No. of solutions - 4

How many ordered pairs of integers (x,y) satisfy the equation y 2 = 1 + x + x 2 y^{2} = 1 + x + x^{2} ?


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2 3 4 1

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3 solutions

Mehmet Bala
Sep 7, 2014

y 2 = 1 + x + x 2 y^{2}=1+x+x^{2}

x 2 + x + ( 1 y 2 ) = 0 x^{2}+x+(1-y^{2})=0 .

Let this be a quadratic equation related to x x .From quadratic formula we have :

x = 1 ± 1 4 1 ( 1 y 2 ) 2 x=\frac{-1 \pm \sqrt{1-4*1*(1-y^{2})}}{2} .

x = 1 ± 4 y 2 3 2 x=\frac{-1 \pm \sqrt{4y^{2}-3}}{2} .

Since x x must be an integer then the discriminant must be a perfect square.We have the equation:

4 y 2 3 = m 2 4y^{2}-3=m^{2} for some integer m m .

( 2 y + m ) ( 2 y m ) = 3 (2y+m)(2y-m)=3 .

Since both factors are integers we have the following equations:

2 y + m = 3 2y+m=3

2 y m = 1 2y-m=1 .

Solving these equations we get y = 1 y=1 .Plugging these value into the quadratic formula we get x = 0 , 1 x=0,-1 .Note that if in the above system we change the places of the constants ie 3 3 and 1 1 ,this wont affect the problem at all producing in the end the same solutions.Lets proceed with our solution. There is also another system of equations we need to consider since the factors are integers and not p o s i t i v e positive integers.That is:

2 y + m = 3 2y+m=-3

2 y m = 1 2y-m=-1 .

Solving we get y = 1 y=-1 .Plugging in this value into our quadratic formula we get x = 0 , 1 x=0,-1 . Thus ,there are in total 4 \boxed{4} solutions which are :

( 0 ; 1 ) , ( 1 ; 1 ) , ( 1 ; 1 ) , ( 0 ; 1 ) (0;1),(-1;1),(-1;-1),(0;-1) .

Alternatively, when x > 0 , x>0, x 2 < x 2 + x + 1 < ( x + 1 ) 2 x^2<x^2+x+1<(x+1)^2 and when x < 1 , x<-1, say x = y , x=-y, ( y 1 ) 2 < y 2 y + 1 = x 2 + x + 1 < y 2 . (y-1)^2 < y^2-y+1 = x^2+x+1 < y^2. In both cases, x 2 + x + 1 x^2+x+1 lies between two consecutive squares, so it cannot be a square.

Sreejato Bhattacharya - 6 years, 9 months ago

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Or just multiply by 4 and have ( 2 y 2 x 1 ) ( 2 y + 2 x + 1 ) = 3 (2y-2x-1)(2y+2x+1)=3 , which is the easiest way.

Bogdan Simeonov - 6 years, 9 months ago

Yes, exactly as I thought...

Kartik Sharma - 6 years, 9 months ago

I too solved the same way!

Anurag Pandey - 4 years, 10 months ago
Rasched Haidari
Sep 8, 2014

y 2 = 1 + x + x 2 y^2=1+x+x^2 can be rearranged into y 2 1 = x + x 2 y^2-1=x+x^2 which can be written as ( y + 1 ) ( y 1 ) = x ( x + 1 ) (y+1)(y-1)=x(x+1) . From this we can see that if x = 0 , y = 1 x=0, y= -1 and x = 0 , y = 1 x=0, y=1 . Also, if x = 1 , y = 1 x=-1, y=1 and x = 1 , y = 1 x=-1, y=-1 . These are already four solutions so there is no need to check for more since that is the highest option. So the solution is 4 \boxed{4}

If this wasn't a multiple choice question:

After you get ( y + 1 ) ( y 1 ) = x ( x + 1 ) (y+1)(y-1) = x(x+1) you can see that there are two integers separated by 2 (with y in between them) and two consecutive integers, and both pairs multiply into another separate integer. We know this integer is not a perfect square because then there is no way for there to be two corresponding consecutive integers to multiply up to it. Then, for any non-perfect square integer, there is an even number of factors. If x x and x + 1 x+1 are the two closest factors, then the next closest factors differ by at least 3. Therefore, there is no way to have ( y + 1 ) ( y 1 ) = x ( x + 1 ) (y+1)(y-1) = x(x+1) unless both sides equal 0 0 . y = ± 1 y = \pm1 and x = 0 , 1 x = 0, 1 making 4 \boxed{4} combinations of x and y.

Chris Wang - 6 years, 8 months ago
Arihant Samar
Sep 18, 2015

Isn't the answer hidden in the question name?

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