Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.1 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Find all primes pp such that there exist integers a,b,ca, b, c, and kk satisfying the equations
a2+b2+c2=pa4+b4+c4=kp. \begin{aligned} & a^{2}+b^{2}+c^{2}=p \\ & a^{4}+b^{4}+c^{4}=k p . \end{aligned}

Solution

Solution:
The answers are 22 and 33. It is clear that for them we can use the values a=b=k=1a = b = k = 1 and c=0c = 0 or 11 respectively. Assume p5p \geq 5. Subtracting twice the second equation from the square of the first, we find that pp divides
2a2b2+2b2c2+2c2a2a4b4c4, 2 a^{2} b^{2} + 2 b^{2} c^{2} + 2 c^{2} a^{2} - a^{4} - b^{4} - c^{4},
an expression which factors as
(a+b+c)(a+bc)(ab+c)(a+b+c). (a + b + c)(a + b - c)(a - b + c)(-a + b + c) .
One of the four factors must be divisible by pp. By flipping the signs on a,ba, b, and cc, we can assume it is the first one. Using the inequality x2x0x^{2} - x \geq 0 (for integers xx, equality holding at x=0x = 0 and x=1x = 1), we have
pa+b+ca2+b2+c2=p. p \leq a + b + c \leq a^{2} + b^{2} + c^{2} = p .
This equality condition can only hold if a,ba, b, and cc are each equal to their squares, implying that they are at most 11 and p1+1+1=3p \leq 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.

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