Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:

Determine all integers nn for which n2+15n^{2}+15 is the square of an integer.

Solution

Solution:

We may limit the search to nonnegative integers nn, since n2+15=(n)2+15n^{2}+15 = (-n)^{2}+15. Suppose there is a nonnegative integer mm such that
n2+15=m215=m2n2=(m+n)(mn). \begin{aligned} n^{2}+15 & = m^{2} \\ 15 & = m^{2} - n^{2} \\ & = (m+n)(m-n) . \end{aligned}
Note that the factors m+nm+n and mnm-n are not both negative, since their sum 2m2m is nonnegative, so they are both positive. Now the only ways to factor 1515 into two positive integer factors are 15115 \cdot 1 and 535 \cdot 3. Also m+nmnm+n \geq m-n since n0n \geq 0.

If m+n=15m+n=15 and mn=1m-n=1, then
n=(m+n)(mn)2=1512=7 n = \frac{(m+n)-(m-n)}{2} = \frac{15-1}{2} = 7
and m=8m=8.

If m+n=5m+n=5 and mn=3m-n=3, then
n=(m+n)(mn)2=532=1 n = \frac{(m+n)-(m-n)}{2} = \frac{5-3}{2} = 1
and m=4m=4.

Both of these solutions indeed work in the original problem. Finally, allowing for negative nn, we compute the answers to be 7,1,1-7, -1, 1, and 77.

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