Re: Difficult question

Proginoskes wrote:
Whatever5k@xxxxxx wrote:

Hi everybody,

I am trying to prove that:

x* + y* = 4(x*y + xy* + 1)

has no solutions for odd x and y.


I have no idea what your equation is asking, because there are
unreadable characters in your post. (I have replaced them with
asterisks.)

You should use the carat (^) for exponents, so that your equation
becomes

x^? + y^? = 4 (x^? y + x y^? + 1)

If the ?'s are even, then you can take both sides modulo 4, since x^n =
1 mod 4 if n is even. Then you get the equation

1 + 1 = 0 * N = 0 mod 4,

which is a contradiction.

--- Christopher Heckman

The former replies make it likely that he was asking a question posed in the german competition "bundeswettbewerb mathematik"
please don't give the solution before the deadline, the first of march
Klaus

.

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