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Italian Mathematical Olympiad

Number theory Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Italy

Problem:
Determine all ordered pairs (m,n)(m, n) of positive integers that satisfy the equation
1m+1n−1mn=25 \frac{1}{m}+\frac{1}{n}-\frac{1}{mn}=\frac{2}{5}

Solution

Solution:
Let us first consider the pairs (m,n)(m, n) with m≤nm \leq n. We have
25=1m+1n−1mn≤1m+1m−1mn<2m \frac{2}{5}=\frac{1}{m}+\frac{1}{n}-\frac{1}{mn} \leq \frac{1}{m}+\frac{1}{m}-\frac{1}{mn}<\frac{2}{m}
from which m<5m<5. Moreover
25=1m+1n−1mn>1m \frac{2}{5}=\frac{1}{m}+\frac{1}{n}-\frac{1}{mn}>\frac{1}{m}
from which m>52m>\frac{5}{2}, that is, since mm is an integer, m≥3m \geq 3. Setting m=3m=3 we obtain
13+1n−13n=25 \frac{1}{3}+\frac{1}{n}-\frac{1}{3n}=\frac{2}{5}
from which n=10n=10. Setting m=4m=4 we obtain
14+1n−14n=25 \frac{1}{4}+\frac{1}{n}-\frac{1}{4n}=\frac{2}{5}
from which n=5n=5. Finally, considering the symmetric case in which n≤mn \leq m we get that the solution pairs must belong to the set {(3,10),(4,5),(10,3),(5,4)}\{(3,10),(4,5),(10,3),(5,4)\}. It is finally immediate to verify that the four pairs above are indeed solutions of the given equation.

Second solution.
Multiplying the given equation by 10mn10 mn (recall that mm and nn are nonzero), we obtain
4mn−10m−10n+10=0, 4mn-10m-10n+10=0,
that is,
(2m−5)(2n−5)=15 (2m-5)(2n-5)=15
Here too let us first assume that m≤nm \leq n. The only pairs of integers whose product is 1515, with the first term less than or equal to the second, are (3,5),(1,15),(−5,−3)(3,5),(1,15),(-5,-3) and (−15,−1)(-15,-1).
- Setting 2m−5=1, 2n−5=152m-5=1,\ 2n-5=15, we obtain (m,n)=(3,10)(m, n)=(3,10).
- Setting 2m−5=−5, 2n−5=−32m-5=-5,\ 2n-5=-3, we obtain m=0m=0, which is not acceptable.
- Setting 2m−5=−15, 2n−5=−12m-5=-15,\ 2n-5=-1, we obtain (m,n)=(−5,2)(m, n)=(-5,2), which is not acceptable since mm is negative.
Then, considering the pairs (m,n)(m, n) with n<mn<m, we obtain that the solutions are {(3,10),(4,5),(10,3),(5,4)}\{(3,10),(4,5),(10,3),(5,4)\}.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement translated into English from it; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.