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South-Afrika, 2011

Number theory Difficulty 4.7 AIME Prove it South Africa

Let aa and bb be two integers with a>ba > b. If ab−1ab - 1 and a+ba+b are relatively prime, and ab+1ab + 1 and a−ba-b are relatively prime, prove that
(ab+1)2+(a−b)2 (ab + 1)^2 + (a - b)^2
is not a perfect square.

Solution

We know that
(a−b)2+(ab+1)2=a2b2+a2+b2+1=(a2+1)(b2+1), (a-b)^2 + (ab+1)^2 = a^2b^2 + a^2 + b^2 + 1 = (a^2+1)(b^2+1),
so it will be enough to show that a2+1a^2+1 and b2+1b^2+1 are relatively prime. Suppose that there is a prime number pp that divides both a2+1a^2+1 and b2+1b^2+1. Then pp divides a2−b2a^2-b^2, and hence pp divides one of a+ba+b or a−ba-b.
If pp divides a−ba-b, then pp divides ab−b2ab-b^2, and since pp divides b2+1b^2+1, it divides ab−b2+b2+1=ab+1ab-b^2+b^2+1 = ab+1, which is impossible, since it is assumed that a−ba-b and ab+1ab+1 are relatively prime. If pp divides a+ba+b, a similar contradiction is derived.

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