Find all positive integers for which is a perfect square.
Solution
Assume that , for a positive integer . We have
Because , the number cannot divide both and . Therefore, we have two cases:
First case when divides . In this case, there exists a positive integer such that and . We, therefore, obtain the equation
For , this equation has no solution. For , is a solution for the equation. For this equation has no solution since its left hand side is negative.
Second case when divides . In this case, there exists a positive integer such that and . We, therefore, obtain the equation
This equation has no solution since for or the left hand side is either negative or even, and for we have
Therefore, the unique solution to this problem is since we have
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