Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 4.5 AIME Prove it United States

Problem:
Compute the unique positive integer nn such that n31989n\frac{n^{3}-1989}{n} is a perfect square.

Solutions — 2

Solution 1

Solution:
We need n21989nn^{2}-\frac{1989}{n} to be a perfect square, so n1989n \mid 1989. Also, this perfect square would be less than n2n^{2}, so it would be at most (n1)2=n22n+1(n-1)^{2}=n^{2}-2 n+1. Thus,

1989n2n119892n2n \frac{1989}{n} \geq 2 n-1 \Longrightarrow 1989 \geq 2 n^{2}-n

so n31n \leq 31. Moreover, we need
n21989nn31989 n^{2} \geq \frac{1989}{n} \Longrightarrow n^{3} \geq 1989
so n13n \geq 13. Factoring gives 1989=3213171989=3^{2} \cdot 13 \cdot 17, which means the only possible values of nn are 13 and 17. Checking both gives that only n=13n=13 works. (In fact, 133198913=42\frac{13^{3}-1989}{13}=4^{2}.)

Solution 2

Solution:
If n31989n=d2\frac{n^{3}-1989}{n}=d^{2} then n3nd2=1989n^{3}-n d^{2}=1989. Factorizing gives

(nd)n(n+d)=32×13×17 (n-d) n(n+d)=3^{2} \times 13 \times 17

We can easily see that n=13,d=4n=13, d=4 works since 1989=9×13×171989=9 \times 13 \times 17.

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