Determine all triples of positive integers such that is prime and
Solution
If we write down the given equation in the form and factorise the right-hand side, we get
Factor is odd, so is divisible by .
We immediately see that is odd.
On the other hand, since is positive, we clearly have . Hence cannot divide , because otherwise would be at least , and would be at most , which is less than . Hence, we have
By plugging into the last equation we get
which leads us to
Since is odd, the right-hand side is the product of two consecutive even numbers, so it is divisible by 8. The left-hand side is not divisible by 8, unless .
It follows that the only solution is .
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