Find all the triples of positive integers $(a,b,c)$ for which the number \[\frac{(a+b)^4}{c}+\frac{(b+c)^4}{a}+\frac{(c+a)^4}{b}\]is an integer and $a+b+c$ is a prime.
Problem
Source: Baltic Way 2018, Problem 20
Tags: number theory, prime numbers
06.11.2018 12:02
$a+b+c=p$ $p^4(\frac{1}{a}+\frac{1}{b}+\frac{1}{c})$ is integer $\frac{p^4(ab+ac+bc)}{abc}$ is integer so $abc|p^4(ab+ac+bc)$ Case 1: $a=b=c=1$ Case 2:$a=b=1: c|(c+2)^4 (1+2c) \to c|16$ and $c+2$ is prime - conraditiction Case 3:$a=1,b>1,c>1: bc|p^4(b+c+bc) \to b|c,c|b \to b=c \to b|2 \to b=c=2$ Case 4: $a>1,b>1,c>1 \to a|bc,b|ac,c|ab$ $a|bc \to a=xy,b=xz,c=yt,(x,yt)=(y,xz)=1$ $b|ac \to z|t$ and $c|ab \to t|z \to t=z$ So $xyz|x+y+z$ If $x \geq y \geq z$ then $xyz \leq 3x \to yz \leq 3 \to yz=2,3$ $yz=2 \to 2x|x+2 \to x=2 \to y=1,z=2,x=2 \to $ contradiction $yz=3 \to 3x|x+4 \to x=2 \to a=2,b=3,c=6$ Answer: $(1,1,1),(1,2,2),(2,3,6)$
03.10.2021 15:53
@below Yeah, sorry.
03.10.2021 17:47
@above I think you meant (6,3,2) instead of (3,2,1)
08.10.2021 16:43
No one has pointed it out yet but this is really straight-forward actually, set $a+b+c=p$ and conclude that $p^4\left(\frac{ab+bc+ca}{abc}\right)\in\mathbb Z$, as $a,b,c<p$ and $p\in \mathbb P$, we get that $abc\mid ab+bc+ca$, but this is trivial to solve using some bounding.
22.01.2023 22:45
Here is my solution: https://calimath.org/pdf/BalticWay2018-20.pdf And I uploaded the solution with motivation to: https://youtu.be/b3Piv1PEaY0