Olympiad Maths Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Romania

Find all non-negative integers nn so that n+3+n+3\sqrt{n+3} + \sqrt{\sqrt{n+3}} is an integer.

Solution

Denote m=n+3+n+3m = \sqrt{n+3} + \sqrt{\sqrt{n+3}}. Then n+n+3=(mn+3)2n + \sqrt{n+3} = (m - \sqrt{n+3})^2, whence (2m+1)n+3=m2+3(2m+1)\sqrt{n+3} = m^2 + 3. Then there exists pNp \in \mathbb{N} so that n+3=p2n+3 = p^2 and, since p+n+pNp + \sqrt{n+p} \in \mathbb{N}, there exists qNq \in \mathbb{N} so that n+p=q2n+p = q^2.
Eliminating nn yields p23=q2pp^2 - 3 = q^2 - p, that is 4p2+4p12=4q24p^2 + 4p - 12 = 4q^2, or (2p+1)2(2q)2=13(2p+1)^2 - (2q)^2 = 13, which is equivalent to (2p+12q)(2p+1+2q)=13(2p+1-2q)(2p+1+2q) = 13.
This gives p=3p = 3, so n=6n = 6.

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