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Algebra Difficulty 5.8 AIME, harder Prove it Belarus

Prove that there exist infinitely many positive integers nn so that nn and the sum of its digits are perfect squares and

a) the decimal representation of nn contains at most one 00;

b) the decimal representation of nn does not contain 00. (T. Lasy)

Solution

Note that the sum of the digits of this number is equal to
S(Xn)=1n+5(n1)+6=6n+1. S(X_n) = 1 \cdot n + 5 \cdot (n - 1) + 6 = 6n + 1.
Further,
Xn=102n19+4(10n1)9+1=102n1+4(10n1)+99=102n+410n+49=(10n+23)2 \begin{aligned} X_n &= \frac{10^{2n} - 1}{9} + \frac{4 \cdot (10^n - 1)}{9} + 1 \\ &= \frac{10^{2n} - 1 + 4 \cdot (10^n - 1) + 9}{9} \\ &= \frac{10^{2n} + 4 \cdot 10^n + 4}{9} \\ &= \left( \frac{10^n + 2}{3} \right)^2 \end{aligned}
is a perfect square. (Since S(10n+2)=3S(10^n + 2) = 3, we have 10n+2310^n + 2 \vdots 3.) It suffices to note that if n=6m2+2mn = 6m^2 + 2m (mNm \in \mathbb{N}), then S(Xn)=6n+1=6(6m2+2m)+1=(6m+1)2S(X_n) = 6n + 1 = 6(6m^2 + 2m) + 1 = (6m + 1)^2. Therefore, the numbers X6m2+2mX_{6m^2+2m} satisfy the problem condition for all mNm \in \mathbb{N}, and we have infinitely many such numbers.

Remark. Also we can consider
(210n+1)2(2 \cdot 10^n + 1)^2

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