Only One Solution Is Trivial

x + y + z = x 3 + y 3 + z 3 = 3 \large x+y+z=x^3+y^3+z^3=3

Let x , y x,y and z z be integers satisfying the equation above. Find the sum of all distinct values of x y z xyz .


The answer is -79.

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2 solutions

Patrick Chatain
Jun 2, 2016

Relevant wiki: Diophantine Equations - Solve by Factoring

From x + y + z = 3 x+y+z=3 we get x = 3 y z x=3-y-z

Then 3 = x 3 + y 3 + z 3 = ( 3 y z ) 3 + y 3 + z 3 = 27 27 y + 9 y 2 27 z + 18 y z 3 y 2 z + 9 z 2 3 y z 2 3=x^3+y^3+z^3=(3-y-z)^3+y^3+z^3=27-27y+9y^2-27z+18yz-3y^2z+9z^2-3yz^2

\implies 24 = 27 y 9 y 2 + 27 z 9 z 2 18 y z + 3 y z 2 + 3 y 2 z 24=27y-9y^2+27z-9z^2-18yz+3yz^2+3y^2z

\implies 8 = 9 y 3 y 2 + 9 z 3 z 2 6 y z + y z 2 + y 2 z 8=9y-3y^2+9z-3z^2-6yz+yz^2+y^2z

\implies 8 = ( 3 z ) ( y + z ) ( 3 y ) 8=(3-z)(y+z)(3-y) (1)

So 3 z 3-z is a divisor (positive or negative) of 8

Then 3 z 3-z\in {1, 2, 4, 8, -1, -2, -4, -8} \implies z z\in {11, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, -1, -5}

Analogously x x\in {11, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, -1, -5} and y y\in {11, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, -1, -5}

We also know from equation 1 that y + z y+z is also a divisor of 8 and analogously x + z x+z and y + x y+x are also divisors of 8. So for any pair of numbers we choose from {11, 7, 5, 4, 2, 1, -1, -5} their sum must be a divisor of 8.

The only triples formed with these numbers that satisfy that any pairwise sum is a divisor of 8 are:

( 7 , 1 , 1 ) (7, 1, 1) , ( 7 , 5 , 1 ) (7, -5, 1) , ( 5 , 1 , 1 ) (5, -1, -1) , ( 4 , 4 , 4 ) (4, 4, 4) , ( 4 , 4 , 5 ) (4, 4, -5) , ( 2 , 2 , 2 ) (2, 2, 2) , ( 2 , 2 , 1 ) (2, 2, -1) , ( 2 , 1 , 1 ) (2, -1, -1) , ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) (1, 1, 1) , ( 1 , 1 , 5 ) (1, 1, -5) , ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) (-1, -1, -1)

From which the only ones that add up to 3 are:

( 7 , 5 , 1 ) (7, -5, 1) , ( 5 , 1 , 1 ) (5, -1, -1) , ( 4 , 4 , 5 ) (4, 4, -5) , ( 2 , 2 , 1 ) (2, 2, -1) , ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) (1, 1, 1)

From which the only ones whose cubes add up to 3 are:

( 4 , 4 , 5 ) (4, 4, -5) and ( 1 , 1 , 1 ) (1, 1, 1)

So the only possible values of x y z xyz are 4 × 4 × 5 = 80 4\times4\times-5=-80 and 1 × 1 × 1 = 1 1\times1\times1=1 which add up to 79 \boxed{-79}

Nice solution. I thought only (1,1,1) was the solution due to Fermat's Last theorem. Lol

Jun Arro Estrella - 5 years ago

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Lol.I thought the same.

Destructo Prime - 5 years ago
Shashank Goel
Jun 4, 2016

Given:x+y+z=3 x^3+y^3+z^3=3

x^3+y^3+z^3-3xyz=(x+y+z)((x+y+z)^2-3(xy+yz+zx)

xyz-3(xy+yz+zx)=-8

xyz-3(xy+yz+zx)+9(x+y+z)-27=-8

(x-3)(y-3)(z-3)=-8=abc for some integers a,b,c

Let x=a+3,y=b+3,z=c+3

Since x+y+z=3 So a+b+c=-6

Thus (a,b,c)=(-2,-2,-2),(1,1,-8),(-8,1,1),(1,-8,1) and (x,y,z)=(1,1,1),(4,4,-5),(-5,4,4),(4,-5,4)

Sum of distinct values of xyz=(1)+(-80)=-79

Very nice solution! Can you tell me how were you able to think that xyz-3(xy+yz+zx)=-8 can be written as xyz-3(xy+yz+zx)+9(x+y+z)-27=-8 so that it can be rewritten as (x-3)(y-3)(z-3)=-8=abc?

Yathish Dhavala - 5 years ago

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I think it is well known

SHASHANK GOEL - 5 years ago

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