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XV-th Junior Balkan Mathematical Olympiad

Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it North Macedonia

Find all the prime numbers pp for which there exist positive integers xx and yy that satisfy the equation
x(y2−p)+y(x2−p)=5p x(y^2 - p) + y(x^2 - p) = 5p

Solution

Given equation is equivalent to
(x+y)(xy−p)=5p. (x + y)(xy - p) = 5p.
We consider the following cases:
1. Let x+y=1x + y = 1 and xy=6pxy = 6p. For prime p≥2p \geq 2 the equation x2−x+6p=0x^2 - x + 6p = 0 has no solutions.

2. Let x+y=5x + y = 5 and xy=2pxy = 2p. For prime p≥2p \geq 2 the equation x−5x+2p=0x - 5x + 2p = 0 has the determinant Δ=p2−4p−20\Delta = p^2 - 4p - 20. The inequality 25−8p≥025 - 8p \geq 0 implies p∈{2,3}p \in \{2, 3\}. For p=2p = 2 we obtain the solutions (1,4)(1, 4) and (4,1)(4, 1).
For p=3p = 3 we obtain the solutions (2,3)(2, 3) and (3,2)(3, 2).

3. Let x+y=px + y = p and xy=p+5xy = p + 5. For prime p≥2p \geq 2 the equation x2−px+p+5=0x^2 - px + p + 5 = 0 has the diskriminant Δ=p2−4p−20\Delta = p^2 - 4p - 20. The inequality p2−4p−20≥0p^2 - 4p - 20 \geq 0 implies p≥7p \geq 7.
Let p2−4p−20=q2p^2 - 4p - 20 = q^2 with 1≤q≤p1 \leq q \leq p. We obtain the equation (p−2)2−q2=24(p-2)^2 - q^2 = 24 which is equivalent to
(p+q−2)(p−q−2)=24. (p + q - 2)(p - q - 2) = 24.
It follows that both numbers p+q−2p+q-2 and p−q−2p-q-2 shall be even. We have two subcases:
a) p+q−2=12p+q-2=12 and p−q−2=2p-q-2=2. We have p=9p=9, which is no prime.
b) p+q−2=6p+q-2=6 and p−q−2=4p-q-2=4. We obtain p=7p=7 and q=1q=1. The equation has the solutions (3,4)(3, 4) and (4,3)(4, 3).

4. Let x+y=5px + y = 5p and xy=p+1xy = p + 1. It follows that p∉Np \notin \mathbb{N}.
So, the equation has natural solutions only for p∈{2,3,7}p \in \{2, 3, 7\}.

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