1.

Find all integers a, b, c such that a2 = bc + 4, b2 = ca + 4.

Answer»

Suppose a = b. 

Then we get one equation: 

a2 = ac + 4. 

This reduces to a(a - c) = 4. 

Therefore a = 1, a - c = 4, 

a = -1, a - c = -4, a = 4, a - c = 1, a = -4, a - c = -1, a = 2, a - c = 2, a = -2, a - c = -2. 

Thus we get 

(a, b, c) = (1, 1,-3), (-1,-1, 3), (4, 4, 3), (-4, -4,-3), (2, 2, 0), (-2, -2, 0). 

If a  b, 

subtracting the second relation from the first we get 

a2 - b2 = c(b - a). 

This gives a + b = -c. 

Substituting this in the first equation, we get 

a2 = b(-a - b) + 4.

Thus a2 + b2 + ab = 4. 

Multiplication by 2 gives 

(a + b)2 + a2 + b2 = 8. 

Thus (a, b) = (2, -2), (-2, 2), (2, 0), (-2, 0), (0, 2), (0, -2). 

We get respectively 

c = 0; 0, -2, 2, -2, 2. 

Thus we get the triples: 

(a, b, c) = (1, 1, -3), (-1,-1, 3), (4, 4, 3), (-4, -4, -3), (2, 2, 0),(-2,-2, 0), (2,-2, 0), (-2, 2, 0), (2, 0,-2), (-2, 0, 2), (0, 2,-2), (0,-2, 2).



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