Find all natural numbers such that the equation has solutions in positive integers.
Solution
For one of the solutions is and for one of the solutions is .
If is even and there exists an integer solution, then the right-hand side of the equation is even. This is possible only if at least one of the numbers is even. Then the right-hand side is divisible by . Since the remainders modulo of the squares of integers can only be or , all numbers must be even. Let , , . Then , hence satisfy a similar equation with doubled , so they must be even. Continuing this process reveals that must be divisible by arbitrarily large powers of which is impossible. Consequently, there are no solutions for even .
Suppose that for some odd the equation has an integer solution . The given equation is equivalent to ; let be the other root of this quadratic equation. Then since positive and enable only positive solutions of the quadratic equation. By Viéte's formulae, . On the other hand, assume without loss of generality that ; then and , whence and . Therefore , implying . Thus we can infinitely reduce the sum of the components of the solution, which is impossible.