Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2009

Number theory Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Prove it JBMO

Problem:
Find all pairs (x,y)(x, y) of integers which satisfy the equation
(x+y)2(x2+y2)=20092 (x+y)^{2}\left(x^{2}+y^{2}\right)=2009^{2}

Solution

Solution:
Let x+y=sx+y=s, xy=px y=p with sZs \in \mathbb{Z}^{*} and pZp \in \mathbb{Z}. The given equation can be written in the form
s2(s22p)=20092 s^{2}\left(s^{2}-2 p\right)=2009^{2}
or
s22p=(2009s)2 s^{2}-2 p=\left(\frac{2009}{s}\right)^{2}
So, ss divides 2009=72×412009=7^{2} \times 41 and it follows that p0p \neq 0.
If p>0p>0, then 20092=s2(s22p)=s42ps2<s42009^{2}=s^{2}\left(s^{2}-2 p\right)=s^{4}-2 p s^{2}<s^{4}. We obtain that ss divides 20092009 and s49|s| \geq 49. Thus, s{±49,±287,±2009}s \in\{ \pm 49, \pm 287, \pm 2009\}.
- For s=±49s= \pm 49, we have p=360p=360, and (x,y)={(40,9),(9,40),(40,9),(9,40)}(x, y)=\{(40,9),(9,40),(-40,-9),(-9,-40)\}.
- For s{±287,±2009}s \in\{ \pm 287, \pm 2009\} the equation has no integer solutions.
If p<0p<0, then 20092=s42ps2>s42009^{2}=s^{4}-2 p s^{2}>s^{4}. We obtain that ss divides 20092009 and s41|s| \leq 41. Thus, s{±1,±7,±41}s \in\{ \pm 1, \pm 7, \pm 41\}. For these values of ss the equation has no integer solutions.
So, the given equation has only the solutions (40,9),(9,40),(40,9),(9,40)(40,9),(9,40),(-40,-9),(-9,-40).

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