AlgebraDifficulty 7.4National olympiad, round 2Find the answer
Problem Solve in integers the equation x2+xy+y2=(3x+y+1)3. Solution We first notice that both sides must be integers, so 3x+y must be an integer. We can therefore perform the substitution x+y=3t where t is an integer. Then: (3t)2−xy=(t+1)3 9t2+x(x−3t)=t3+3t2+3t+1 4x2−12xt+9t2=4t3−15t2+12t+4 (2x−3t)2=(t−2)2(4t+1) 4t+1 is therefore the square of an odd integer and can be replaced with (2n+1)2=4n2+4n+1 By substituting using t=n2+n we get: (2x−3n2−3n)2=[(n2+n−2)(2n+1)]2 2x−3n2−3n=±(2n3+3n2−3n−2) x=n3+3n2−1 or x=−n3+3n+1 Using substitution we get the solutions: (n3+3n2−1,−n3+3n+1)∪(−n3+3n+1,n3+3n2−1)
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Solution
Let n=3x+y . Thus, x+y=3n . We have x2+xy+y2=(3x+y+1)3⟹(x+y)2−xy=(3x+y+1)3 Substituting n for 3x+y , we have 9n2−x(3n−x)=(n+1)3 Treating x as a variable and n as a constant, we have 9n2−3nx+x2=(n+1)3, which turns into x2−3nx+(9n2−(n+1)3)=0, a quadratic equation. By the quadratic formula, x=21(3n±9n2−4(9n2−(n+1)3)) which simplifies to x=21(3n±4(n+1)3−27n2) Since we want x and y to be integers, we need 4(n+1)3−27n2 to be a perfect square. We can factor the aforementioned equation to be (n−2)2(4n+1)=k2 for an integer k . Since (n−2)2 is always a perfect square, for (n−2)2(4n+1) to be a perfect square, 4n+1 has to be a perfect square as well. Since 4n+1 is odd, the square root of the aforementioned equation must be odd as well. Thus, we have 4n+1=a2 for some odd a . Thus, n=4a2−1, in which by difference of squares it is easy to see that all the possible values for n are just n=p(p−1) , where p is a positive integer. Thus, x+y=3n=3p(p−1). Thus, the general form for x=21(3p(p−1)±4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2) for a positive integer p . (This is an integer since 4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2 is an even perfect square (since 4(p(p−1)+1) is always even, as well as 27(p(p−1))2 being always even) as established, and 3p(p−1) is always even as well. Thus, the whole numerator is even, which makes the quantity of that divided by 2 always an integer.) Since y=3n−x , the general form for y is just y=3p(p−1)−21(3p(p−1)±4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2) (This is an integer since 4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2 is an even perfect square (since 4(p(p−1)+1) is always even, as well as 27(p(p−1))2 being always even) as established, and 3p(p−1) is always even as well. Thus, the whole numerator is even, which makes the quantity of that divided by 2 always an integer, which thus trivially makes 3p(p−1)−21(3p(p−1)±4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2) an integer.) for a positive integer p . Thus, our general in integers (x,y) is (21(3p(p−1)±4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2),3p(p−1)−21(3p(p−1)±4(p(p−1)+1)3−27(p(p−1))2). -fidgetboss_4000
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