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Saudi Arabian Mathematical Competitions

Number theory Difficulty 5.6 AIME, harder Prove it Saudi Arabia

Let pairwise different positive integers aa, bb, cc with gcd⁡(a,b,c)=1\operatorname{gcd}(a, b, c) = 1 are such that
a∣(b−c)2,b∣(c−a)2,c∣(a−b)2. a \mid (b - c)^2, \quad b \mid (c - a)^2, \quad c \mid (a - b)^2.
Prove that there is no non-degenerate triangle with side lengths aa, bb and cc.

Solution

First, we will show that aa, bb, cc are pairwise coprime. Denote d=gcd⁡(b,c)d = \operatorname{gcd}(b, c) and suppose that d>1d > 1. Take pp as a prime divisor of dd. We have
{p∣bp∣c⇒{p∣(c−a)2p∣(a−b)2⇒p∣c−ap∣a−b⇒p∣a. \left\{\begin{array}{l} p \mid b \\ p \mid c \end{array}\right. \Rightarrow \left\{\begin{array}{l} p \mid (c - a)^2 \\ p \mid (a - b)^2 \end{array}\right. \Rightarrow \left.\begin{array}{l} p \mid c - a \\ p \mid a - b \end{array} \Rightarrow p \mid a.\right.
This implies that p∣gcd⁡(a,b,c)p \mid \operatorname{gcd}(a, b, c), a contradiction. So gcd⁡(b,c)=1\operatorname{gcd}(b, c) = 1. Similar with gcd⁡(c,a)\operatorname{gcd}(c, a), gcd⁡(a,b)\operatorname{gcd}(a, b).

Suppose that aa, bb, cc are side-lengths of some triangle then
b+c>a,c+a>b,a+b>c. b + c > a, \quad c + a > b, \quad a + b > c.
So by putting x=(a+b−c)(b+c−a)(c+a−b)>0x = (a + b - c)(b + c - a)(c + a - b) > 0, we can see that x>0x > 0.

We have a∣(b−c)2−a2=(b−c−a)(b−c+a)a \mid (b - c)^2 - a^2 = (b - c - a)(b - c + a), thus a∣xa \mid x. Similarly, we have b∣xb \mid x, c∣xc \mid x and since gcd⁡(a,b)=gcd⁡(b,c)=gcd⁡(c,a)=1\operatorname{gcd}(a, b) = \operatorname{gcd}(b, c) = \operatorname{gcd}(c, a) = 1 so abc∣xa b c \mid x. Hence,
abc≤(a+b−c)(b+c−a)(c+a−b). a b c \leq (a + b - c)(b + c - a)(c + a - b).
From AM-GM, we have (a+b−c)(b+c−a)≤(a+b−c+b+c−a2)2=b2(a + b - c)(b + c - a) \leq \left(\frac{a + b - c + b + c - a}{2}\right)^2 = b^2 and similar inequalities as (b+c−a)(c+a−b)≤c2(b + c - a)(c + a - b) \leq c^2, (c+a−b)(a+b−c)≤a2(c + a - b)(a + b - c) \leq a^2 then
(a+b−c)(b+c−a)(c+a−b)≤abc. (a + b - c)(b + c - a)(c + a - b) \leq a b c.
These imply the equality must be hold, so a=b=ca = b = c, contradiction since aa, bb, cc pairwise distinct. □\square

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