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Danube Mathematical Competition, 2010

Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Given a prime number pp congruent to 33 modulo 44, show that w2p+x2p+y2p=z2pw^{2p} + x^{2p} + y^{2p} = z^{2p} for no integer numbers w,x,y,zw, x, y, z whose product is not divisible by pp.

Solution

Suppose there are four such numbers. Without loss of generality, we may (and will) assume that they are jointly coprime: (w,x,y,z)=1(w, x, y, z) = 1.

Reduction modulo 44 shows that zz and exactly one of the numbers w,x,yw, x, y, say yy, must be odd.

Write
w2p+x2p=z2p−y2p=(z2−y2)(∑k=1p−1z2(p−k−1)(z2k−y2k)−pz2(p−1)) w^{2p} + x^{2p} = z^{2p} - y^{2p} = (z^2 - y^2) \left(\sum_{k=1}^{p-1} z^{2(p-k-1)} (z^{2k} - y^{2k}) - p z^{2(p-1)}\right)
to deduce that the second factor above is congruent to 33 modulo 44 and infer thereby that in its decomposition into prime factors some prime q≡3(mod4)q \equiv 3 \pmod{4} occurs with an odd exponent.

Since −1-1 is a quadratic non-residue modulo qq, it follows that ww and xx are both divisible by qq, and in the decomposition of w2p+x2pw^{2p} + x^{2p} into prime factors, qq occurs with an even exponent.

Hence z2−y2z^2 - y^2 is divisible by qq, and therefore so is pz2(p−1)p z^{2(p-1)}. Notice that p≠qp \neq q (for qq divides ww, but pp does not by assumption) to deduce that zz is divisible by qq. Then so is yy.

Consequently, w,x,y,zw, x, y, z all share the common factor qq, in contradiction with their joint coprimality.

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