Maths Olympiad Prep

Library / /48 of 91

, 2007

Number theory Difficulty 6.1 National Olympiad Prove it India

Find all integer solutions (x,y)(x, y) of the equation y2=x3p2xy^2 = x^3 - p^2x, where pp is a prime such that p3(mod4)p \equiv 3 \pmod{4}.

Solution

y2=(xp)(x)(x+p). y^2 = (x-p)(x)(x+p).
We split the analysis into the following cases.

Case pyp \nmid y. In this case, we have (xp,x)=(x,x+p)=1(x-p,x) = (x,x+p) = 1. If xx is even, then (xp,x+p)=1(x-p,x+p) = 1, so it follows that xp,xx-p,x and x+px+p are all squares. This is not possible since x+p3(mod8)x+p \equiv 3 \pmod{8}. Thus, xx has to be odd. In this case we have (xp,x+p)=2(x-p,x+p) = 2. So we get
x=r2,(xp)=2s2,(x+p)=2t2. \begin{aligned} x &= r^2, \\ (x-p) &= 2s^2, \\ (x+p) &= 2t^2. \end{aligned}
The last two equations imply (t2s2)=p(t^2 - s^2) = p solving which we get t=(p+1)/2t = (p+1)/2 and s=(p1)/2s = (p-1)/2. Now,
r2=x=(xp)+p=(p1)2/2+p=(p2+1)/2=((8k+3)2+1)/2(here p=8k+3)=(64k2+48k+10)/25(mod8) \begin{aligned} r^2 &= x = (x-p)+p \\ &= (p-1)^2/2 + p \\ &= (p^2+1)/2 \\ &= ((8k+3)^2 + 1)/2 \quad (\text{here } p = 8k+3) \\ &= (64k^2 + 48k + 10)/2 \equiv 5 \pmod{8} \end{aligned}
which is not possible. Thus there are no solutions in case pyp \nmid y.

Case pyp \mid y. We first note that if y=0y=0 then x=0,px=0, p or p-p, and this gives us three solutions. Now, assume that y0y \neq 0. Since pyp \mid y it follows that (xp,x,x+p)=p(x-p,x,x+p) = p. Thus, p2yp^2 \mid y. Canceling p3p^3 from both the sides, we have
pb2=(a1)(a)(a+1), pb^2 = (a-1)(a)(a+1),
where a=x/pa = x/p and b=y/p2b = y/p^2. Note that a1,aa-1, a and a+1a+1 are all positive since y0y \neq 0. Now, pp divides exactly one of (a1),a(a-1), a and (a+1)(a+1). If pp divides (a1)(a-1) then, aa and (a+1)(a+1) have to be squares, which is not possible since a0a \neq 0. So, p(a1)p \nmid (a-1). Similarly, p(a+1)p \nmid (a+1). Thus, it should be the case that pap \mid a.
If a0a \neq 0 is even, then (a1),a/p(a-1), a/p and (a+1)(a+1) are relatively prime to each other, so they all have to be squares. But it is not possible that (a1)(a-1) and (a+1)(a+1) are both squares. Thus, aa should be odd.
Now, (a1,a+1)=2(a-1, a+1) = 2, so (a1)=2r2(a-1) = 2r^2 and (a+1)=2s2(a+1) = 2s^2. This gives s2r2=1s^2 - r^2 = 1 which implies s=1s=1 and r=0r=0. This gives a=1a=1 which is not divisible by pp. Thus there are no solutions in this case.

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.