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Number theory Difficulty 4.9 AIME Prove it Japan

Find the smallest positive integer nn such that 10+n10 + n and 10n10n are both perfect squares.

Solution

Let nn be a positive integer such that n+10n + 10 and 10n10n are both perfect squares. Then, there exists a positive integer kk such that 10n=k210n = k^2. Since kk is a multiple of 22 and 55, we can write k=10k = 10\ell for some positive integer \ell, and we have n=102n = 10\ell^2. For =1\ell = 1 or =2\ell = 2, we have n+10=20n + 10 = 20 or 5050, respectively, which are not perfect squares. Therefore, we must have 3\ell \ge 3, which implies n=1021032=90n = 10\ell^2 \ge 10 \cdot 3^2 = 90.

On the other hand, since we have 90+10=100=10290 + 10 = 100 = 10^2 and 9010=900=30290 \cdot 10 = 900 = 30^2, 9090 satisfies the condition. Therefore, the answer is 9090.

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