Find all pairs of natural numbers and prime numbers satisfying the equality .
Solution
Answer: .
It is clear that . If , then and we have , i.e. , is a solution. On the other hand, if , then , i.e. for there are no different from satisfying the initial equality.
Now let . Then is an odd prime number and . We rewrite the initial equality in the form
Note that exactly one of four co-factors in the left-hand side of the equation can be divisible by . Indeed, is coprime with any of numbers . From the equalities , , it follows that the greatest common divisor of any two of three numbers is equal to or . Therefore, any two of them have not as a common divisor.
Thus, exactly one of four co-factors in the left-hand side of is divisible by , and so, it is divisible by . Then this co-factor is not less than . In any case or . So , whence , which is impossible. Therefore, the pair is a unique solution of the given equation.