Third degree on the left but second degree on the right

Given that x + y 0 x+y\neq 0 and both x , y x,y are integers, find the number of ordered pairs ( x , y ) (x,y) that are solutions to the equation x 3 + y 3 = ( x + y ) 2 x^3+y^3=(x+y)^2


The answer is 5.

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1 solution

I really like this problem and here is my solution.

Since x + y 0 x+y \neq 0 , then

x 2 x y + y 2 = x + y x^2 - xy + y^2 = x+y

\Rightarrow

x 2 x ( y + 1 ) + y 2 y = 0 x^2 -x(y+1) + y^2 - y = 0

Getting the discriminant of the equation with variable x x , we have

( y + 1 ) 2 4 ( y 2 y ) (y+1)^2 -4(y^2-y)

Since we want our x x values to be real, the discriminant must be greater than or equal to zero,

\Rightarrow

3 y 2 + 6 y + 1 0 -3y^2 + 6y+1 \geq 0

Solving this we get the solution as

1 3 ( 3 2 2 y 1 3 ( 3 + 2 2 ) \frac{1}{3}(3-2\sqrt{2} \leq y \leq\frac{1}{3}(3+2\sqrt{2})

or

0.154701 y 2.1547 -0.154701 \leq y \leq 2.1547

Testing integer values for y y for the given interval and by doing casework, we find that these are the integer solutions

( 0 , 0 ) , ( 1 , 0 ) , ( 0 , 1 ) , ( 2 , 1 ) , ( 1 , 2 ) , ( 2 , 2 ) (0,0), (1,0), (0,1), (2,1), (1,2), (2,2)

In total there are 5 \boxed{5} ordered pairs excluding ( 0 , 0 ) . (0,0).

I have edited the problem to the requirement, thanks for pointing out the mistake and posting your solution!

Sathvik Acharya - 3 years, 4 months ago

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Your Welcome, also I really thank you for this wonderful number theory problem.

Hans Gabriel Daduya - 3 years, 4 months ago

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