Maths Olympiad Prep

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Algebra Difficulty 5.0 AIME, harder Find the answer

Find all integers mm such that m2+6m+28m^{2}+6 m+28 is a perfect square.

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

Solution

We must have m2+6m+28=n2m^{2}+6 m+28=n^{2}, where nn is an integer. Rewrite this as (m+3)2+19=(m+3)^{2}+19= n2n2(m+3)2=19(nm3)(n+m+3)=19n^{2} \Rightarrow n^{2}-(m+3)^{2}=19 \Rightarrow(n-m-3)(n+m+3)=19. Let a=nm3a=n-m-3 and b=n+m+3b=n+m+3, so we want ab=19a b=19. This leaves only 4 cases: - a=1,b=19a=1, b=19. Solve the system nm3=1n-m-3=1 and n+m+3=19n+m+3=19 to get n=10n=10 and m=6m=6, giving one possible solution. - a=19,b=1a=19, b=1. Solve the system, as above, to get n=10n=10 and m=12m=-12. - a=1,b=19a=-1, b=-19. We get n=10n=-10 and m=12m=-12. - a=19,b=1a=-19, b=-1. We get n=10n=-10 and m=6m=6. Thus the only mm are 6 and -12 .

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