Find all pairs of integers that satisfy
Solutions — 2
Solution 1
Since the left side is an integer, the right side must also be an integer. The square root of an integer is either an integer or irrational (but never a non-integer fraction), so must be an integer. The right side of the equation is divisible by 3, so the left side must also be. Thus, . But squares are always congruent to 0 or 1 modulo 3, so this can only happen if . Therefore, and are both divisible by 3. Write and and substitute this in:
Square roots of integers are generally either integers or irrational. But cannot be irrational, because it is equal to , so it must be an integer. Therefore, is a square, which is also divisible by 3, so it must be divisible by 9. We can now divide both sides of the equation by 9:
Write and substitute :
Since all terms on the left side are positive, we must have . From and , it follows that . Furthermore, is even, as is , so must also be even, which means must be odd. Therefore, the only possibility is . Substituting this in, we get
or
This can also be written as . So or . In the first case, we get and thus and . In the second case, we get and thus and . Checking shows that both pairs satisfy the equation. Therefore, the solutions are and .
Solution 2
We are given the Diophantine equation:
1. Introduce a new variable:
Let . Since must be an integer, must be a perfect square. Thus, we can write:
2. **Substitute into the original equation:**
3. Simplify the equation:
4. Rearrange the equation:
5. Analyze divisibility by 3:
Since , we have:
This implies and . Therefore, , which means .
6. **Consider the parity of :**
Since is divisible by 3 and must be odd, we have:
7. Express the equation in a different form:
Let . For to be a perfect square, we need:
This implies:
8. **Check possible values of :**
Given , the possible values are and .
9. **Evaluate for and :**
Since is not a perfect square, is not a solution.
10. **Solve for when :**
11. **Find corresponding values:**
Thus, the integer solutions are:
The final answer is