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2024 AMC 10A Problem 11

Problem 11 of 25IntermediateAlgebraNumber Theory

How many ordered pairs of integers (m,n)(m, n) satisfy n249=m?\sqrt{n^2 - 49} = m?

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Solution

Note m=n2490m = \sqrt{n^2 - 49} \ge 0 has to be an integer, so n249=m2,n^2 - 49 = m^2, which means (nm)(n+m)=49.(n - m)(n + m) = 49. The factorizations of 4949 give n=25,m=24|n| = 25, m = 24 or n=7,m=0.|n| = 7, m = 0. So the ordered pairs (m,n)(m, n) are (24,25),(24, 25), (24,25),(24, -25), (0,7),(0, 7), (0,7).(0, -7). That’s 44 of them. Thus, D is the correct answer.

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Concepts: Diophantine Equation · difference of squares · radical

Problem text and solution from the LIVE past-contest archive. See also the AoPS wiki page for community solutions.