AlgebraDifficulty 5.7AIME, harderProve itHong Kong
Find the total number of solutions to the following system of equations: ⎩⎨⎧a2+bc≡a(mod37),b(a+d)≡b(mod37),c(a+d)≡c(mod37),bc+d2≡d(mod37),ad−bc≡1(mod37).
Solution
There is only 1 solution modulo 37. The first four equations can be rewritten as (acbd)2=(acbd), where the entries are taken modulo 37. The last equation means acbd=1. Therefore, we need to count the number of 2×2 matrices A with entries in F37 such that A2=A and detA=1. Since detA=1=0, A is invertible. Thus, we multiply both sides of A2=A by A−1 to obtain A=I. Clearly, the identity matrix I satisfies the conditions. So A=I is the only solution. Equivalently, this means a≡d≡1(mod37) and b≡c≡0(mod37).
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