How many ordered pairs that satisfy where and are positive integers?
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x 1 + y 1 = 3 1
y 1 = 3 1 − x 1
y 1 = 3 x x − 3
y = x − 3 3 x = x − 3 ( 3 x − 9 ) + 9
y = 3 + x − 3 9
Since y is a positive integer, then x − 3 must divide 9 . So, the possible values of x are 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 and 1 2 . No real numbers can be divided by zero, so we eliminate 3 .
From here, ordered pairs satisfying the conditions above are ( 2 , − 6 ) , ( 4 , 1 2 ) , ( 6 , 6 ) , ( 1 2 , 4 ) . But y cannot be negative, and we are left with 3 ordered pairs.