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Number theory Difficulty 5.4 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let x,y,nx, y, n be positive integers with n>1n>1. How many ordered triples (x,y,n)(x, y, n) of solutions are there to the equation xnyn=2100x^{n}-y^{n}=2^{100} ?

A number or a short expression. Spacing and $ signs are ignored.

Solution

Break all possible values of nn into the four cases: n=2,n=4,n>4n=2, n=4, n>4 and nn odd. By Fermat's theorem, no solutions exist for the n=4n=4 case because we may write y4+(225)4=x4y^{4}+\left(2^{25}\right)^{4}=x^{4}. We show that for nn odd, no solutions exist to the more general equation xnyn=2kx^{n}-y^{n}=2^{k} where kk is a positive integer. Assume otherwise for contradiction's sake, and suppose on the grounds of well ordering that kk is the least exponent for which a solution exists. Clearly xx and yy must both be even or both odd. If both are odd, we have (xy)(xn1++yn1)(x-y)\left(x^{n-1}+\ldots+y^{n-1}\right). The right factor of this expression contains an odd number of odd terms whose sum is an odd number greater than 1, impossible. Similarly if xx and yy are even, write x=2ux=2 u and y=2vy=2 v. The equation becomes unvn=2knu^{n}-v^{n}=2^{k-n}. If knk-n is greater than 0, then our choice kk could not have been minimal. Otherwise, kn=0k-n=0, so that two consecutive positive integers are perfect nnth powers, which is also absurd. For the case that nn is even and greater than 4, consider the same generalization and hypotheses. Writing n=2mn=2 m, we find (xmym)(xm+ym)=2k\left(x^{m}-y^{m}\right)\left(x^{m}+y^{m}\right)=2^{k}. Then xmym=2a<2kx^{m}-y^{m}=2^{a}<2^{k}. By our previous work, we see that mm cannot be an odd integer greater than 1. But then mm must also be even, contrary to the minimality of kk. Finally, for n=2n=2 we get x2y2=2100x^{2}-y^{2}=2^{100}. Factoring the left hand side gives xy=2ax-y=2^{a} and x+y=2bx+y=2^{b}, where implicit is a<ba<b. Solving, we get x=2b1+2a1x=2^{b-1}+2^{a-1} and y=2b12a1y=2^{b-1}-2^{a-1}, for a total of 49 solutions. Namely, those corresponding to (a,b)=(1,99),(2,98),,(49,51)(a, b)=(1,99),(2,98), \cdots,(49,51).

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Source: Omni-MATH, licensed Apache-2.0. Statement and solution reproduced as published; topic and difficulty added by this site.