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Number theory Difficulty 6.3 National olympiad Prove it Greece

Find all triads (x,y,z)(x, y, z) of positive integers satisfying the equation:
1x+2y4z=1 \frac{1}{x} + \frac{2}{y} - \frac{4}{z} = 1

Solution

If x3x \ge 3 and y3y \ge 3, then we have:
1x+2y4z13+234z=14z<1, \frac{1}{x} + \frac{2}{y} - \frac{4}{z} \le \frac{1}{3} + \frac{2}{3} - \frac{4}{z} = 1 - \frac{4}{z} < 1,
and hence the equation is not satisfied. Hence we may have: x2x \le 2 or y2y \le 2.

* For x=1x=1 we have: 2y4z=0z=2yy=k,z=2k\frac{2}{y} - \frac{4}{z} = 0 \Leftrightarrow z = 2y \Leftrightarrow y = k, z = 2k, where kk is a positive integer. Hence (x,y,z)=(1,k,2k),kZ(x, y, z) = (1, k, 2k), k \in \mathbb{Z} positive.

* For x=2x=2 we have:
2y4z=122y=8+z2zy=4zz+8y=4(z+8)32z+8y=432z+8. \frac{2}{y} - \frac{4}{z} = \frac{1}{2} \Leftrightarrow \frac{2}{y} = \frac{8+z}{2z} \Leftrightarrow y = \frac{4z}{z+8} \Leftrightarrow y = \frac{4(z+8)-32}{z+8} \Leftrightarrow y = 4 - \frac{32}{z+8}.
Since yy is positive integer, it follows that z+8z+8 must be a positive divisor of 3232 greater than 88. Therefore z=8z=8 or z=24z=24, and finally we find the solutions: (x,y,z)=(2,2,8)(x, y, z) = (2, 2, 8) and (x,y,z)=(2,3,24)(x, y, z) = (2, 3, 24).

For y=1 we have: 1x4z=14z=1+xxz=4x1+x=441+x. \text{For } y=1 \text{ we have: } \frac{1}{x} - \frac{4}{z} = -1 \Leftrightarrow \frac{4}{z} = \frac{1+x}{x} \Leftrightarrow z = \frac{4x}{1+x} = 4 - \frac{4}{1+x}.
Since zz must be positive, 1+x1+x must be positive divisor of 44 greater than 11. Therefore we have x=1x=1 or x=3x=3, and finally we find the solutions
(x,y,z)=(1,1,2) or (x,y,z)=(3,1,3). (x, y, z) = (1, 1, 2) \text{ or } (x, y, z) = (3, 1, 3).

* For y=2y=2 we have: 1x4z=0z=4xx=,z=4\frac{1}{x} - \frac{4}{z} = 0 \Leftrightarrow z = 4x \Leftrightarrow x = \ell, z = 4\ell, where \ell is a positive integer. In this case we find the solutions: (x,y,z)=(,2,4)(x, y, z) = (\ell, 2, 4\ell), where \ell is a positive integer.

Hence, taking in mind overlapping of solutions we can write the solutions in the
form: (x,y,z)=(1,k,2k), k is a positive integer,(x,y,z)=(,2,4), is a positive integer,(x,y,z)=(3,1,3) and (x,y,z)=(2,3,24). \text{form: } (x, y, z) = (1, k, 2k), \text{ k is a positive integer,} \\ (x, y, z) = (\ell, 2, 4\ell), \ell \text{ is a positive integer,} \\ (x, y, z) = (3, 1, 3) \text{ and } (x, y, z) = (2, 3, 24).

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