Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Prove it Croatia

Prove that there do not exist positive integers kk and nn such that
k(k+1)(k+2)(k+3)=n(n+1). k(k + 1)(k + 2)(k + 3) = n(n + 1).

Solution

We have
k(k+1)(k+2)(k+3)=(k2+3k)(k2+3k+2)=(k2+3k+1)21. k(k + 1)(k + 2)(k + 3) = (k^2 + 3k)(k^2 + 3k + 2) = (k^2 + 3k + 1)^2 - 1.
That means that n(n+1)+1=n2+n+1n(n + 1) + 1 = n^2 + n + 1 has to be a perfect square, but that is impossible since
n2<n2+n+1<n2+2n+1=(n+1)2 n^2 < n^2 + n + 1 < n^2 + 2n + 1 = (n + 1)^2
i.e. n2+n+1n^2 + n + 1 is between two consecutive squares.
Therefore, such positive integers kk and nn do not exist.

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