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Algebra Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it Ukraine

Out of three expressions xy\frac{x}{y}, x2+4y2+4\frac{x^2+4}{y^2+4} and x3+8y3+8\frac{x^3+8}{y^3+8}, for some integer x,yx, y, two take the same value, and the remaining one takes a different value. For which pairs of integers x,yx, y is this possible?
(Bogdan Rublyov)

Solution

Obviously, xyx \neq y, because otherwise, all three expressions would take the same value, which contradicts problem statement.
If the first two expressions are equal, then we have the equality:
xy=x2+4y2+4xy2+4x=yx2+4yxy(yx)=4(yx). \frac{x}{y} = \frac{x^2+4}{y^2+4} \Rightarrow xy^2 + 4x = yx^2 + 4y \Rightarrow xy(y-x) = 4(y-x).
Since xyx \neq y, we can divide by yxxy=4y-x \Rightarrow xy=4. There are two pairs of positive integer numbers that satisfy the last equality: (1, 4) and (4, 1). Substitute them into the third equality, and we get
x3+8y3+8=972=18xyand, analogously,x3+8y3+8=8xy,so these pairs of numbers satisfy the \frac{x^3+8}{y^3+8} = \frac{9}{72} = \frac{1}{8} \neq \frac{x}{y} \quad \text{and, analogously,} \quad \frac{x^3+8}{y^3+8} = 8 \neq \frac{x}{y}, \quad \text{so these pairs of numbers satisfy the}
condition.

If the first and third expressions are equal, then
xy=x3+8y3+8xy3+8x=yx3+8yxy(yx)(y+x)=8(yx)xy(y+x)=8, \frac{x}{y} = \frac{x^3 + 8}{y^3 + 8} \Rightarrow xy^3 + 8x = yx^3 + 8y \Rightarrow xy(y-x)(y+x) = 8(y-x) \Rightarrow xy(y+x) = 8,
which has no solution, as one can confirm by a simple search.
If the second and third expressions are equal, then we have the equality:
x2+4y2+4=x3+8y3+8x2y3+8x2+4y3=x3y2+8y2+4x3x2y2(yx)+4(yx)(y2+xy+x2)=8(yx)(y+x)x2y2+4(y2+xy+x2)=8(y+x)4xy+x2y2=4(2yy2)+4(2xx2). \begin{aligned} \frac{x^2+4}{y^2+4} &= \frac{x^3+8}{y^3+8} \Rightarrow x^2y^3 + 8x^2 + 4y^3 = x^3y^2 + 8y^2 + 4x^3 \\ x^2y^2(y-x) + 4(y-x)(y^2 + xy + x^2) &= 8(y-x)(y+x) \Rightarrow x^2y^2 + 4(y^2 + xy + x^2) = 8(y+x) \Rightarrow 4xy + x^2y^2 = 4(2y-y^2) + 4(2x-x^2). \end{aligned}

So, x=1x=1 or y=1y=1. If x=1x=1, then 4y+y2=4(2yy2)+44y+y^2 = 4(2y-y^2)+4 or 5y23y+4=05y^2-3y+4=0 -
equality is obviously not possible, because 5y2>3y5y^2 > 3y for positive integer yy. Analogously for y=1y=1.

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