Keep on Reducing

How many ordered pairs of positive integers ( x , y , z ) (x,y,z) satisfy the following:

x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = 8 x y z x^{2} + y^{2} + z^{2} = 8xyz


The answer is 0.

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2 solutions

Isaac Jiménez
Aug 14, 2014

x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = 8 x y z { x }^{ 2 }+{ y }^{ 2 }+{ z }^{ 2 }=8xyz

On the left side of the first equation, exactly one term is even or all three terms are even. If exactly one term is even, then the right side is divisible by 4 4 , the left only by 2 2 . A contradiction. Hence all three terms are even, so let say x = 2 x 1 , y = 2 y 1 , z = 2 z 1 x={ 2x }_{ 1 },y={ 2y }_{ 1 },z={ 2z }_{ 1 } . Applying this in the first equation we get:

x 1 2 + y 1 2 + z 1 2 = 16 x 1 y 1 z 1 { x }_{ 1 }^{ 2 }+{ y }_{ 1 }^{ 2 }+{ z }_{ 1 }^{ 2 }=16{ x }_{ 1 }{ y }_{ 1 }{ z }_{ 1 } .

From this, with the same reasoning we get x 1 = 2 x 2 , y 1 = 2 y 2 , z 1 = 2 z 2 { x }_{ 1 }=2{ x }_{ 2 },{ y }_{ 1 }={ 2y }_{ 2 },z_{ 1 }={ 2z }_{ 2 } , and

x 2 2 + y 2 2 + z 2 2 = 32 x 2 y 2 z 2 { x }_{ 2 }^{ 2 }+{ y }_{ 2 }^{ 2 }+{ z }_{ 2 }^{ 2 }=32{ x }_{ 2 }{ y }_{ 2 }{ z }_{ 2 } .

Again, it follows that x 2 , y 2 , z 2 x_{ 2 },{ y }_{ 2 },{ z }_{ 2 } are even, and so on, that is

x = 2 x 1 = 4 x 2 = 8 x 3 = . . . = 2 n x n x=2x_{ 1 }={ 4x }_{ 2 }={ 8x }_{ 3 }=...={ 2 }^{ n }{ x }_{ n }

y = 2 y 1 = 4 y 2 = 8 y 3 = . . . = 2 n y n y=2y_{ 1 }={ 4y }_{ 2 }={ 8y }_{ 3 }=...={ 2 }^{ n }{ y }_{ n }

z = 2 z 1 = 4 z 2 = 8 z 3 = . . . = 2 n z n z=2z_{ 1 }={ 4z }_{ 2 }={ 8z }_{ 3 }=...={ 2 }^{ n }{ z }_{ n }

so, as we see x , y , z x,y,z are divisible by 2 n { 2 }^{ n } for any n n . This is only possible for x = y = z = 0 x=y=z=0 , but the instructions make exception of this answer, so the answer is 0 \boxed { 0 } .

Also, it is well known that the equation x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = k x y z { x }^{ 2 }+{ y }^{ 2 }+{ z }^{ 2 }=kxyz has only solution for k = 1 k=1 and k = 3 k=3 infinitely many solutions.

Wow. Nice .

Krishna Ar - 6 years, 10 months ago

i love infinite descent so much.

Isaac Thomas - 6 years, 9 months ago

"the instructions make exception.." Actually, not anymore, so for those who are confused don't fret. The exception was unnecessary since the poster said that x , y , z x, y, z are positive integers.

Michael Tong - 6 years, 10 months ago

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You must know that when I solved the problem (yestarday) the instructions didn´t say x , y , z x,y,z to be positive, so I think Rohit Kumar edit the instructions.

Isaac Jiménez - 6 years, 10 months ago

We don't need positivity assumptions on x , y , z x,y,z . The equation does not have any integral solution (positive or negative), excepting from all-zero.

Abhishek Sinha - 6 years, 10 months ago

I believe a better explanation for why the terms on the left hand side have to be even is by considering it in mod 8. What happens is numbers in that modulus squared become 1, 4, 1, 0 for 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on respectively, That means for the left hand side to be divisible by 8, they have to add to 0 which can only be done if x, y and z are all multiples of 4 or if 2 of them are multiples of 2 and the third a multiple of 4. The rest of the proof after that is great too as 2^n is a multiple of 8 for n > 2.

Josh Banister - 6 years, 5 months ago
Abhishek Sinha
Aug 15, 2014

Subtracting 2 y z 2yz from both sides, we have x 2 + ( y z ) 2 = 2 y z ( 4 x 1 ) x^2+(y-z)^2=2yz(4x-1) . Since ( y z ) 2 0 (y-z)^2 \geq 0 , we have x 2 ( 8 y z ) x + 2 y z 0 x^2-(8yz) x+2yz \leq 0 . Since x x is real, the discriminant of this quadratic in x x must be non-positive. This gives y z ( y z 1 8 ) 0 yz(yz-\frac{1}{8})\leq 0 , i.e. 0 y z 1 8 0\leq yz \leq \frac{1}{8} , which is impossible to hold for integral non-zero y , z y,z . Also if one of them is zero, the only real solution of the given equation is the all-zero solution. Thus no solution excepting from all-zero.

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