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Number theory Difficulty 4.3 AIME Prove it Turkey

Find all triples (x,y,p)(x, y, p) satisfying
x23xy+p2y2=12p x^2 - 3xy + p^2y^2 = 12p
where x,yx, y are integers and pp is a prime number.

Solution

Since x2+p2y20(mod3)x^2 + p^2y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{3}, if p3p \ne 3 then x2+y20(mod3)x^2 + y^2 \equiv 0 \pmod{3}, and consequently xy0(mod3)x \equiv y \equiv 0 \pmod{3}. Then 9x23xy+py29 \mid x^2 - 3xy + py^2 but 9129 \nmid 12, a contradiction. Thus, p=3p = 3 and x23xy+9y2=36x^2 - 3xy + 9y^2 = 36. Therefore, 3x3 \mid x. x=3kx = 3k, and we get a second order equation k2ky+y24=0k^2 - ky + y^2 - 4 = 0. The discriminant Δ=163y2=m2\Delta = 16 - 3y^2 = m^2. Therefore, y2=0y^2 = 0 or y2=4y^2 = 4. Solutions are: (6,0,3)(-6, 0, 3), (0,2,3)(0, -2, 3), (0,2,3)(0, 2, 3), (6,2,3)(6, -2, 3), (6,0,3)(6, 0, 3), (6,2,3)(6, 2, 3).

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