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Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it Japan

How many tuples of positive integers (a,b,c,d)(a, b, c, d) satisfy abcd=2025abcd = 2025, such that each of abab, bcbc, cdcd, and dada is a perfect square?

Solution

44
Since 2025=34×522025 = 3^4 \times 5^2, each of aa, bb, cc, and dd has no prime factors other than 33 and 55. Therefore, we can write
a=3x15y1,b=3x25y2,c=3x35y3,d=3x45y4 a = 3^{x_1} 5^{y_1}, \quad b = 3^{x_2} 5^{y_2}, \quad c = 3^{x_3} 5^{y_3}, \quad d = 3^{x_4} 5^{y_4}
for some non-negative integers x1,x2,x3,x4,y1,y2,y3,y4x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4, y_1, y_2, y_3, y_4. Since abcd=2025abcd = 2025, we obtain
x1+x2+x3+x4=4,y1+y2+y3+y4=2. x_1 + x_2 + x_3 + x_4 = 4, \quad y_1 + y_2 + y_3 + y_4 = 2.

Also, since abab, bcbc, cdcd, and dada are all perfect squares, the following sums must be even:
x1+x2,x2+x3,x3+x4,x4+x1,y1+y2,y2+y3,y3+y4,y4+y1. x_1 + x_2, \quad x_2 + x_3, \quad x_3 + x_4, \quad x_4 + x_1, \\ y_1 + y_2, \quad y_2 + y_3, \quad y_3 + y_4, \quad y_4 + y_1.
Thus, all of x1,x2,x3,x4x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4 must have the same parity, and similarly, all of y1,y2,y3,y4y_1, y_2, y_3, y_4 must have the same parity. Conversely, the tuple (a,b,c,d)(a, b, c, d) corresponding to any tuple (x1,x2,x3,x4,y1,y2,y3,y4)(x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4, y_1, y_2, y_3, y_4) of non-negative integers satisfying (*) and the parity conditions satisfies the given conditions.
Therefore, the possible (x1,x2,x3,x4)(x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4) are the permutations of (4,0,0,0)(4, 0, 0, 0), (2,2,0,0)(2, 2, 0, 0), (1,1,1,1)(1, 1, 1, 1), and the possible (y1,y2,y3,y4)(y_1, y_2, y_3, y_4) are the permutations of (2,0,0,0)(2, 0, 0, 0). Hence, the number of tuples (a,b,c,d)(a, b, c, d) that satisfy the given conditions is (((41)+(42))+1)×(41)=44((\binom{4}{1} + \binom{4}{2}) + 1) \times \binom{4}{1} = 44.

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