For an integer n, let f(n) denote the number of pairs (x,y) of integers such that x2+xy+y2=n. Compute the sum ∑n=1106nf(n)
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Solution
Rewrite the sum as ∑x2+xy+y2≤106(x2+xy+y2) where the sum is over all pairs (x,y) of integers with x2+xy+y2≤106. We can find a crude upper bound for this sum by noting that x2+xy+y2=43x2+(2x+y)2≥43x2 so each term of this sum has ∣x∣≤32103. Similarly, ∣y∣≤32103. Therefore, the number of terms in the sum is at most (34103+1)2≈106. (We are throwing away "small" factors like 316 in the approximation.) Furthermore, each term in the sum is at most 106, so the total sum is less than about 1012. The answer 1⋅1012 would unfortunately still get a score of 0. For a better answer, we can approximate the sum by an integral: ∑x2+xy+y2≤106(x2+xy+y2)≈∬x2+xy+y2≤106(x2+xy+y2)dydx. Performing the change of variables (u,v)=(23x,21x+y) and then switching to polar coordinates (r,θ)=(u2+v2,tan−1(v/u)) yields ∬x2+xy+y2≤106(x2+xy+y2)dydx=32∬u2+v2≤106(u2+v2)dvdu=32∫02π∫0103r3drdθ=34π∫0103r3dr=3π⋅1012. This is approximately 1.8138⋅1012, which is much closer to the actual answer. (An answer of 1.8⋅1012 is good enough for full credit.)
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