Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Find all integers nn for which n(n+2010)n(n+2010) is a perfect square.

Solution

Let n(n+2010)=k2n(n+2010) = k^2 for some integer kk.

We can write:
n(n+2010)=k2 n(n+2010) = k^2
n2+2010nk2=0 n^2 + 2010n - k^2 = 0
This is a quadratic in nn:
n2+2010nk2=0 n^2 + 2010n - k^2 = 0
The discriminant must be a perfect square for nn to be integer:
Δ=20102+4k2=m2 \Delta = 2010^2 + 4k^2 = m^2
for some integer mm.

So:
m24k2=20102 m^2 - 4k^2 = 2010^2
(m2k)(m+2k)=20102 (m - 2k)(m + 2k) = 2010^2
Let dd be a positive divisor of 201022010^2, and set:
m2k=d,m+2k=20102d m - 2k = d, \quad m + 2k = \frac{2010^2}{d}
Then:
m=d+20102d2=d+20102/d2 m = \frac{d + \frac{2010^2}{d}}{2} = \frac{d + 2010^2/d}{2}
2k=m+2km=20102dd 2k = m + 2k - m = \frac{2010^2}{d} - d
k=20102d24d k = \frac{2010^2 - d^2}{4d}
Now, nn is given by the quadratic formula:
n=2010±m2 n = \frac{-2010 \pm m}{2}
So:
n=2010±d+20102/d22=20102±d+20102/d4 n = \frac{-2010 \pm \frac{d + 2010^2/d}{2}}{2} = \frac{-2010}{2} \pm \frac{d + 2010^2/d}{4}
Thus, all integers nn for which n(n+2010)n(n+2010) is a perfect square are:
n=20102±d+20102/d4 n = \frac{-2010}{2} \pm \frac{d + 2010^2/d}{4}
where dd is a positive divisor of 201022010^2 such that d+20102/dd + 2010^2/d is divisible by 44 (so nn is integer).

Therefore, all such integers nn are given by the above formula for all positive divisors dd of 201022010^2 with d+20102/dd + 2010^2/d divisible by 44.

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