Maths Olympiad Prep

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, 2022

Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Bulgaria

Find all pairs (a,b)(a, b) of integers such that a=a38a2b+21ab218b3a = a^3 - 8a^2b + 21ab^2 - 18b^3.

Solution

Answer: (0,0)(0, 0), (1,0)(1, 0), (1,0)(-1, 0), (9,4)(9, 4), (9,4)(-9, -4), (16,6)(16, 6) and (16,6)(-16, -6). The right hand side can be written in the form (a2b)(a3b)2(a - 2b)(a - 3b)^2. By setting n=a3bn = a - 3b we obtain 3a=n2(3a6b)=n2(2n+a)3a = n^2(3a - 6b) = n^2(2n + a), and thus (3n2)a=2n3(3 - n^2)a = 2n^3. When n=0n = 0 it follows that a=0a = 0 and b=0b = 0; when n=±1n = \pm 1 we obtain a=±1a = \pm 1 and b=0b = 0; when n=±2n = \pm 2 we obtain a=16a = \mp 16 and b=6b = \mp 6; when n=±3n = \pm 3 we obtain a=9a = \mp 9 and b=4b = \mp 4; when n=±4n = \pm 4 the left hand side is divisible by 1313 but the right hand side is not; when n=±5,±6n = \pm 5, \pm 6 the left hand side is divisible by 1111 but the right hand side is not. On other hand for n7|n| \ge 7 since 3n203 - n^2 \ne 0,
a=2n33n2=6n3n22n a = \frac{2n^3}{3 - n^2} = \frac{6n}{3 - n^2} - 2n
and n23>6nn^2 - 3 > 6|n| (it is equivalent to n(n6)>3|n|(|n| - 6) > 3), the number aa is not an integer.

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Source: MathNet, licensed CC-BY-4.0. Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.