Number theoryDifficulty 7.8National Olympiad, round 2Prove itMiddle European Mathematical Olympiad (MEMO)
Problem: Find all pairs of positive integers (m,n) for which there exist relatively prime integers a and b greater than 1 such that an+bnam+bm is an integer.
Solution
Solution:
If nm=q is an odd integer, we have an+bnam+bm=an+bn(an)q+(bn)q=(an)q−1−(an)q−2⋅bn+⋯−an⋅(bn)q−2+(bn)q−1 which is an integer for all positive integers a and b. We will prove that pairs (qn,n), where q is an odd integer, are the only solutions. Let us assume the opposite, i.e. that there exist pairs (m,n) that are solutions to our problem for which nm is not an odd integer. Among those pairs, let us choose one pair having the minimal sum.
Obviously, m>n. Let m=n+k for a positive integer k. Without loss of generality, we may assume a>b. In that case an+bnam+bm>an+bnan⋅bk+bm=bk thus there exists a positive integer t such that an+bnam+bm=bk+t This equation can be written as follows: am+bmam=(bk+t)(an+bn),=anbk+t(an+bn). Since a and b are relatively prime, an+bn and an are relatively prime as well. Therefore, from the last equation we can conclude that t is divisible by an. Let c be a positive integer such that t=c⋅an. We have ak=bk+c⋅an+c⋅bn The right-hand side of the previous equation is greater than an so we conclude that k>n. Previous equation can be written as an(ak−n−c)=bn(bk−n+c). This implies that bk−n+c is divisible by an, since a and b are relatively prime. Let x be a positive integer such that bk−n+c=x⋅an The previous equation gives us ak−n−c=x⋅bn Summing the last two equations gives us ak−n+bk−n=x(an+bn) which means that an+bnak−n+bk−n is an integer. Since (k−n)+n=k<m+n and because we have chosen (m,n) to have minimal sum, we conclude that nk−n=s is an odd positive integer. Let r⩾0 be an integer such that s=2r+1. This implies that k−n=(2r+1)⋅n i.e. k=(2r+2)⋅n This means that nm=nn+k=n(2r+2)⋅n+n=2r+3 which contradicts our assumption that nm is not an odd integer. Therefore, the only solutions are pairs (m,n)=(qn,n) where q is an odd positive integer and n is an arbitrary positive integer.
Solution 2:
Clearly m>n. Write m=kn+r, where k⩾1 and 0⩽r<n. Since an+bnam+bm=a(k−1)n+r+an+bnbm−a(k−1)n+rbn is integer, an+bnbm−a(k−1)n+rbn is integer as well. However, since a and b are coprime, an+bnbm−n−a(k−1)n+r=−a(k−2)n+r+an+bna(k−2)n+rbn+bm−n is again an integer. Proceeding this way we get that an+bn divides br+(−1)kar. Since br+(−1)kar<an+bn, we conclude that br+(−1)kar=0. Since a and b are coprime, r has to be zero and k odd. So the only solutions are (kn,n) where k is an odd integer.
Solution 3:
If m<n, then am+bm<an+bn and so there are no solutions. Assume now that m⩾n. Using long division, we get: (am+bm):(an+bn)=am−n−am−2nbn+am−3nb2n−⋯bm−bn+am−nam+bnam−nbm+b2nam−2n−am−nbn−b2nam−2nbm−am−3nb3nam−2nb2n+am−3nb3n The remainders after each step are of the form bm+(−1)kam−knbkn. For the expression to be an integer, one of these expressions has to be equal to zero. This can only happen when k is odd and m=kn. Finally, we check that for (m,n)=(kn,n) for k odd we get am+bm=(an+bn)((an)k−1−⋯±(bn)k−1)
Want a route through all this instead of an archive? The track
puts 2,000 problems in a working order, from AMC 10 level to the IMO shortlist.
Source: MathNet,
licensed CC-BY-4.0.
Statement reproduced verbatim; metadata (topic, difficulty) added by this project.