a 2 + b 2 = a b a^2+b^2=ab

a 2 + b 2 = 10 a + b \large a^2+b^2=10a+b

Given that a a and b b are single-digit integers, is there any two-digit integer a b \overline{ab} satisfies the equation above?

Still not discovered We can't say No Yes

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4 solutions

Alex Burgess
Feb 25, 2019

Rearranging we get: a ( 10 a ) = b ( b 1 ) a(10-a)=b(b-1) .

RHS is even, hence a a must be even.

Due to the symmetry of the LHS, it can only equal 2 values: 2 8 = 16 2*8=16 and 4 6 = 24 4*6=24 , neither of which can be written in the form b ( b 1 ) b(b-1) .

@Alex Burgess nice, you have a simple solution

chakravarthy b - 2 years, 3 months ago
Chew-Seong Cheong
Feb 25, 2019

From a 2 + b 2 = 10 a + b a^2 + b^2 = 10a + b , we get a 2 10 a + ( b 2 b ) = 0 a^2 - 10a + (b^2 - b) = 0 . Solving the quadratic for a a , we have a = 5 ± 25 b ( b 1 ) a = 5 \pm \sqrt {25-b(b-1)} . For a a to be a positive integer, 25 b ( b 1 ) 25-b(b-1) must be positive and a perfect square. For 25 b ( b 1 ) 0 25-b(b-1) \ge 0 , b < 6 b < 6 or b = 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 b = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . Of all the six possible values of b b , only when b = 1 b=1 is 25 b ( b 1 ) = 25 25-b(b-1) = 25 a perfect square. Then a = 5 ± 5 = 0 a = 5 \pm 5 = 0 or 10 10 . Both are unacceptable values for a a . Therefore there is no two-digit integer a b \overline{ab} which satisfies the equation.

@Chew-Seong Cheong it's correct.

chakravarthy b - 2 years, 3 months ago
Tom Engelsman
Feb 23, 2019

If we start with a 2 + b 2 = 10 a + b a^2 + b^2 = 10a + b , then we obtain the quadratic equation:

a 2 10 a + ( b 2 b ) = 0 a = 10 ± 100 4 ( 1 ) ( b 2 b ) 2 = 10 ± 4 b 2 + 4 b + 100 2 a^2 - 10a + (b^2 - b) = 0 \Rightarrow a = \frac{10 \pm \sqrt{100 - 4(1)(b^2 -b)}}{2} = \frac{10 \pm \sqrt{-4b^2 + 4b + 100}}{2} (i)

We require the discriminant in (i) to be non-negative AND for b Z 0 + b \in \mathbb{Z_{0}^{+}} , which gives us:

4 b 2 + 4 b + 100 0 b = 4 ± 16 4 ( 4 ) ( 100 ) 8 = 1 ± 101 2 0 b 5 -4b^2 + 4b + 100 \ge 0 \Rightarrow b = \frac{-4 \pm \sqrt{16 - 4(-4)(100)}}{-8} = \frac{1 \pm \sqrt{101}}{2} \Rightarrow 0 \le b \le 5 ;

or b = [ 0 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ] b = [0,1,2,3,4,5] . Substituting each of these values back into (i) gives the ordered pairs:

( a , b ) = ( 0 , 0 ) ; ( 10 , 0 ) ; ( 0 , 1 ) ; ( 10 , 1 ) ; ( 5 + 23 , 2 ) ; ( 5 23 , 2 ) ; ( 5 + 19 , 3 ) ; ( 5 19 , 3 ) ; ( 5 + 13 , 4 ) ; ( 5 13 , 4 ) ; ( 5 + 5 , 5 ) ; ( 5 5 , 5 ) . (a,b) = (0,0); (10,0); (0,1); (10,1); (5+\sqrt{23},2); (5-\sqrt{23},2); (5+\sqrt{19},3); (5-\sqrt{19},3); (5+\sqrt{13},4); (5-\sqrt{13},4); (5+\sqrt{5},5); (5-\sqrt{5},5).

There are NO positive integral values for a a to take on under these conditions, which means there is no two-digit number a b ab that satisfies the original Diophantine equation above.

Correct answer

chakravarthy b - 2 years, 3 months ago
Patrick Corn
Mar 29, 2019

After some manipulation, the equation becomes ( 2 a 10 ) 2 + ( 2 b 1 ) 2 = 101. (2a-10)^2 + (2b-1)^2 = 101. The only way to write 101 101 as a sum of squares, up to sign and rearrangement, is 1 0 2 + 1 2 . 10^2+1^2. (This is easy to check by inspection, or using the fact that 101 101 is prime and knowing some number theory.)

Since 2 a 10 2a-10 is even, it must be ± 10 , \pm 10, which gives a = 0 , 10. a = 0, 10. Neither of these can be the first digit of a two-digit number. So the answer is No.

(The complete set of solutions ( a , b ) (a,b) to the given equation is { ( 0 , 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 ) , ( 10 , 0 ) , ( 10 , 1 ) } . ) \{(0,0), (0,1), (10, 0), (10, 1)\}.)

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