Positive integers x and y are such that
6 6 5 + 2 x = y 2
What are the parities of the variables?
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It's been established that y 2 is odd (because adding 6 6 5 , an odd number, to 2 x results to an odd number), and since odd square numbers are results of odd numbers being squared, y must be odd as well.
To know whether x is even or odd, we need to know the last digits of the sums of 5 and 2 x :
x = 1 , 5 , 9 , . . . x = 2 , 6 , 1 0 , . . . x = 3 , 7 , 1 1 , . . . x = 4 , 8 , 1 2 , . . . last digit of sum ⟹ 7 ⟹ 9 ⟹ 3 ⟹ 1
Now let's see the last digits of y 2 with y being odd:
y = 1 , 1 1 , 2 1 , . . . y = 3 , 1 3 , 2 3 , . . . y = 5 , 1 5 , 2 5 , . . . y = 7 , 1 7 , 2 7 , . . . y = 9 , 1 9 , 2 9 , . . . last digit of square ⟹ 1 ⟹ 9 ⟹ 5 ⟹ 9 ⟹ 1
We see that if x is even, the last digits are either 9 or 1 which are the same last digits if y ends with the digits 1 , 3 , 7 , and 9 . Thus, x must be even.
I accidentally deleted my solution and now I can't post another. So I'm commenting here.
@Chris Lewis, those are the only solutions.
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Can you prove it, though? (Hint: use the fact that x is even)
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Since x is a positive integer, 2 x is even; so the left-hand side is odd; hence y is odd.
Square numbers end in one of 0 , 1 , 4 , 6 , 9 ; so 2 x must end in one of 4 , 6 . Odd powers of 2 end in 2 or 8 ; so x is even. (In fact all of this can be solved just by considering the last digits of each side.)
Of course, the answer could be "no such ( x , y ) exist"; but we have 6 6 5 + 2 6 = 7 2 9 = 2 7 2 and also 6 6 5 + 2 1 2 = 4 7 6 1 = 6 9 2 . Are there any other solutions?