Olympiad Maths Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 7.1 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Czech Republic

Consider positive integers a,b,ca, b, c that are side-lengths of a non-degenerate triangle and such that GCD(a,b,c)=1\text{GCD}(a, b, c) = 1 and the fractions
a2+b2c2a+bc,b2+c2a2b+ca,c2+a2b2c+ab \frac{a^2 + b^2 - c^2}{a + b - c}, \quad \frac{b^2 + c^2 - a^2}{b + c - a}, \quad \frac{c^2 + a^2 - b^2}{c + a - b}
are all integers. Prove that the product of the denominators of the three fractions is either a square or twice a square of an integer. (Jaromír Šimša)

Solution

Let z=a+bcz = a + b - c, x=b+cax = b + c - a, y=c+aby = c + a - b be the (positive) denominators. Then a=(y+z)/2a = (y + z)/2, b=(x+z)/2b = (x + z)/2, c=(x+y)/2c = (x + y)/2 and
a2+b2c2=14((y+z)2+(x+z)2(x+y)2)=12(z(z+x+y)xy), a^2 + b^2 - c^2 = \frac{1}{4}((y + z)^2 + (x + z)^2 - (x + y)^2) = \frac{1}{2}(z(z + x + y) - x y),
hence zxyz \mid x y and likewise yxzy \mid x z and xyzx \mid y z.

For a prime pp, let ipi_p be the largest exponent such that pipxyzp^{i_p} \mid x y z. It suffices to show that for all odd primes pp the corresponding ipi_p is even. If i2i_2 is also even then xyzx y z is a square. Otherwise, it is twice a square.
Fix odd prime pp and consider the largest exponents α,β,γ\alpha, \beta, \gamma such that pαxp^\alpha \mid x, pβyp^\beta \mid y, pγzp^\gamma \mid z. Without loss of generality, assume min{α,β,γ}=γ\min\{\alpha, \beta, \gamma\} = \gamma. If γ>0\gamma > 0 then pp divides each of x,y,zx, y, z and thus it divides each of a,b,ca, b, c (pp is odd), contradicting GCD(a,b,c)=1\text{GCD}(a, b, c) = 1. Therefore γ=0\gamma = 0.
From xyzx \mid y z we infer αβ\alpha \le \beta. Likewise, from yxzy \mid x z we infer βα\beta \le \alpha. Hence β=α\beta = \alpha and ip=α+β+γ=2αi_p = \alpha + \beta + \gamma = 2\alpha is an even number as desired.

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