Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /4 of 12

, 2019

Number theory Difficulty 8.0 National olympiad, round 2 Prove it Romania

Show that for infinitely many positive integers nn there exist pairwise distinct positive integers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n such that a12a22an24(a12+a22++an2)a_1^2 a_2^2 \cdots a_n^2 - 4(a_1^2 + a_2^2 + \cdots + a_n^2) is the square of an integer.

Solution

Letting fn(a1,a2,,an)=a12a22an24(a12+a22++an2)f_n(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n) = a_1^2 a_2^2 \cdots a_n^2 - 4(a_1^2 + a_2^2 + \cdots + a_n^2), the conclusion is a straightforward consequence of the following two facts:
(1) For infinitely many positive integers nn there exist positive integers a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n such that fn(a1,a2,,an)f_n(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n) is the square of an integer, and a1<a2a_1 < a_2; and
(2) Given an integer n3n \ge 3, if a1,a2,,ana_1, a_2, \dots, a_n are positive integers such that fn(a1,a2,,an)f_n(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n) is the square of an integer, and a1<a2<<aka_1 < a_2 < \dots < a_k for some index kk, 1<k<n1 < k < n, then there exists an integer a>aka > a_k such that fn(a1,a2,,ak,a,ak+2,,an)f_n(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_k, a, a_{k+2}, \dots, a_n) is the square of an integer.

To prove (1), notice that, if a1<a2a_1 < a_2 are arbitrarily large positive integers, then f2(a1,a2)f_2(a_1, a_2) is an arbitrarily large positive integer congruent to 00 or 11 modulo 44. Subtraction of a suitable number of 44's then yields 00 or 11, each of which is a square. Letting that suitable number of 44's be n2n-2, which is clearly arbitrarily large, fn(a1,a2,1,,1)f_n(a_1, a_2, 1, \dots, 1) is the square of an integer.

To prove (2), write fn(a1,a2,,an)=b2f_n(a_1, a_2, \dots, a_n) = b^2 and notice that (ak+1,b)(a_{k+1}, b) solves the Pell equation
(a12ak2ak+22an24)x2y2=4(a12++ak2+ak+22++an2). (a_1^2 \cdots a_k^2 a_{k+2}^2 \cdots a_n^2 - 4)x^2 - y^2 = 4(a_1^2 + \cdots + a_k^2 + a_{k+2}^2 + \cdots + a_n^2).
The latter has therefore infinitely many solutions in positive integers. In particular, it has a solution (a,c)(a, c) such that a>ak+1a > a_{k+1}. This establishes (2) and concludes the proof.

Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.