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AustriaMO2011

Austria 2011 algebra

Problem

Let and be real numbers such that the quadratic equation has two real solutions and . The following two conditions hold: (i) The numbers and differ by 1. (ii) The numbers and differ by 1. Show that and are integers.
Solution
Without loss of generality, we assume . By Vieta's formulas, this implies and . Therefore, it is enough to check that has to be an integer.

Case 1: This implies and therefore and or , both of which are integers.

Case 2: We find and therefore and or , both of which are integers.

Techniques

Vieta's formulasQuadratic functions