Belarus MO 2018 Problem 10.5 - Number Theory

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Understand the problem

[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.22.4" text_font="Raleway||||||||" background_color="#f4f4f4" box_shadow_style="preset2" custom_margin="10px||10px" custom_padding="10px|20px|10px|20px"]Find all positive integers $n$ such that equation $$3a^2-b^2=2018^n$$has a solution in integers $a$ and $b$.

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Start with hints

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Belarus MO 2018 Problem 10.5 [/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title="Topic" _builder_version="3.26.6" open="on"]Number Theory [/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title="Difficulty Level" _builder_version="3.26.6" open="off"]5/10 [/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title="Suggested Book" _builder_version="3.26.6" open="off"]An Introduction to Number Theory [/et_pb_accordion_item][/et_pb_accordion][et_pb_tabs active_tab_background_color="#0c71c3" inactive_tab_background_color="#000000" _builder_version="3.26.6" tab_text_color="#ffffff" tab_font="||||||||" background_color="#ffffff"][et_pb_tab title="Hint 0" _builder_version="3.22.4"]Do you really need a hint? Try it first!

[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title="Hint 1" _builder_version="3.26.6"]Let's check for n = 1. Observe that a = 27, b = 13 gives a solutions for n = 1. What about higher degrees? Can we use this information?  [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title="Hint 2" _builder_version="3.26.6"]Does it work for n = 2? Let's prove something general! Prove that for a, b to have solutions, n must be odd.  [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title="Hint 3" _builder_version="3.26.6"]If n is even, Take $\pmod{3}$ to see that $-b^2\equiv 1\pmod{3}$, which has no integer solutions in $b$.  Hence, n must be odd. [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title="Hint 4" _builder_version="3.26.6"]Well now take n odd. Say $n=2m+1$ for some positive integer $m$. Then, the solution $(a,b)=(27\times 2018^m, 13\times 2018^m)$ exists and works. [/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.26.4" text_font="Raleway|300|||||||" text_text_color="#ffffff" header_font="Raleway|300|||||||" header_text_color="#e2e2e2" background_color="#0c71c3" border_radii="on|5px|5px|5px|5px" box_shadow_style="preset3" custom_margin="48px||48px" custom_padding="20px|20px|20px|20px"]

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Connected Program at Cheenta

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Math Olympiad is the greatest and most challenging academic contest for school students. Brilliant school students from over 100 countries participate in it every year. Cheenta works with small groups of gifted students through an intense training program. It is a deeply personalized journey toward intellectual prowess and technical sophistication.[/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_button button_url="https://cheenta.com/matholympiad/" url_new_window="on" button_text="Learn More" button_alignment="center" _builder_version="3.23.3" custom_button="on" button_bg_color="#0c71c3" button_border_color="#0c71c3" button_border_radius="0px" button_font="Raleway||||||||" button_icon="%%3%%" button_text_shadow_style="preset1" box_shadow_style="preset1" box_shadow_color="#0c71c3" background_layout="dark"][/et_pb_button][et_pb_text _builder_version="3.22.4" text_font="Raleway|300|||||||" text_text_color="#ffffff" header_font="Raleway|300|||||||" header_text_color="#e2e2e2" background_color="#0c71c3" border_radii="on|5px|5px|5px|5px" box_shadow_style="preset3" custom_margin="50px||50px" custom_padding="20px|20px|20px|20px"]

Similar Problems

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2 comments on “Belarus MO 2018 Problem 10.5 - Number Theory”

    1. Which answers? They are provided in the last hint always. All the best. Hope you are loving the Sequential Hints Method!

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