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Baltic Way 1993 · Problem 4

Number Theory

Determine all integers nn for which

252+6254−n+252−6254−n\sqrt{\frac{25}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{625}{4}-n}}+\sqrt{\frac{25}{2}-\sqrt{\frac{625}{4}-n}}

is an integer.

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Topics

Divisibility and factorization

Solutions

Solution

Let

p=252+6254−n+252−6254−n=25+2n.p=\sqrt{\frac{25}{2}+\sqrt{\frac{625}{4}-n}}+\sqrt{\frac{25}{2}-\sqrt{\frac{625}{4}-n}}=\sqrt{25+2 \sqrt{n}} .

Then n=(p2−252)2n=\left(\frac{p^{2}-25}{2}\right)^{2} and obviously pp is an odd number not less than 5. If p≥9p \geq 9 then n>6254n>\frac{625}{4} and the initial expression would be undefined. The two remaining values p=5p=5 and p=7p=7 give n=0n=0 and n=144n=144 respectively.

Contest context

Results from Baltic Way 1993

8 teams

Mean score
4.5 / 5
Scores of 4 or 5
7 / 8
Estonia
5 / 5

Score distribution

00
10
20
31
42
55
All team scores
TeamScore
Poland5 / 5
Latvia3 / 5
Estonia5 / 5
Sweden5 / 5
Lithuania5 / 5
Finland4 / 5
Iceland4 / 5
Denmark5 / 5