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Geometry Difficulty 5.2 AIME, harder Prove it Ireland

Find, with proof, all triples of integers (a,b,c)(a, b, c) such that aa, bb and cc are the lengths of the sides of a right angled triangle whose area is a+b+ca + b + c.

Solution

Assume for the moment that abca \leq b \leq c. So
a2+b2=c2.(1) a^2 + b^2 = c^2. \quad (1)
The condition on the area entails ab=2(a+b+c)ab = 2(a + b + c) which implies that
4c2=(ab)24ab(a+b)+4(a2+b2+2ab).(2) 4c^2 = (ab)^2 - 4ab(a + b) + 4(a^2 + b^2 + 2ab). \quad (2)
Equations (1) and (2) imply that
ab4(a+b)+8=0 ab - 4(a + b) + 8 = 0
or
ab4(a+b)+16=8. ab - 4(a + b) + 16 = 8.
Thus
(a4)(b4)=8.(3) (a - 4)(b - 4) = 8. \quad (3)
Now, there are only two ways to factorise 88 in positive integers. Thus, either (a,b)=(5,12)(a, b) = (5, 12) or (a,b)=(6,8)(a, b) = (6, 8). Thus, there are (up to permutations) two triples that satisfy the given conditions namely, (5,12,13)(5, 12, 13) and (6,8,10)(6, 8, 10). \square

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