For n=1,a1∈Z>0 and a11∈Z>0 if and only if a1=1. Next we show that (i) There are finitely many (x,y)∈Q>02 satisfying x+y∈Z and x1+y1∈Z. Write x=ba and y=dc with a,b,c,d∈Z>0 and gcd(a,b)=gcd(c,d)=1. Then x+y∈Z and x1+y1∈Z is equivalent to the two divisibility conditions
bd∣ad+bc(1) and ac∣ad+bc
Condition (1) implies that d∣ad+bc⟺d∣bc⟺d∣b since gcd(c,d)=1. Still from (1) we get b∣ad+bc⟺b∣ad⟺b∣d since gcd(a,b)=1. From b∣d and d∣b we have b=d. An analogous reasoning with condition (2) shows that a=c. Hence x=ba=dc=y, i.e., the problem amounts to finding all x∈Q>0 such that 2x∈Z>0 and x2∈Z>0. Letting n=2x∈Z>0, we have that x2∈Z>0⟺n4∈Z>0⟺n=1,2 or 4, and there are finitely many solutions, namely (x,y)=(21,21),(1,1) or (2,2). (ii) There are infinitely many triples (x,y,z)∈Q>02 such that x+y+z∈Z and x1+y1+z1∈Z. We will look for triples such that x+y+z=1, so we may write them in the form
(x,y,z)=(a+b+ca,a+b+cb,a+b+cc) with a,b,c∈Z>0
We want these to satisfy
x1+y1+z1=aa+b+c+ba+b+c+ca+b+c∈Z⟺ab+c+ba+c+ca+b∈Z
Fixing a=1, it suffices to find infinitely many pairs (b,c)∈Z>02 such that
b1+c1+bc+cb=3⟺b2+c2−3bc+b+c=0
To show that equation (*) has infinitely many solutions, we use Vieta jumping (also known as root flipping): starting with b=2,c=3, the following algorithm generates infinitely many solutions. Let c⩾b, and view (*) as a quadratic equation in b for c fixed:
b2−(3c−1)⋅b+(c2+c)=0
Then there exists another root b0∈Z of ( ∗∗) which satisfies b+b0=3c−1 and b⋅b0=c2+c. Since c⩾b by assumption,
b0=bc2+c⩾cc2+c>c
Hence from the solution (b,c) we obtain another one (c,b0) with b0>c, and we can then "jump" again, this time with c as the "variable" in the quadratic (*). This algorithm will generate an infinite sequence of distinct solutions, whose first terms are (2,3),(3,6),(6,14),(14,35),(35,90),(90,234),(234,611),(611,1598),(1598,4182),…
Comment. Although not needed for solving this problem, we may also explicitly solve the recursion given by the Vieta jumping. Define the sequence (xn) as follows:
x0=2,x1=3 and xn+2=3xn+1−xn−1 for n⩾0
Then the triple
(x,y,z)=(1+xn+xn+11,1+xn+xn+1xn,1+xn+xn+1xn+1)
satisfies the problem conditions for all n∈N. It is easy to show that xn=F2n+1+1, where Fn denotes the n-th term of the Fibonacci sequence ( F0=0,F1=1, and Fn+2=Fn+1+Fn for n⩾0 ).