Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Find all ordered triples (x,y,z)(x, y, z) of integers satisfying the following system of equations:
x2y2=z3xy+(xy)z=z2 \begin{aligned} x^{2}-y^{2} & =z \\ 3 x y+(x-y) z & =z^{2} \end{aligned}

Solution

Solution:
If z=0z=0, then x=0x=0 and y=0y=0, and (x,y,z)=(0,0,0)(x, y, z)=(0,0,0).

Let us assume that z0z \neq 0, and x+y=ax+y=a and xy=bx-y=b where aa and bb are nonzero integers such that z=abz=a b. Then x=(a+b)/2x=(a+b)/2 and y=(ab)/2y=(a-b)/2, and the second equation gives 3a23b2+4ab2=4a2b23 a^{2}-3 b^{2}+4 a b^{2}=4 a^{2} b^{2}.

Hence
b2=3a24a24a+3 b^{2}=\frac{3 a^{2}}{4 a^{2}-4 a+3}
and
3a24a24a+3 3 a^{2} \geq 4 a^{2}-4 a+3
which is satisfied only if a=1,2a=1,2 or 33.

- If a=1a=1, then b2=1b^{2}=1. (x,y,z)=(1,0,1)(x, y, z)=(1,0,1) and (0,1,1)(0,1,-1) are the only solutions in this case.
- If a=2a=2, then b2=12/11b^{2}=12/11. There are no solutions in this case.
- If a=3a=3, then b2=1b^{2}=1. (x,y,z)=(1,2,3)(x, y, z)=(1,2,-3) and (2,1,3)(2,1,3) are the only solutions in this case.

To summarize, (x,y,z)=(0,0,0),(1,0,1),(0,1,1),(1,2,3)(x, y, z)=(0,0,0), (1,0,1), (0,1,-1), (1,2,-3) and (2,1,3)(2,1,3) are the only solutions.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.