Determine the number of ordered pairs of integers such that and
Solution
The equation can be rewritten as Multiplying through by and factoring yields . Therefore, or , so either or .
For the case , note that and . Thus, all values of from to will work.
For the case , note that while . Therefore, for this case, all values of from to work.
There are possibilities for the square case and possibilities for the cube case. Thus, the answer is .
Note that Inclusion-Exclusion does not need to be used, as the problem is asking for ordered pairs , and not for the number of possible values of . Were the problem to ask for the number of possible values of , the values of under would have to be subtracted, which would just be values: and . However, the ordered pairs where b is to the sixth power are distinct, so they are not redundant. (For example, the pairs (4, 64) and (8, 64).)