Problem

Source: 2013 Romania JBMO TST 1.5

Tags: Sets, Integer, number theory



a) Prove that for every positive integer n, there exist $a, b \in R - Z$ such that the set $A_n = \{a - b, a^2 - b^2, a^3 - b^3,...,a^n - b^n\}$ contains only positive integers. b) Let $a$ and $b$ be two real numbers such that the set $A = \{a^k - b^k | k \in N*\}$ contains only positive integers. Prove that $a$ and $b$ are integers.