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Ukrainian National Mathematical Olympiad, 4th Round

Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME Prove it Ukraine

Find all pairs of integers (x,y)(x, y) that satisfy the following equality:
∣x+∣x+∣x∣∣⋅∣∣−y∣−y∣−y∣=2011. |x+|x+|x|| \cdot ||-y|-y|-y|=2011.

Solution

Since 20112011 is a prime number, every multiple of the left-hand side must be equal to either 11 or 20112011.
If x≥0x \ge 0, the first multiple equals 3x3x, and there are no solutions. Similarly, there are no solutions if y≤0y \le 0 (the second multiple is −3y-3y).
Suppose now that x<0x < 0 and y>0y > 0. Then
∣x+∣x+∣x∣∣⋅∣∣−y∣−y∣−y∣=∣x+∣x−x∣∣⋅∣∣y−y∣−y∣=∣x∣⋅∣−y∣=−xy=−2011. |x+|x+|x|| \cdot ||-y|-y|-y|=|x+|x-x|| \cdot ||y-y|-y|=|x| \cdot |-y| = -xy = -2011.
Recalling that 20112011 is prime, we get the above answers.

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