Olympiad Maths Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.7 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

Find all natural numbers x,y,zx, y, z that satisfy the equation: 2x+21y=z22^x + 21^y = z^2.

Solution

Let's consider two cases for xx.

For odd xx, we have
z222n+1+21y2+02(mod3), z^2 \equiv 2^{2n+1} + 21^y \equiv 2 + 0 \equiv 2 \pmod{3},
which has no solutions.

Let x=2nx = 2n. Then
21y=z222n=(z2n)(z+2n). 21^y = z^2 - 2^{2n} = (z - 2^n)(z + 2^n).
Suppose that one of the two prime numbers 33 or 77 divides each of the two factors on the right-hand side. Then this prime also divides the number 2z=(z+2n)+(z2n)2z = (z + 2^n) + (z - 2^n) and hence zz. However, this contradicts the equation 2x=z221y2^x = z^2 - 21^y, in which the right-hand side is divisible by the corresponding prime number, while the left-hand side is not. Therefore, these factors are coprime. Hence, we have the following two cases.

Case 1. z2n=1z - 2^n = 1, z+2n=21y2n+1=21y12n+16(mod7)z + 2^n = 21^y \Rightarrow 2^{n+1} = 21^y - 1 \Rightarrow 2^{n+1} \equiv 6 \pmod 7, which contradicts the fact that 2n+11,2,4(mod7)2^{n+1} \equiv 1, 2, 4 \pmod 7.

Case 2. z2n=3yz - 2^n = 3^y, z+2n=7yz=2n+3yz + 2^n = 7^y \Rightarrow z = 2^n + 3^y and 2n+1=7y3y2^{n+1} = 7^y - 3^y. For y=1y = 1, we find that x=2x = 2 and z=5z = 5, which satisfies the equation. For y2y \ge 2, the expression 7y3y0(mod8)7^y - 3^y \equiv 0 \pmod 8 is only possible for even yy. If y=2my = 2m, then 2n+1=(7m3m)(7m+3m)2^{n+1} = (7^m - 3^m)(7^m + 3^m). But under these conditions, 7m+3m2(mod4)7^m + 3^m \equiv 2 \pmod 4 and it is greater than 44, so it cannot be a power of 22.

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