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Mathematica competitions in Croatia

Croatia algebra

Problem

Let and be integers such that the equation has two integer solutions. For all we define the numbers and by the formulas Prove that there exists an infinite number of positive integers such that the equation has two integer solutions.
Solution
Let be a discriminant of quadratic equation , for each , i.e. By assumption we conclude that is a square of an integer. Further, we have: Let's suppose that the equation has two integer solutions for some . Then for some integer , hence, we have: Moreover, since and are integers, we conclude that and are of the same parity. But, so the equation also has two integer solutions. Hence, we proved that there are infinitely many integers for which the equation has two integer solutions.

Techniques

Quadratic functionsRecurrence relations