CombinatoricsDifficulty 5.0Prove itRomanian Mathematical Olympiad · Romania
How many four digit numbers abcd simultaneously satisfy the equalities a+b=c+d and a2+b2=c2+d2?
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Official solution
From a+b=c+d we get (a+b)2=(c+d)2, hence ab=cd and furthermore a2−2ab+b2=c2−2cd+d2. As (a−b)2=(c−d)2, we have ∣a−b∣=∣c−d∣, which implies a−b=c−d or a−b=d−c. Recall that a+b=c+d, so either a=c,b=d or a=d,b=c. The numbers must have one of the forms aaaa, abba or abab, with a=0 and a=b. In all, there are 9+9⋅9+9⋅9=9+81+81=171 numbers.
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