2r has only four divisors: 11, 22, rr and 2r2r. Since p+13p+1 \ge 3, then two cases are possible: p+1=rp+1 = r or p+1=2rp+1 = 2r.

1) Suppose that p+1=rp+1 = r which means p=r1p = r-1. p+13p+1 \ge 3, so the only pair of consecutive prime numbers is 22 and 33, and thus, p=2p = 2 and r=3r = 3. Then from (1) we find that q=2q = 2. After checking we make certain that p=q=2p = q = 2, r=3r = 3 is an answer.

2) Suppose that p+1=2rp+1 = 2r which means p=2r1p = 2r-1. Then from (1) we find that q=3r3÷3q = 3r-3 \div 3, and since qq is prime then q=3q = 3. Further, consistently find that r=2r = 2, p=3p = 3. Checking shows that p=q=3p = q = 3, r=2r = 2 is an answer as well.

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