How many pairs of positive integers are there such that :
?
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If we multiply throughout the equation by 1 0 m n and by rearranging the terms we get :
4 m n − 1 0 n − 1 0 m + 1 0 = 0 which is equivalent to:
4 m n − 1 0 n − 1 0 m + 2 5 = 1 5 .Observe that the left side can be factored as followed:
( 2 m − 5 ) ( 2 n − 5 ) = 1 5 .Calculating the negative numbers 1 5 can be written in 4 diffferent ways which are 1 5 = 1 5 ∗ 1
1 5 = 3 ∗ 5
1 5 = ( − 1 5 ) ( − 1 )
1 5 = ( − 3 ) ( − 5 ) If we suppose n ≥ m then we will have the pairs ( m ; n ) = ( 4 ; 5 ) , ( 3 ; 1 0 ) , ( 0 ; 1 ) , ( − 5 ; 2 ) ,but the last two couples are not acceptable. If we suppose n < m we will obtain ( m ; n ) = ( 5 ; 4 ) , ( 1 0 ; 3 ) , ( 1 ; 0 ) , ( 2 , − 5 ) but again the last two couples are not acceptable and therefore we have 4 couples which are ( m ; n ) = ( 3 ; 1 0 ) , ( 1 0 ; 3 ) , ( 4 ; 5 ) , ( 5 ; 4 ) .