Not Pythagoras Theorem

Find the smallest integral value of n > 1 n > 1 such that

1 n ( 1 2 + 2 2 + + n 2 ) \dfrac {1}{n} (1^2 + 2^2 + \cdots + n^2)

is a perfect square.


The answer is 337.

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2 solutions

Shaun Leong
Jan 21, 2016

This is actually the same as Average of the Squares . I'll just repost my solution here:

Using sum of squares formula, i = 1 n i 2 n \frac {\displaystyle\sum_{i=1}^n i^2}{n} = n ( n + 1 ) ( 2 n + 1 ) 6 n =\frac {n (n+1)(2n+1)}{6n} = 2 n 2 + 3 n + 1 6 =\frac {2n^2+3n+1}{6} Let this be equal to y 2 y^2 for a positive integer y. Rearranging and using the quadratic formula to solve for n, we get n = 3 ± 48 y 2 + 1 4 n = \frac {-3 \pm \sqrt {48y^2+1}}{4} We reject the negative solution as n is a positive integer. Let 48 y 2 + 1 = x 2 48y^2+1=x^2 for some positive integer x. Rearranging, x 2 48 y 2 = 1 x^2-48y^2=1 This is Pell's equation and has solutions ( x , y ) = ( 7 , 1 ) , ( 97 , 14 ) , ( 1351 , 195 ) , (x,y)=(7,1), (97,14), (1351,195),\ldots ( 7 , 1 ) (7,1) gives n=1, ( 97 , 14 ) (97,14) gives a fractional n and ( 1351 , 195 ) (1351,195) yields the smallest positive integer value of n = 337 n = \boxed {337}

Could you add to the quadratic diophantine equations - pell's equation wiki page? Thanks!

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 4 months ago

Yeah, the question has already been posted by me..

Digvijay Singh - 5 years, 4 months ago

This is a question from British Mathematics Olympiad 1994. It is quite a challenging one though.

Akshay Yadav - 5 years, 4 months ago

{1, 337, 65521, 12710881...}

With calculator, we can actually check F r a c ( ( n + 1 ) ( 2 n + 1 ) 6 ) Frac(\sqrt{\frac{(n + 1)(2 n + 1)}{6}}) directly.

One dimensional search is generally a most preferred.

Answer: 337 \boxed{337}

Lu Chee Ket - 5 years, 4 months ago
Steven Luo
Jan 21, 2016

LOL I am lazy so I commanded the computer to give me an answer

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public class MainPanel{
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        for (int kdls = 0; kdls < 20000; kdls++) {
            for (int dfskjl = 0; dfskjl < 20000; dfskjl++) {
                if (getSigma(kdls) == Math.pow(dfskjl, 2)){
                    System.out.println(kdls);
                    break;
                }
            }
        }
    }
    public static double getSigma(int Sigma){
        double Square = 0;
        for (int dfsklj = 0; dfsklj < Sigma; dfsklj++) {
            Square += Math.pow(dfsklj+1, 2);
        }
        return Square / Sigma;
    }
}

When run, the program gave me

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2
1,
337

How would you classify all of the solutions to this problem?

Calvin Lin Staff - 5 years, 4 months ago

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