The sum of the squares of three positive numbers is 160. One of the numbers is equal to the sum of the other two. The difference between the smaller two numbers is 4. What is the positive difference between the cubes of the smaller two numbers?
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Let the largest of the three be a . We have
a 2 + b 2 + c 2 = 1 6 0 a = b + c b − c = 4
Plugging in a = b + c in the first equation we get 2 b 2 + 2 b c + c 2 = 1 6 0 ⟶ b 2 + b c + c 2 = 8 0 , multiplying the result with b − c = 4 we get b 3 − c 3 = 3 2 0 .