Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/prelims/mathematics-iv/7/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2021 Prelims Mathematics IV 7 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
The greatest common divisor of and is , which divides . Divide the linear Diophantine equation by to obtainReducing modulo gives , so . Substitution gives the complete family of integer solutionsEvery such pair satisfies the equation, and every solution must have this residue for , so none are omitted. Positivity requires and . For integer these are exactly . Thus the pairs with both entries positive are
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