If, for a positive integer , the quadratic equation,
has two integral solutions, find .
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x ( x + 2 ) + ( x + 1 ) ( x + 2 ) + ⋯ + ( x + ( n − 1 ) ) ( x + n ) ⟹ k = 1 ∑ n ( x + ( k − 1 ) ) ( x + k ) k = 1 ∑ n ( x 2 + ( 2 k − 1 ) x + k 2 − k ) n x 2 + ( n ( n + 1 ) − n ) x + 6 n ( n + 1 ) ( 2 n + 1 ) − 2 n ( n + 1 ) x 2 + n x + 6 ( n + 1 ) ( 2 n + 1 ) − 2 n + 1 x 2 + n x + 6 ( n + 1 ) ( 2 n + 1 − 3 ) x 2 + n x + 3 ( n + 1 ) ( n − 1 ) x 2 + n x + 3 n 2 − 1 − 1 0 = 1 0 n = 1 0 n = 1 0 n = 1 0 n = 1 0 = 1 0 = 1 0 = 0 Dividing both sides by n
⟹ x = 2 − n ± n 2 − 3 4 ( n 2 − 1 ) + 4 0 = 2 − n ± 3 4 − n 2 + 4 0
We note that 3 4 − n 2 + 4 0 is real for 1 ≤ n ≤ 1 1 and for x to be an integer, 3 4 − n 2 + 4 0 must be a perfect square. Let m 2 = 3 4 − n 2 + 4 0 , where m is a positive integer. We note that m 2 < 4 0 and they are 36, 25, 16...; n = 3 ( 4 0 − m 2 ) + 4 ; the roots are 2 − n + m , 2 − n − m and integral roots occur when:
\(\begin{array} {} m^2=36 & \implies n = 4 & \implies x = -5, 1 \\ m^2=25 & \implies n = 7 & \implies x = -6, -1 \\ m^2=1 & \implies n = 11 & \implies x = -6, -5 \end{array} \)
Therefore, the answer is 1 1 .