Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 4.5 AIME Find the answer Italy

Problem:

For how many quadruples (a,b,c,d)(a, b, c, d) of non-negative integers are the three expressions a2c2a^{2}-c^{2}, b2d2b^{2}-d^{2} and ab+bc+cd+daa b+b c+c d+d a all equal to 10241024?

Pick one

Solution

Solution:

The answer is (B). Let us write the three equations in the form (a+c)(ac)=1024(a+c)(a-c)=1024, (b+d)(bd)=1024(b+d)(b-d)=1024 and (a+c)(b+d)=1024(a+c)(b+d)=1024. Note that a+ca+c and aca-c cannot be zero, since (a+c)(ac)=1024(a+c)(a-c)=1024. Comparing the first and third equations we then get b+d=1024a+c=acb+d=\frac{1024}{a+c}=a-c, which substituted into the second gives (bd)(ac)=1024=(a+c)(ac)(b-d)(a-c)=1024=(a+c)(a-c), from which bd=a+cb-d=a+c; subtracting (term by term) this equation from b+d=acb+d=a-c we find 2d=2c2d=-2c. The numbers cc and dd are therefore either both equal to zero, or of opposite sign; since by hypothesis cc and dd are both non-negative, we must then have c=d=0c=d=0. The initial system therefore reduces to the equations a2=b2=ab=1024=322a^{2}=b^{2}=a b=1024=32^{2}, c=d=0c=d=0, which admit as the unique solution in non-negative integers the quadruple (a,b,c,d)=(32,32,0,0)(a, b, c, d)=(32,32,0,0).

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.