Olympiad Maths Prep

Library / /19 of 60

Algebra Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it Ukraine

It is known, that for some value aa the equality: a41a2=4a^4 - \frac{1}{a^2} = 4 is true. Is it possible, that number x=a4+1a2x = a^4 + \frac{1}{a^2} is integer?

Solution

If we add these two equalities, we have equality 4+x=2a44 + x = 2a^4, if we subtract, x4=2a2x - 4 = \frac{2}{a^2}. Then we have, that (x+4)(x4)2=4a42a4=8(x+4)(x-4)^2 = \frac{4}{a^4} \cdot 2a^4 = 8. As we are interested only in integer xx, each of expressions x+4x+4 and x4x-4 has to be integer. As these two numbers are of the same parity and (x4)2(x-4)^2 is a square of an integer, equalities x+4=2x+4=2 and (x4)2=4(x-4)^2 = 4 must be true. But it is impossible for both to be true at the same time. Thus, there is no such value xx.

Looking for a route rather than an archive? The track puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.

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