Answer this one. The old one is wrong.

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How many ordered pairs ( x , y ) (x,y) that satisfy 1 x + 1 y = 1 3 \frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y}=\frac{1}{3} where x x and y y are positive integers?


The answer is 3.

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1 solution

Jason Sebastian
Jan 3, 2014

1 x + 1 y = 1 3 \frac{1}{x}+\frac{1}{y}=\frac{1}{3}

1 y = 1 3 1 x \frac{1}{y}=\frac{1}{3}-\frac{1}{x}

1 y = x 3 3 x \frac{1}{y}=\frac{x-3}{3x}

y = 3 x x 3 = ( 3 x 9 ) + 9 x 3 y=\frac{3x}{x-3}=\frac{(3x-9)+9}{x-3}

y = 3 + 9 x 3 y=3+\frac{9}{x-3}

Since y y is a positive integer, then x 3 x-3 must divide 9 9 . So, the possible values of x x are 2 , 3 , 4 , 6 2,3,4,6 and 12 12 . No real numbers can be divided by zero, so we eliminate 3 3 .

From here, ordered pairs satisfying the conditions above are ( 2 , 6 ) , ( 4 , 12 ) , ( 6 , 6 ) , ( 12 , 4 ) (2,-6),(4,12),(6,6),(12,4) . But y y cannot be negative, and we are left with 3 \boxed{3} ordered pairs.

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