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Number theory Difficulty 6.3 National Olympiad Find the answer

Determine all integral solutions of a2+b2+c2=a2b2a^2+b^2+c^2=a^2b^2 .

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Either a2=0a^2=0 or a2>0a^2>0 . If a2=0a^2=0 , then b2=c2=0b^2=c^2=0 . Symmetry applies for bb as well. If a2,b2≠0a^2,b^2\neq 0 , then c2≠0c^2\neq 0 . Now we look at a2 mod 4a^2\bmod{4} :
a2≡0 mod 4a^2\equiv 0\bmod{4} : Since a square is either 1 or 0 mod 4, then all the other squares are 0 mod 4. Let a=2a1a=2a_1 , b=2b1b=2b_1 , and c=2c1c=2c_1 . Thus a12+b12+c12=4a12b12a_1^2+b_1^2+c_1^2=4a_1^2b_1^2 . Since the LHS is divisible by four, all the variables are divisible by 4, and we must do this over and over again, and from infinite descent, there are no non-zero solutions when a2≡0 mod 4a^2\equiv 0\bmod{4} .
a2≡1 mod 4a^2\equiv 1\bmod{4} : Since b2≠0 mod 4b^2\neq 0\bmod{4} , b2≡1 mod 4b^2\equiv 1\bmod{4} , and 2+c2≡1 mod 42+c^2\equiv 1\bmod{4} . But for this to be true, c2≡3 mod 4c^2\equiv 3\bmod{4} , which is an impossibility. Thus there are no non-zero solutions when a2≡1 mod 4a^2\equiv 1\bmod{4} .
Thus the only solution is the solution above: (a,b,c)=0(a,b,c)=0 .

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