(From China Math Competitions for Secondary Schools) Given the system of equations m x + 2 y = 1 0 3 x − 2 y = 0 has positive integer solutions, find the value of m 2 .
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Right, the problem was slightly ambiguous. In which there are more than 2 possible values for m 2 . I answered 4 and luckily got it right. Peace! :D
@Joshua Ong In order to have a unique solution you will need to specify that the system has positive integer solutions. Good question, otherwise. :)
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@brian charlesworth Oops, sorry, my bad! changed now.
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Joshua,I do not see any changes made by you on this question. I believe that it does need to be "positive integer solutions".
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@Calvin Lin – @Calvin Lin Looks like I didn't save -_-
3x - 2y = 0 => y = 3x/2 ------------- (1)
mx + 2y = 10 putting 1 in this.
(m + 3)x = 10
The only possible values of m that would give integral solutions are,
m = 7, 2, -8, -13 for which the values of x become 1, 2, -2, -1
For the solution to have integral solutions we want the y co-ordinate also to be integral. Hence putting 1, 2, -2, -1 in 3x - 2y = 0 and checking the cases where we get integral solutions for y.
1 => 3/2 2 => 3 -2 => -3 -1 => -3/2
Of these cases 2 and -2 are the only values of x for which we get integral values for y. Hence m could be -8 or 2 hence m could be 4 or 64. Given the fact that you had three chances you have to try your luck with both values and see if you hit the correct one.
put m=2 and add first equation to the other we get ,5x=10 then x=2,we back to the equation ,3x-2y=0 -> 2y=6 y=3 and that is integer numbers so m^2 =4 ,thanks
why the 'thanks'? and you haven't proved m = 2 is a unique value of m , only that it is sufficient.
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Adding the equations together gives us that ( m + 3 ) x = 1 0 .
Next, note that m = 0 , as this would yield solutions x = 3 1 0 , y = 5 . So multiply the first equation by 3 and the second by m and then subtract to find that
( 3 m x + 6 y ) − ( 3 m x − 2 m y ) = 3 0 − 0 ⇒ ( 6 + 2 m ) y = 3 0 ⇒ ( m + 3 ) y = 1 5 .
So since both ( m + 3 ) x = 1 0 and ( m + 3 ) y = 1 5 , and since we require integer solutions, we can conclude that ( m + 3 ) must be a common factor of 1 0 and 1 5 , the options being − 5 , − 1 , 1 and 5 . This gives us possible values for m of − 8 , − 4 , − 2 and 2 .
Now the reader can check that each of these values of m , when plugged back into the original system of equations, yields integer solutions for x and y . Thus m 2 could be any of 6 4 , 1 6 or 4 . To make the solution unique, the question should specify that the system has positive integer solutions, which is only the case for m being either − 2 or 2 . This would then make m 2 = 4 the unique solution.