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Mathematica competitions in Croatia

Croatia number theory

Problem

Do there exist positive integers and such that and are squares of positive integers?
Solution
Without loss of generality we can assume that . Obviously, . On the other hand, because . Hence we have which means that is between two consecutive squares, so it can not be a square of an integer. Such positive integers and do not exist.
Final answer
No; such positive integers do not exist.

Techniques

Techniques: modulo, size analysis, order analysis, inequalitiesLinear and quadratic inequalities