Number theoryDifficulty 5.5AIME, harderProve itJBMO
Problem: Determine the number of pairs of integers (m,n) such that n+2016+m−2016∈Q
Solution
Solution: Let r=n+2016+m−2016. Then n+m+2n+2016⋅m−2016=r2 and (m−n)2016=41(r2−m−n)2−mn+2016∈Q Since 2016∈/Q, it follows that m=n. Then n2−2016=21(r2−2n)∈Q Hence, there is some nonnegative integer p such that n2−2016=p2 and (1) becomes 2n+2p=r2. It follows that 2(n+p)=r2 is the square of a rational and also an integer, hence a perfect square. On the other hand, 2016=(n−p)(n+p) and n+p is a divisor of 2016, larger than 2016. Since n+p is even, so is also n−p, and r2=2(n+p) is a divisor of 2016=25⋅32⋅7, larger than 22016>88. The only possibility is r2=24⋅32=122. Hence, n+p=72 and n−p=28, and we conclude that n=m=50. Thus, there is only one such pair.
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Source: MathNet,
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