Maths Olympiad Prep

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Number theory Difficulty 5.3 AIME, harder Prove it United States

Problem:
Find all ordered triples of non-negative integers (a,b,c)(a, b, c) such that a2+2b+ca^{2}+2b+c, b2+2c+ab^{2}+2c+a, and c2+2a+bc^{2}+2a+b are all perfect squares.

Solution

Solution:
We have the trivial solutions (a,b,c)=(0,0,0)(a, b, c) = (0, 0, 0) and (a,b,c)=(1,1,1)(a, b, c) = (1, 1, 1), as well as the solution (a,b,c)=(127,106,43)(a, b, c) = (127, 106, 43) and its cyclic permutations.

The case a=b=c=0a = b = c = 0 works. Without loss of generality, a=max{a,b,c}a = \max \{a, b, c\}. If bb and cc are both zero, it's obvious that we have no solution. So, via the inequality
a2<a2+2b+c<(a+2)2 a^{2} < a^{2} + 2b + c < (a+2)^{2}
we find that a2+2b+c=(a+1)22a+1=2b+ca^{2} + 2b + c = (a+1)^{2} \Longrightarrow 2a + 1 = 2b + c. So,
a=b+c12. a = b + \frac{c-1}{2}.
Let c=2k+1c = 2k + 1 with k0k \geq 0; plugging into the given, we find that
b2+b+2+5kand4k2+6k+3b+1 b^{2} + b + 2 + 5k \quad \text{and} \quad 4k^{2} + 6k + 3b + 1
are both perfect squares. Multiplying both these quantities by 44, and setting x=2b+1x = 2b + 1 and y=4k+3y = 4k + 3, we find that
x2+5y8 and y2+6x11 x^{2} + 5y - 8 \text{ and } y^{2} + 6x - 11
are both even squares.

We may assume x,y3x, y \geq 3. We now have two cases, both of which aren't too bad:

- If xyx \geq y, then x2<x2+5y8<(x+3)2x^{2} < x^{2} + 5y - 8 < (x+3)^{2}. Since the square is even, x2+5y8=(x+1)2x^{2} + 5y - 8 = (x+1)^{2}. Then, x=5y92x = \frac{5y - 9}{2} and we find that y2+15y38y^{2} + 15y - 38 is an even square. Since y2<y2+15y38<(y+8)2y^{2} < y^{2} + 15y - 38 < (y+8)^{2}, there are finitely many cases to check. The solutions are (x,y)=(3,3)(x, y) = (3, 3) and (x,y)=(213,87)(x, y) = (213, 87).

- Similarly, if xyx \leq y, then y2<y2+6x11<(y+3)2y^{2} < y^{2} + 6x - 11 < (y+3)^{2}, so y2+6x11=(y+1)2y^{2} + 6x - 11 = (y+1)^{2}. Then, y=3x6y = 3x - 6 and we find that x2+15x38x^{2} + 15x - 38 is a perfect square. Amusingly, this is the exact same thing (whether this is just a coincidence due to me selecting the equality case to be x=yx = y, I'm not sure). Here, the solutions are (x,y)=(3,3)(x, y) = (3, 3) and (x,y)=(87,255)(x, y) = (87, 255).

Converting back, we see the solutions are (0,0,0)(0, 0, 0), (1,1,1)(1, 1, 1) and (127,106,43)(127, 106, 43) and its cyclic permutations.

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