Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Japan

Find every integer kk that satisfies the following condition.
There are infinitely many triplet (a,b,c)(a, b, c) of integers such that (a2k)(b2k)=c2k(a^2 - k)(b^2 - k) = c^2 - k.

Solution

Consider an arbitrary integer kk. Take a complex number α\alpha that meets α2=k\alpha^2 = k. (For example, let α=k\alpha = \sqrt{k} if kk is nonnegative, and α=ik\alpha = i\sqrt{-k} if kk negative.)
It is easy verify the following equalities:
(n+α)(n+1α)=((n(n+1)k)+α),(nα)(n+1+α)=((n(n+1)k)α). (n + \alpha)(n + 1 - \alpha) = ((n(n + 1) - k) + \alpha), \\ (n - \alpha)(n + 1 + \alpha) = ((n(n + 1) - k) - \alpha).
By multiplying these two formulae, we obtain an identity,
(n2k)((n+1)2k)=((n(n+1)k)2k). (n^2 - k)((n + 1)^2 - k) = ((n(n + 1) - k)^2 - k).
In consequence, for any kk, we can pick up any nn and let (a,b,c)=(n,n+1,n(n+1)k)(a, b, c) = (n, n + 1, n(n + 1) - k) so that the required equality holds. There are infinitely many nn and hence (a,b,c)(a, b, c). Therefore, every integer kk meets the required condition.

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