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Number theory Difficulty 7.8 National Olympiad, round 2 Prove it Middle European Mathematical Olympiad (MEMO)

Problem:
Find all pairs of positive integers (m,n)(m, n) for which there exist relatively prime integers aa and bb greater than 11 such that
am+bman+bn \frac{a^{m}+b^{m}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}
is an integer.

Solution

Solution:

If mn=q\frac{m}{n}=q is an odd integer, we have
am+bman+bn=(an)q+(bn)qan+bn=(an)q1(an)q2bn+an(bn)q2+(bn)q1 \frac{a^{m}+b^{m}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}=\frac{\left(a^{n}\right)^{q}+\left(b^{n}\right)^{q}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}=\left(a^{n}\right)^{q-1}-\left(a^{n}\right)^{q-2} \cdot b^{n}+\cdots-a^{n} \cdot\left(b^{n}\right)^{q-2}+\left(b^{n}\right)^{q-1}
which is an integer for all positive integers aa and bb. We will prove that pairs (qn,n)(q n, n), where qq is an odd integer, are the only solutions. Let us assume the opposite, i.e. that there exist pairs (m,n)(m, n) that are solutions to our problem for which mn\frac{m}{n} is not an odd integer. Among those pairs, let us choose one pair having the minimal sum.

Obviously, m>nm>n. Let m=n+km=n+k for a positive integer kk. Without loss of generality, we may assume a>ba>b. In that case
am+bman+bn>anbk+bman+bn=bk \frac{a^{m}+b^{m}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}>\frac{a^{n} \cdot b^{k}+b^{m}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}=b^{k}
thus there exists a positive integer tt such that
am+bman+bn=bk+t \frac{a^{m}+b^{m}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}=b^{k}+t
This equation can be written as follows:
am+bm=(bk+t)(an+bn),am=anbk+t(an+bn). \begin{aligned} a^{m}+b^{m} & =\left(b^{k}+t\right)\left(a^{n}+b^{n}\right), \\ a^{m} & =a^{n} b^{k}+t\left(a^{n}+b^{n}\right) . \end{aligned}
Since aa and bb are relatively prime, an+bna^{n}+b^{n} and ana^{n} are relatively prime as well. Therefore, from the last equation we can conclude that tt is divisible by ana^{n}. Let cc be a positive integer such that t=cant=c \cdot a^{n}. We have
ak=bk+can+cbn a^{k}=b^{k}+c \cdot a^{n}+c \cdot b^{n}
The right-hand side of the previous equation is greater than ana^{n} so we conclude that k>nk>n. Previous equation can be written as
an(aknc)=bn(bkn+c). a^{n}\left(a^{k-n}-c\right)=b^{n}\left(b^{k-n}+c\right) \text{.}
This implies that bkn+cb^{k-n}+c is divisible by ana^{n}, since aa and bb are relatively prime. Let xx be a positive integer such that
bkn+c=xan b^{k-n}+c=x \cdot a^{n}
The previous equation gives us
aknc=xbn a^{k-n}-c=x \cdot b^{n}
Summing the last two equations gives us
akn+bkn=x(an+bn) a^{k-n}+b^{k-n}=x\left(a^{n}+b^{n}\right)
which means that
akn+bknan+bn \frac{a^{k-n}+b^{k-n}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}
is an integer. Since (kn)+n=k<m+n(k-n)+n=k<m+n and because we have chosen (m,n)(m, n) to have minimal sum, we conclude that
knn=s \frac{k-n}{n}=s
is an odd positive integer. Let r0r \geqslant 0 be an integer such that s=2r+1s=2 r+1. This implies that
kn=(2r+1)n k-n=(2 r+1) \cdot n
i.e.
k=(2r+2)n k=(2 r+2) \cdot n
This means that
mn=n+kn=(2r+2)n+nn=2r+3 \frac{m}{n}=\frac{n+k}{n}=\frac{(2 r+2) \cdot n+n}{n}=2 r+3
which contradicts our assumption that mn\frac{m}{n} is not an odd integer. Therefore, the only solutions are pairs (m,n)=(qn,n)(m, n)=(q n, n) where qq is an odd positive integer and nn is an arbitrary positive integer.

Solution 2:

Clearly m>nm>n. Write m=kn+rm=k n+r, where k1k \geqslant 1 and 0r<n0 \leqslant r<n. Since
am+bman+bn=a(k1)n+r+bma(k1)n+rbnan+bn \frac{a^{m}+b^{m}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}=a^{(k-1) n+r}+\frac{b^{m}-a^{(k-1) n+r} b^{n}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}
is integer, bma(k1)n+rbnan+bn\frac{b^{m}-a^{(k-1) n+r} b^{n}}{a^{n}+b^{n}} is integer as well. However, since aa and bb are coprime,
bmna(k1)n+ran+bn=a(k2)n+r+a(k2)n+rbn+bmnan+bn \frac{b^{m-n}-a^{(k-1) n+r}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}=-a^{(k-2) n+r}+\frac{a^{(k-2) n+r} b^{n}+b^{m-n}}{a^{n}+b^{n}}
is again an integer. Proceeding this way we get that an+bna^{n}+b^{n} divides br+(1)karb^{r}+(-1)^{k} a^{r}. Since br+(1)kar<an+bn\left|b^{r}+(-1)^{k} a^{r}\right|<a^{n}+b^{n}, we conclude that br+(1)kar=0b^{r}+(-1)^{k} a^{r}=0. Since aa and bb are coprime, rr has to be zero and kk odd. So the only solutions are (kn,n)(k n, n) where kk is an odd integer.

Solution 3:

If m<nm<n, then am+bm<an+bna^{m}+b^{m}<a^{n}+b^{n} and so there are no solutions. Assume now that mnm \geqslant n. Using long division, we get:
(am+bm):(an+bn)=amnam2nbn+am3nb2nam+bnamnbmbn+amnamnbnb2nam2nbm+b2nam2nam2nb2n+am3nb3nbmam3nb3n \begin{aligned} & \left(a^{m}+b^{m}\right):\left(a^{n}+b^{n}\right)=a^{m-n}-a^{m-2 n} b^{n}+a^{m-3 n} b^{2 n}-\cdots \\ & \frac{a^{m}+b^{n} a^{m-n}}{b^{m}-b^{n}+a^{m-n}} \\ & \frac{-a^{m-n} b^{n}-b^{2 n} a^{m-2 n}}{b^{m}+b^{2 n} a^{m-2 n}} \\ & \frac{a^{m-2 n} b^{2 n}+a^{m-3 n} b^{3 n}}{b^{m}-a^{m-3 n} b^{3 n}} \end{aligned}
The remainders after each step are of the form bm+(1)kamknbknb^{m}+(-1)^{k} a^{m-k n} b^{k n}. For the expression to be an integer, one of these expressions has to be equal to zero. This can only happen when kk is odd and m=knm=k n. Finally, we check that for (m,n)=(kn,n)(m, n)=(k n, n) for kk odd we get
am+bm=(an+bn)((an)k1±(bn)k1) a^{m}+b^{m}=\left(a^{n}+b^{n}\right)\left(\left(a^{n}\right)^{k-1}-\cdots \pm\left(b^{n}\right)^{k-1}\right)

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