Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2012

Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Slovenia

Find all natural numbers nn and prime numbers pp such that n3+pn3\sqrt[3]{n} + \frac{p}{\sqrt[3]{n}} is the square of a natural number.

Solution

Denote n3+pn3=k2\sqrt[3]{n} + \frac{p}{\sqrt[3]{n}} = k^2 where kk is a natural number. We raise the equation to the 3rd power and get n+3pn3+3p2n3+p3n=k6n + 3p\sqrt[3]{n} + 3\frac{p^2}{\sqrt[3]{n}} + \frac{p^3}{n} = k^6, which is n+3pk2+p3n=k6n + 3pk^2 + \frac{p^3}{n} = k^6. From this we see that nn must divide p3p^3. Since pp is prime, we conclude n=1n = 1, n=pn = p, n=p2n = p^2 or n=p3n = p^3. If n=pn = p or n=p2n = p^2, we get the equation p+3pk2+p2=k6p + 3pk^2 + p^2 = k^6. Hence kk must be divisible by pp, so the right side of the equation is divisible by p2p^2, but the left is not. We still have to check n=1n = 1 and n=p3n = p^3. If we substitute them into the equation, we get 1+p=k21 + p = k^2, hence p=(k1)(k+1)p = (k-1)(k+1). From this we conclude that k=2k=2 and p=3p=3. We get two solutions: n=1n = 1 and p=3p = 3, n=27n = 27 and p=3p = 3.

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