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Number theory Difficulty 4.3 AIME Prove it Turkey

Find all triples (p,q,r)(p, q, r) of prime numbers satisfying p4+2p+q4+q2=r2+4q3+1p^4 + 2p + q^4 + q^2 = r^2 + 4q^3 + 1.

Solution

If r=2r = 2 we get p4+2p+q4+q2=4q3+5p^4 + 2p + q^4 + q^2 = 4q^3 + 5. Then q=2,3q = 2, 3 otherwise q5q \ge 5 and q4+q2>4q3+5q^4 + q^2 > 4q^3 + 5. If q=2q = 2 then p4+2p=17p^4 + 2p = 17 gives no solution. If q=3q = 3 we get p4+2p=23p^4 + 2p = 23 gives no solution. Therefore, rr is odd and the right hand side of the main equation is even. Then since 2p+q4+q2=2p+q2(q2+1)2p + q^4 + q^2 = 2p + q^2(q^2 + 1) is even we get that p4p^4, equivalently pp is even: p=2p = 2. Thus, the main equation becomes r2=q4+q24q3+19r^2 = q^4 + q^2 - 4q^3 + 19.

Now we show that there is no solution if q2,3,5q \ne 2, 3, 5 since r2r^2 lies between two consecutive perfect squares:
(q22q2)2<r2<(q22q1)2 (q^2 - 2q - 2)^2 < r^2 < (q^2 - 2q - 1)^2
Indeed, (q22q2)2<r2=q4+q24q3+19(q^2 - 2q - 2)^2 < r^2 = q^4 + q^2 - 4q^3 + 19 is equivalent to (q5)(q3)>0(q - 5)(q - 3) > 0 and r2=q4+q24q3+19<(q22q1)2r^2 = q^4 + q^2 - 4q^3 + 19 < (q^2 - 2q - 1)^2 is equivalent to q2+4q>18q^2 + 4q > 18. Finally, q=2q = 2 gives r2=7r^2 = 7, q=3q = 3 gives r2=1r^2 = 1, q=5q = 5 gives r=13r = 13. The only solution is (2,5,13)(2, 5, 13).

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.